Ричард Костеланец

A website includes the following from his entry in Britannica.com:

In 1971, employing a radically formalist approach, Kostelanetz produced the novel In the Beginning, which consists of the alphabet, in single- and double-letter combinations, unfolding over 30 pages. Most of his other literary work also challenges the reader in unconventional ways and is often printed in limited editions at small presses. Kostelanetz's nonfiction work The End of Intelligent Writing: Literary Politics in America (1974) charged the New York literary and publishing establishment with inhibiting the publishing and promotion of works by innovative younger authors. His "visual poetry" consists of arrangements of words on a page, using such devices as linking language and sequence, punning, alliteration, parallelism, constructivism, and minimalism.

Among his other works are Recyclings: A Literary Autobiography (1974, 1984), Politics in the African-American Novel (1991),Published Encomia, 1967-91 (1991), and On Innovative Art(ist)s (1992).

His films include A Berlin Lost (1984) and Berlin Sche-Einena Jother (1988), both with Martin Koerber. Kostelanetz issued many recordings and audiocassettes on his own label and edited works on musicians such as B.B. King and Philip Glass. His A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes was published in 1999.

New York City-born Kostelanetz is the son of Boris Kostelanetz and Ethel Cory. He received his B.A. with honors in American Civilization from Brown University and his M.A. in American History from Columbia University. As a Fulbright scholar, he studied at King's College, London.

Kostelanetz has received a variety of grants:

Pulitzer Fellowship in critical writing, 1965. Guggenheim Fellowship, 1967. NEA Visual Arts Services Grants, 1976, 1978, NEA Visual Arts Planning Grant for art in public places, 1979; NEA Visual Arts senior fellowship in book-art, 1985. Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, 1980. Fund for Investigative Journalism, 1980. CCLM Editors Fellowship, 1981. The Kitchen Media Bureau, 1983. American Public Radio Program Fund, 1984. NYSCA Media Services (through Future Press), 1982. 84. Freunde der Deutschen Kinemathek, 1983. Inter Nationes, the German translation agency, 1983, 84, 85, 86. NEA Media Arts Program, 1981, 82, 85, 86, 90, 91. Finishing Funds Award, Experimental TV Center, 1996. ASCAP Standard Award in music composition, annually since 1983 (except 1992-93). Pollock-Kraser Foundation, 2001.

He has received a variety of prizes:

Numbers: Poems & Stories, both written and designed by RK, selected one of the Best Books of 1976 by the American Institute of Graphic Arts and included in its 1977 exhibition. Publication of a work of art in the Lethbridge Herald (Feb. 11, 1978), as sole winner in a competition sponsored by the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, and funded by the Canada Council. Ann Arbor Film Festival, 1986.

He has held a variety of positions:

Associate, Thematic Studies Program, John Jay College, City University of New York, 1972-73. Senior staff, Indiana University Writers Conference, July 1976. Visiting Professor of American Studies and English, the University of Texas at Austin, spring 1977. Visiting Professor of Theater, Hunter College, CUNY, spring 2002. Master Artist, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, May-June 2001. Co-founder-president of Assembling Press, 1970-82. Literary director of The Future Press of the Cultural Council Foundation, 1976--. Co-editor-publisher, Precisely: A Critical Magazine, 1977--. Sole proprietor, Archae Editions (not not-for-profit), 1978 to present. Coordinator-interviewer, "American Writing Today," Voice of America Forum Series, 1979-81. Fellow, New Assoc of Sephardi/Mizrahi Artists & Writers Int’l, 2000-02.

He has written a variety of booklets:

Music of Today (Time-Life Records, 1967). Accounting (Poetry Newsletter, 1973). Ad Infinitum (International Artists' Cooperation, 1973). Recyclings, Vol. 1 (Assembling, 1974). Modulations (Assembling, 1975). Come Here (Cookie-Assembling, 1975). Extrapolate (Cookie-Assembling, 1975). Numbers: Poems & Stories (Assembling, 1976). Rain Rains Rain (Assembling, 1976). Numbers Two (Luna Bisonte, 1977). Prunings/Accruings (Ecart, 1977). Foreshortenings & Other Stories (Tuumba, 1978). Grants & the Future of Literature (Precisely-Archae Editions, 1978). Turfs/Arenas/Fields/Pitches (High/Coo, 1980). Epiphanies, in The Oberc 1986 Calendar (Mockersatz, 1986). March (Generator, 1990). Fields/Pitches/Turfs/Arenas (Runaway Spoon, 1990). References (Ghost Dance, 1991). Uninflected, Nonsyntactic Prose (goodbooqpress, 1991). Published Encomia, 1967-91 (Archae Editions, 1991). Behold Visual Poetry (eXpEriMenTal Press, 1991). Repartitions-IV (Runaway Spoon, 1992). Partitions (Bright Moments, 1992). RePartitions (Runaway Spoon, 1994). Selected Shorter Stories (Found Street, 1994). Tranimations (Black & White, 1998), Which Witch (Visual Editions-Offerta Speciale, 1999), Two-Element Stories (Archae 2003). Poetry I Shall Not Make (Runaway Spoon, 2003). Fulcra (Runaway Spoon, 2005). Kaddish and Other Audio Writings (Archae Editions, 2005). Seven Jewish Short Fictions (Marymark, 2006).

