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¬¬¬Irving Weiss (Irving J. Weiss).

Writer and editor, visual poet, word poet, translator, teacher, Weiss was born in New York City to Rose and Max Weiss, September 11, 1921 and died June 13, 2021, at the age of 99.

WRITINGS AND TRANSLATIONS

As a visual poet Weiss was first recognized for his Visual Voices: The Poem As a Print Object (Runaway Spoon Press, Port Charlotte, FL, 1994).

Later collections of his visual poems include Number Poems (Runaway Spoon Press, 1997); Infrapics: Xerolage 35(Xexoxial Editions, 2005); and Identities (Xexoxial Editions, 2013). Identities has been called a collection of visual poems in which Weiss “does with the visual poem everything that can be done with one.”

The worksheets of his first two collections are in the holdings of the [Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry,] Miami Beach, FL.

Weiss was the authorized translator of Sens-Plastique, a definitive but indiscriminate collection of over two thousand original aphorisms and pensées considered to be the masterpiece of the Mauritian visionary writer and painter Malcolm de Chazal (1902-1981). Malcolm de Chazal|Chazal referred to Weiss’s English as more striking than his own French. Weiss published two selective translations of Sens-Plastique as Plastic Sense (Herder and Herder, 1972), and Sens-Plastique (SUN, 1979). Green Integer Press issued the entire volume in 2008 with a republished foreword by his friend W. H. Auden. Wakefield Press recently republished (2021) the entire volume with the Auden’s foreward and an essay by Chazal.

Reflections on Childhood (ABC Clio, 1991, Denver, CO), a reference book, which Weiss assembled and edited with his wife, Anne D. Weiss (1926-2000), consists of excerpts from the writings and reminiscences of past writers about children and childhood. The passages come from a range of historical material, from classical and biblical as well as later sources to the present day. The purpose of the collection is to return the subject of childhood to historical speculation and personal history “insofar as we were all children once,” as Weiss puts it. The scope of the book lies far beyond but does not exclude quotations from modern psychology and pedagogy.

Weiss and his wife also collaborated on The Thesaurus of Book Digests, 1950-1980, edited by Hiram Haydn and Edmund Fuller (Crown Press, NY, 1981), which they augmented and re-edited; and American Authors and Books: 1640 to the Present Day, edited by W. J. Burke and Will D. Howe (Crown Press, NY, 1972), which they also brought up to date and re-edited.

He wrote under the pen names: Robert Forio and Gino de Marco

WORKS IN ANTHOLOGIES

1. “Drawing-Poem: Two Portraits” and “Turret of Babble,” The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008, FantaGraphics books, 2012. 2. “Nature and Man Are a Given,” “ Obscurity,” and “Origins,” Spidertangle Anthology, Xexoxial Editions, 2009. 3. “Eight,” An Introduction to the Prose Poem, Firewheel Editions, 2009. 4. “Selections from Sens-Plastique,” Chimera: I am My Own Twin, Success! One, 2008. 5. “Selections from Sens-Plastique,” James Geary, Geary’s Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., London, 2007. 6. “Selections from Sens-Plastique,” Writing On Water, David Rothenberg and Marta Ulvaeus (Terra Nova Books, 2001). 7. “Name That Name,” East of the Bay: A Chester River Anthology, Kent Co., MD, Maryland Arts Council, 1999. 8. Excerpts from an unpublished collection of historical children’s writings provisionally entitled “I Sit On My Botom,” in The Epistolary Format: The Letter as Artifact, Pighorn Press Book Anthology, 1991. 9. “Man is The Only…,” A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky: The Best of the Sun, MHO and MHO Works, 1987. 10. “She” (i.e. Who is She?), DC Magazines: A Literary Retrospective, Paycock Press, 1982. 11. “Stopping the Sun,” Poets on Photog-aphy, Dog Ear Press, 1981. 12. “Poem in Extremis” and “The Making and Unmaking of a Poem,” A (Critical) Ninth Assembling, ed. Richard Kostelanetz, Assembling Press, 1980. 13. “Sensual Reality in the Media,” Mcluhan: Pro and Con, ed. Raymond Rosenthal, Funk and Wagnalls, 1968. Reviewed in New York Times Book Revue with quotations from Weiss.


