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On the last day of 1933, the New York Times poetry critic Eda Lou Walton reviewed a series of pamphlets issued by Modern Editions Press. "These pamphlets represent the poets who are experimenting with new forms and whose eyes are fixed upon the contemporary scene," she began. Several of the eight poets needed introductions and context for the reading public to appreciate her commentary on their work, but of the recently deceased Kathleen Tankersley Young (1902–33) she wrote, "Young is, on the other hand, fairly well known, and her poem of dream imagery is fairly characteristic of her work."
Thanks to The Collected Works of Kathleen Tankersley Young, we now know that Walton's assessment was far from accurate. The enigmatic Young lived and died mysteriously, leaving those who thought they knew her, or knew her work, misguided at best and at times deliberately fooled. In less than seven short years, from the date of her first published poem to her untimely death (officially suicide by Lysol poisoning), Young's writing fluctuated from rhyming couplets to typographically inventive free verse, bravely charting erotic dreamscapes and desolate realities, published in some of the most influential academic and bohemian journals of her day. And then she was gone and the world moved on.
Editors Erik La Prade and Joshua Rothes have succeeded in gathering 154 published and unpublished works (primarily poetry), and while they concede [End Page 133] there may be yet undiscovered material, this collection provides far more than any other available source on Young's life and work. What the Collected Works makes clear is that Young's writing deserves our attention and has earned its way back onto the bookshelves of contemporary scholars in American modernism.
Along with the expected and best-known poems from her three published books—Ten Poems (1930), The Dark Land (1932), and The Pepper Trees (1932)—the Collected Works includes Young's personal contributions to the esteemed Blues: A Magazine of New Rhythms (1929–30), and the aforementioned Modern Editions pamphlets (1932–33). This is worth mentioning, because Young is often better remembered for her administrative contributions to these titles, as cofounder and editor working with Charles Henry Ford at the former and Eric Naul at the latter (
Last March I found myself in the Sultanate of Oman preparing to give a commencement address at the National University of Science and Technology. I had flown in a few days earlier to recover from the jet lag, and I decided to take advantage of my time to leave the bustling, modern city of Muscat and journey to the ancient capitol of Nizwa in the interior. Historically, Oman was known as Oman and Muscat because it had two centers of power. Muscat was on the coast and was ruled by the Sultan. It faced outward toward India and Africa and is thought to have been the original home of Sinbad the Sailor. Nizwa in the interior was ruled by the Imam. It was a center of Islamic learning and home of the Ibadi sect, which claims to be the oldest form of Islam, predating the Shia/Sunni split. There are many beautiful things to see in Nizwa and its environs, including its famous goat and camel souk, but the most striking thing I saw was the Shawadhna Mosque, first built in the seventh century, shortly after the Prophet had sent a letter in 630 asking the inhabitants to convert, which they did immediately and without coercion. The mosque is a simple structure without minarets or a dome, made of plaster and mud brick.
I stood before it and I considered the young people I would address the next day, young men and women (more women than men), engineers, doctors, and pharmacists, who were not only ambitious soon-to-be professionals but also committed to the development of Oman. Beneath their caps and gowns they would wear traditional dress. The young women would have their hair covered. The ceremony would open with a prayer and a recitation of the Qur'an, as do all significant events in Oman. And as I stood there, I asked myself, if I were one of these young women, modern, well educated and yet traditional, what could it possibly mean to be Omani and not be Islamic? How could Islam, even if one were secular, not be fundamental to your identity, your aesthetic, your language, the structure of your dreams? How could forsaking that identity not mean becoming Western and consumerist, adopting the culture of the powers that had sought to colonize you, surrendering what made you you? [End Page 38]
Oman, in this regard, is not unique. It is part of a larger Islamic culture that has many regional and sectarian variations, that includes both the Arab and the Persian world, that intersects with Western classical culture in various ways, from the Islamic conquests to the great Muslim scholars, who preserved and commented upon Aristotle, to the mathematicians in Baghdad who built on the studies of the Pythagoreans and their successors. There is a complex, multi-layered cultural world here that intersects with our own b
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