Felix Pollak (November 11, 1909 – November 19, 1987) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

librarian, translator, and poet. Pollak was born in Vienna,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...

, in 1909 to Geza Pollak and Helene Schneider Pollak. A Jew and liberal

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

, he studied law and theater at the University of Vienna before emigrating to the United States in 1938 following the

annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

by the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. He briefly worked as a door-to-door salesman in New York City before enrolling at the

University of Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in library science in 1941.Ron Wallace
"In Memoriam: Felix Pollak"
''Wisconsin Academy Review'', vol. 34, no. 2 (March 1988), pp. 24-27. While working as a librarian, Pollak was drafted into the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

in 1943, where he worked as a translator for German prisoners of war. After the war, he enrolled at the University of Michigan, where he received a master's degree in library science in 1949. Pollak also received a Dr.Jur. from the University of Vienna in 1953. From 1949 to 1959, Pollak worked as a rare books librarian at Northwestern University. He became a rare books librarian at the University of Wisconsin in 1959, where he remained until his retirement in 1974. One of his primary duties was maintaining and developing the Sukov collection of literary magazines (now called the Little Magazine Collection), which remains to date one of the world's finest collections of small literary magazines and publications by independent poetry presses. After his retirement, Pollak continued to reside in Madison, Wisconsin, until his death in 1987. In addition to his work as a librarian, Pollak was an accomplished poet. He published seven volumes of poetry, and his work appeared in a range of prominent publications, including ''

The American Poetry Review ''The American Poetry Review'' (''APR'') is an American poetry magazine printed every other month on tabloid-sized newsprint. It was founded in 1972 by Stephen Berg and Stephen Parker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The magazine's editor is Elizabet ...

'', '' Poetry Northwest'', ''

New Letters ''New Letters'', the name it has been published under since 1970, is one of the oldest literary magazines in the United States and continues to publish award-winning poems and fiction. The magazine is based in Kansas City, Missouri. History and ...

'', '' Prairie Schooner'', ''Quixote,'' ''

TriQuarterly ''TriQuarterly'' is a name shared by an American literary magazine and a series of books, both operating under the aegis of Northwestern University Press. The journal is published twice a year and features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, liter ...

'', '' The Madison Review'', and the '' Wisconsin Academy Review''. His most famous poem, "Speaking: The Hero", has frequently been cited as a forceful example of Vietnam war protest poetry, though it was written in response to the Nazi concentration camps and the bombing of Hiroshima. Since 1994, the University of Wisconsin Press has annually awarded a poetry prize named after Pollak.

Bibliography

* Felix Pollak, ''The Castle and the Flaw''. New Rochelle, New York: Elizabeth Press, 1963. * Felix Pollak, ''Say When''. La Crosse, Wisconsin: Juniper Press, 1969. * Felix Pollak, ''Ginkgo''. New Rochelle, New York: Elizabeth Press, 1973. * Felix Pollak, ''Subject to Change''. La Crosse, Wisconsin: Juniper Press, 1978. * Felix Pollak, ''Prose and Cons''. La Crosse, Wisconsin: Juniper Press, 1983. * Felix Pollak, ''Tunnel Visions''. Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1984. * Felix Pollak, ''Benefits of Doubt''. Peoria, Illinois: Spoon River Poetry Press, 1988. * Felix Pollak, ''Vom Nutzen des Zweifels''. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1989. * Felix Pollak, ''Lebenszeichen. Aphorismen und Marginalien.'' Vienna: Verlag für Gesellschaftskritik, 1992. * Gregory H. Mason. ''Arrows of Longing: The Correspondence between Anais Nin and Felix Pollak, 1952–1976''. Ohio University Press: 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollak, Felix 1909 births 1987 deaths Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss Writers from Madison, Wisconsin Writers from Illinois Poets from Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Northwestern University faculty University of Michigan School of Information alumni University at Buffalo alumni University of Vienna alumni American librarians

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