And he has been a prodigious author of books:

The Theatre of Mixed Means (Dial Press, 1968; Pitman, 1970; Archae Editions, 1980). Master Minds (Macmillan, 1969; in Spanish translation as USA: ?Revolucion Cultural?,, Rodolfo Alonso, 1972). Visual Language (Assembling Press, 1970). In the Beginning (Abyss, 1971). Recyclings, Volume One (Assembling, 1974). The End of Intelligent Writing (Sheed & Ward, 1974), reprinted as Literary Politics in America (Andrews & McMeel, 1977). I Articulations/Short Fictions (Kulchur Foundation, 1974). Openings & Closings (D'Arc, 1975). Portraits from Memory (Ardis, 1975). Constructs (WCPR, 1975). Three Places in New Inkland (with two co-authors, Zartscorp, 1977). Illuminations (Laughing Bear-Future, 1977). One Night Stood (Future Press, 1977, in two different formats). Wordsand (Simon Fraser Univ. Gallery-Archae Editions, 1978). Constructs Two (Membrane, 1978). And So Forth (Future, 1979). Exhaustive Parallel Intervals (Future, 1979). "The End" Appendix/"The End" Essentials (Scarecrow-Assembling, 1979). Twenties in the Sixties (Greenwood-Assembling-Wild & Woolley, 1979). Metamorphosis in the Arts (Assembling, 1980). More Short Fictions (Assembling, 1980). Reincarnations (Future, 1981). The Old Poetries and the New (Univ. of Michigan, 1981). Autobiographies (Mudborn-Future, 1981). Arenas/Fields/Pitches/|Turfs (BkMk-Univ. of Missouri at Kansas City, 1982). American Imaginations (Merve, 1983). Epiphanies (Literarisches Colloquium Berlin, 1983). Recyclings (Future, 1984). Autobiographien New York Berlin (Merve, 1986). Prose Pieces/Aftertexts (Atticus, 1987). The Old Fictions and the New (MacFarland, 1987). Conversing with Cage (Limelight, 1988; in German as John Cage im Gesprach, DuMont, 1989; in French as Conversations Avec John Cage, Syrtes, 2000: second edition, Routledge, 2002). On Innovative Music(ian)s (Limelight, 1989). Unfinished Business: An Intellectual Nonhistory (Archae Editions, 1990). The New Poetries and Some Olds (Southern Illinois, 1991). Politics in the African-American Novel (Greenwood, 1991). Solos, Duets, Trios & Choruses (Membrane-Future, 1991). On Innovative Art(ist)s (McFarland, 1992). Wordworks: Poems New & Selected (BOA, 1993). A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes (A Cappella, 1993; 2nd ed. Schirmer, 1999). On Innovative Performance(s) (McFarland, 1994). Minimal Fictions (Asylum Arts, 1994). An ABC of Contemporary Reading (San Diego State Univ., 1995). Fillmore East: Recollections of Rock Theater (Schirmer, 1995). One Million Words of Booknotes, 1959-93 (Whitston, 1995). Radio Writing (Further State(s) of the Art, 1995). Crimes of Culture (Autonomedia, 1995). John Cage Ex(plain)ed (Schirmer, 1996). Thirty-Five Years of Critical Engagements with John Cage (Archae, 1996). Vocal Shorts: Collected Performance Texts (Dramatika, 1998). 3-Element Stories (Archae, 1998). Political Essays (Autonomedia, 1999). SoHo: The Rise and Fall of an Artists’ Colony (Routledge, 2003). Autobiographies at 60 (Archae, 2004). Thirty-Five Years of Visible Writing (Koja, 2004). Film & Video: Alternative Views (Autonomedia, 2005). Ghosts (Unicon, 2005). More Wordworks (Talisman, 2006). Autobiographies at 50 (Archae, 2006). Home & Away: Travel Essays (Archae, 2006). Book-Art, Anthologies, & Alternative Publishing (Archae, 2006). On Sports & Sportsmen (Archae, 2006). The Maturity of American Thought (Archae, 2006).

Kostelanetz is a secular humanist who signed [1] and Humanist Manifesto 2000.