PERFORMANCES, PRESENTATIONS, AND READINGS

1. Opening remarks as Honorary Vice-President, Fondation Chazalien, “ Malcolm de Chazal: Hier et Demain,” Colloque Internationale Pluridisciplinaire, Port Louis, Mauritius, September 10-13, 2012. 2. “Homage to Pablo Neruda,” Fragments/Fragmentos and also in the accompanying video contribution to the DVD “Homage,” Heterogenesis, Sweden, 2004. 3. Principal speaker, Malcolm de Chazal (1902-1981) Centennial Celebration, French Embassy, Washington DC, May 21, 2002. 4. Readings from Malcolm de Chazal, Sens-Plastique, Avant-Garde 2, Ohio State University, 2002. 5. Interviewed with Anne D. Weiss about W.H. Auden, “Tell Me The Truth About Love,” BBC television film, Art Zone Series, BBC2, March 26, 2000. 6. “Cartoon and Photographic Versions of the Human Face,” 5th International Conference on Culture and Communication, Temple University, March 25, 1983. 7. Cassette tape reading of Pinocchio from Anne D. Weiss translation, Center for Cassette Studies, 1978. 8. “Advertising and Poetry,” Conference on 8th National Convention, The Popular Culture Association, Cincinnati, Ohio, April 19, 1978. 9. Modes of Action and Behavior in TV Imagery,” Conference on Culture and Communication, Temple University, March 11, 1977. 10. “ Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition,” paper read at Women’s Weekend, Vassar College, April 16, 1976. 11. “Sensuous Characteristics of the Art of Radio,” Perspectives in Mass Communication Conference, Mohawk Valley Community College, Utica, N.Y., April 2, 1975. 12. “An American Love of French Movies,” read at opening session of French Film Festival, co-organized with Henri Langlois, founder of Cinémathèque Française, SUNY New Paltz and broadcast WNPC, April 16, 1974. 13. Represented SUNY New Paltz with Prof. Kurt Haas at “Chancellor’s Conference on Education,” Albany, NY, March 22, 1973. 14. “Literature and Film,” panel discussion, TV Channel 12, New Paltz, NY with Michale Royer and David Goldknopf, October 8, 1973. 15. “The Photograph and The Cartoon,” The New Arts, Elenore Lester, New York University Continuing Education, Washington Square College, March 17, 1970. 16. “The Composition Gap,” panel discussion for English teachers, Kingston, NY school system, J. Watson Bailey Jr. High School, Kingston, March 4, 1968. 17. “The Face is a Loud Octopus,” multi-media presentation, readings from Malcolm de Chazal, Sens-Plastique, in French and English, with Haig and Regina Shekerjian, Le Pavillon de la Jeunesse, Expo 67, Montreal, Canada, June 17, 1967, under the auspices of the Mauritian Embassy. 18. “Additional Notes on a Method of Group Self-Instruction,” SUNY Conference of Academic Vice Presidents, SUNY New Paltz, January 27, 1967. 19. “Notes on a Method of Group Self-Instruction,” SUNY Conference on Independent Study, Syracuse, NY, May 24, 1966. 20. Reading of Anne D. Weiss, translation of Collodi’s Pinnocchio, Children’s Program, WBAI-FM, New York, May 4-8, 1964. 21. Reading of selections from translation of Sens-Plastique by Malcolm de Chazal, WBAI-FM, NYC, February 11-12, 1964. [Irving Weiss mistakenly rendered as Irving J. Weiz] 22. Represented SUNY New Paltz President John J. Neumaier at Conference held by The Foundation for Integrative Education, SUNY, Oswego, August 24-29, 1969. 23. Weekly readings and critical discussion with Harold Holden of poems of Walt Whitman, Edgar Allen Poe, Hart Crane, Thomas Hardy, and W. B. Yeats. Production format Harold Holden, FM radio station, Bellefonte, PA, 1957. 24. Performed as Reader of the Chorus in the W.H. Auden and Noah Greenberg Pro Musica Antiqua production of “A Maske Presented in the Banqueting Room, at Whitehall, on Saint Stephens Night Last, at the Marriage of the Right Honourable, the Earl of Somerset and the Right Noble, the Lady Frances Howard, by Thomas Campion,” Kaufman Auditorium, YMHA, 72nd Street, New York City, January 15 and 16, 1955. 25. “The Closed World of Ernest Hemingway,” lecture at U.S. Information Agency program, Naples, Italy, delivered in Italian as “Il Mondo Chiuso di Ernest Hemingway.” Panel discussion with Leslie Fiedler, January 15, 1953, on the publication of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.

EDITING

1. Manuscript editing, A History of Soviet Air Power, Robert A. Kilmarx, Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., New York, 1962. 2. Humanities Editor, Funk and Wagnalls Standard Reference Encyclopedia, 1959-1962. 3. Editorial Supervisor, The Orion Book of the Sun, The Orion Book of the Sky, The Orion Book of Time, Orion Press, NY, 1960. 4. Advisor on book choices, including French and Italian books, to the Readers’ Subscription, Inc., NY, April 1959-September 1960. 5. Assistant Editor, 1948-49, The New Century Cyclopedia of Names, Clarence L. Barnhart, Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1954.

EXHIBITS

1. “What’s Wrong With This Picture?” Art League Members’ Exhibition, Art League of Long Island, NY, December 15, 2013- January 5, 2014. 2 “Origins,” Islip Art Museum, A Passion for Pixels Exhibit, Islip, NY, June 20-September 7, 2008. 3. “Gloss Twombly” and “Horror Poem,” Avant Writing Collection Edition (Rare Book Collection, Ohio State University), 2008. 4. “Gloss Twombly,” Durban-Segnini Gallery Visual Poetry Exhibit, Miami, FL, March 5-26, 2005. 5 “Absolute Hand,” Out of Hand Exhibit, Art League of Long Island, Dix Hills, NY, 2005. 6. Seven visual poems, WordWorks Group Exhibit, Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida, March 7- March 31, 2004. Manuscripts of three of these works belong to Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry. Another visual poem in the exhibit, “Cosmos,” appeared in print and online in The Montserrat Review #7. The visual poem, “Yes, Beckett,” originally contributed to the international art project Hope online memorializing the tragic event of 9/11, has since been animated and set to sound by the Danish artist Reiner Strasser. 7. Visual Voices and Number Poems, Ohio State University, Archive of Experimental Literature, 2002. 8. “Creation/by Water into Word” and “Drawing Poem,” Wordseen Group Exhibit of Visual Poems, Fine Arts Gallery, Miami, FL, 2002. 9. Book and manuscript/typescript sheets and preparatory materials for Visual Voices: The Poem as a Print Object (Run-away Spoon Press, 1994) included in The Next Word: Text and/as Design and/as Meaning, The Neuberger Museum of Art of the SUNY Purchase, September 20, 1998-January 30, 1999. 10. “Drawing Poem,” Exhibit Auction, Queen Anne Arts Council, Chesapeake College Performing Arts Center, 1999. 11. “Equal Service Edict,” Baranca Vorticist Exhibition, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1999. 12. “Visual Poetry of Irving Weiss” exhibit, Kent County Arts Council, Town Arts Building, Chestertown MD, May 20-29, 1998. 13. Mounted visual poems from Visual Voices: The Poem As a Print Object (Runaway Spoon Press, 1994), Finishing Touch Exhibit, Chestertown MD, January 14-27, 1994.

TEACHING

While teaching at Pennsylvania State University in 1958-59, where Freshman English was divided between two departments, Freshman English and Freshman Composition, Weiss and his colleagues succeeded in changing a curriculum based on the study and practice of grammar, punctuation, and paragraphing to include readings from works of literature as standards of writing.

As Assistant Professor English at The Fashion Institute of Technology, Weiss introduced into the Freshman English courses the use of audiotape and film versions of the course readings.

Weiss taught from 1964 to 1985 at SUNY New Paltz, where under a SUNY sponsored program, he demonstrated that two classes of Freshman English could be taught in two different classrooms during the same hour. The professor served as a resource and guide while the students, arranged in groups, discussed the readings and edited each other’s essays.

Weiss taught at SUNY New Paltz the first courses in media studies as Words and Images comprising cartoons, photographs, film, radio, and television considered as historical extensions of art and literature.

While helping to develop a Communications program starting from Speech, English, and Theater, Weiss devised a provisional program in Communication Studies. He retired from SUNY New Paltz as Professor Emeritus of English.

From 1987 to 1989 Weiss was active in the Literacy Works program, Chestertown, MD, and in teaching Introductory Italian and Creative Writing courses for Kent County Adult Education and the Chesapeake College Creative Writing Program at Chesapeake College, Wye Mills, MD, and Heron Point, Chestertown, MD.

As a member of the Suffolk County New York Jewish Senior Center he volunteered since 2007 heading a weekly discussion group, Civilization and the Jews, and a weekly close reading aloud of the Hebrew Bible in Translation considered as a literary and historical document.

PERSONAL LIFE

Weiss grew up and went to school in Brooklyn when it was considered a multi-neighborhood exurb in the cultural shadow of Manhattan. He attended Brooklyn College in 1938-1939 and transferred to the University of Michigan in 1940 hurrying up to graduate as a BA. in English before the draft got him . He gave up a fellowship in Classical Languages at the University of Iowa to serve three years in the U.S. Army.

Weiss served in the message center of the 358th Field Artillery Battalion 95th Infantry Division and was discharged in 1945 as battalion sergeant- major. The 95th Division fought in three campaigns and was especially known for the capture of Metz. After the war he attended Columbia University under the G.I. Bill and received an M.A. in Comparative Literature in 1949.

In December 1949 Weiss married Anne de la Vergne (1926-2000) in Rome, Italy, where he studied for a semester at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, the only academy then offering film-making anywhere apart from the Soviet Union. In 1951-1952 he taught at the U.S. Navy’s American Dependents School in Naples, Italy, where he developed a program to teach the 7th and 8th grades under restricted conditions in one classroom. Weiss and his wife remained in Italy, living in Rome, Perugia, Ischia, and Naples until 1954. Two of their four children were born in Italy. Weiss died June 13, 2021, at age 99.

He was related on his mother’s side to the Yiddish Poet Mani Leib.


  • Review by David Rice in Harvard Book Review, March 1, 2009 of Sens-Plastique by Malcolm de Chazal translated by Irving Weiss.
  • Review by Barry Schwabsky in Bookforum, February/March 2009 of Sens-Plastique by Malcolm de Chazal translated by Irving Weiss.
  • Sens-Plastique discussed in James Geary, Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists, (Bloomsbury USA, 2007).
  • Separate entries for Irving Weiss and Malcolm de Chazal in A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes by Richard Kostelanetz (Routledge, 2001), pp.114-115, 659-660.
  • Original typescripts of Visual Voices: The Poem As a Print Object included in Text and/as Design and/as Meaning at the Neuberger Museum of Art of the State University of New York at Purchase, September 20, 1998, through January 30, 1999.
  • Preparatory scripts for Visual Voices: The Poem as a Print Object and Number Poems in The Sackner Archive of Visual and Concrete Poetry, Miami Beach, FL.
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