Charles Ruas is an American teacher, writer, translator, literary and art critic, and interviewer for print and broadcast. He is well known for his work with artists, musicians, and writers of the 1970s, when he was Director of Arts Programming at WBAI Radio, New York. He was a literary and art critic for the ''Soho Weekly News'', ''

ArtNews ''ARTnews'' is an American art magazine, based in New York City. It covers visual arts from ancient to contemporary times. It is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. ''ARTnews'' has a readership of 180,000 in 124 co ...

,'' and '' Art in America'', among other publications. He is the author of the interview collection ''Conversations with American Writers'' (1985) and the editor and translator of numerous literary works. A specialist in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

, and

Comparative Literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

, he has taught at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

University of Grenoble The (, ''Grenoble Alps University'', abbr. UGA) is a Grands établissements, ''grand établissement'' in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 researchers. Es ...

, France, and

Nankai University Nankai University is a public university in Tianjin, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. Nankai University was establ ...

in China. He lives and works in New York City.

Background

Ruas was born in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

, China in 1938. His father, a French civil engineer, died in 1940 as a result of his work restoring potable water supply during the Great Flood of Tianjin. In 1946, at the end of World War II, Ruas and his brothers, Franklin and Alex, were repatriated with their mother to Paris, where she was recruited to join the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

in New York. The family moved to the UN community in Queens, New York, in 1950. Ruas attended

Jamaica High School Jamaica High School was a four-year public high school in Jamaica, Queens, New York. It was operated by the New York City Department of Education. Jamaica High School was founded as the Union Free School in 1854, and located within a three-stor ...

, followed by

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, where he received his BA in 1960, his MA in 1963, and his PhD in 1970. He was a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

at the Sorbonne from 1963 to 64.

New York

Ruas returned to New York in 1965 to teach French at New York University. After his first year of teaching, he took a summer trip to North Africa and Europe, where he met his future wife, Agneta Danielsson, who was also traveling from her native Sweden. They were married in New York in June, 1967, and the following year celebrated the birth of their son Alexander at New York Hospital in March, 1968. During this time, Ruas began to write literary criticism for ''

The New Leader ''The New Leader'' (1924–2010) was an American political and cultural magazine. History ''The New Leader'' began in 1924 under a group of figures associated with the Socialist Party of America, such as Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas. It w ...

'', ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' and

Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell ( ; ; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the d ...

's ''Under the Sign of Pisces''.

Broadcast

WBAI

In 1974, Ruas proposed to

WBAI WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic musi ...

Radio, New York, a program on the works of

Marguerite Young Marguerite Vivian Young (August 26, 1908 – November 17, 1995) was an American novelist and academic. She is best known for her novel ''Miss MacIntosh, My Darling''. In her later years, she was known for teaching creative writing and as ...

, which turned into The Reading Experiment, a year-long series of readings from her epic novel ''

Miss MacIntosh, My Darling ''Miss MacIntosh, My Darling'' is a novel by Marguerite Young. She has described it as "an exploration of the illusions, hallucinations, errors of judgment in individual lives, the central scene of the novel being an opium addict's paradise."''W ...

''. The readers came from a wide variety of artistic and literary backgrounds—including

Marian Seldes Marian Hall Seldes (August 23, 1928 – October 6, 2014) was an American actress. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for '' A Delicate Balance'' in 1967, and received subsequent nominations ...

Osceola Macarthy Adams Osceola Marie Adams ( Macarthy; June 13, 1890 – November 11, 1983), known professionally by the stage name Osceola Archer, was one of the first Black actresses to appear on Broadway in ''Between Two Worlds'' in 1934. Speaking of Adams' decade- ...

, Wyatt Cooper,

Ruth Ford Ruth Ford (July 7, 1911 – August 12, 2009) was an American actress and model. Her brother was the Bohemianism, bohemian surrealist Charles Henri Ford. Their parents owned or managed hotels in the American South, and the family regularly move ...

, and

Owen Dodson Owen Vincent Dodson (November 28, 1914 – June 21, 1983) was an American poet, novelist, and playwright. He was one of the leading African-American poets of his time, associated with the generation of black poets following the Harlem Renaissanc ...

, among others. The programs were scored by artist Rob Wynne with a collage of instrumental music, opera and concrete sound effects. In the course of this series, Ruas became Director of Arts and Literature programming at WBAI, New York's main platform for the Civil Rights Movements, the anti-Vietnam-war protests and the 1960s counterculture. Its programming was distributed nationally via

Pacifica Radio Network Pacifica Foundation is an American nonprofit organization that owns five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations known for their progressive/liberal political orientation. Its national headquarters adjoins sta ...

. Under Ruas, WBAI also became known for its programming of New York art, poetry, literature, performance and experimental theater, for each of which he initiated weekly coverage. To Courtney Callender's weekly ''Getting Around'' show covering the culture scene, Ruas added Moira Hodgson's features on dance and visual arts coverage by a combination of critics and artists, including

John Perreault John Lucas Perreault (New York, New York, August 26, 1937 – September 6, 2015, New York, New York) was a poet, art curator, art critic and artist. Early life Perreault was born in Manhattan and raised in Belmar and other towns in New Jersey. H ...

Cindy Nemser Cindy Heller Nemser (born Cecile Heller, March 26, 1937 – January 26, 2021) was an American art historian and writer. Founder and editor of the '' Feminist Art Journal'', she was an activist and prominent figure in the feminist art movement and ...

, Liza Baer, Joe Giordano, Judith Vivell,

Kenneth Koch Kenneth Koch ( ; February 27, 1925 – July 6, 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77.) He was a prominent poet of the New York School of poetry. This was a loose group of poets inc ...

and

Les Levine Les Levine (born 1935) is a naturalized American Irish artist known as a pioneer of video art and as a conceptual artist working with communication media. In 1967, Levine won first prize for sculpture in the Canadian Sculpture Biennial. He coll ...

. Under Ruas, poetry was covered by

Susan Howe Susan Howe (born June 10, 1937) is an American poet, scholar, essayist, and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among other poetry movements.

and

CCNY The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 18 ...

professor Paul Oppenheimer, who produced programming on alternating weeks. After the Marguerite Young Reading Experiment series, Ruas presented

Helen Adam Helen Adam (December 2, 1909 in Glasgow, Scotland – September 19, 1993 in New York City) was a Scottish poet, collagist and photographer who was part of a literary movement contemporaneous to the Beat Generation that occurred in San Francisco d ...

's play, ''San Francisco Burning,'' and

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

performing at Ira Weitzman's Free Music Store in June 1975. Then in 1976, Ruas brought poet

John Giorno John Giorno (December 4, 1936 – October 11, 2019) was an American performance poetry, poet and performance artist. He founded the not-for-profit production company Giorno Poetry Systems and organized a number of early multimedia poetry experim ...

to the Reading Experiment for his iconic Dial-A-Poem project as an eight-part series. This was followed by

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

's ten-part poetry seminar, recorded at the

Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, in ...

Naropa Institute Naropa University is a private university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa, it is named after the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda. The university desc ...

in Boulder, Colorado. Together with

Susan Howe Susan Howe (born June 10, 1937) is an American poet, scholar, essayist, and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among other poetry movements.

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political acti ...

, and

Maureen Owen Maureen Owen (born July 6, 1943) is an American poet, editor, and biographer. Life Born in Graceville, Minnesota, Owen was raised on her family’s farm and later on California’s horseracing tracks where her parents were horse trainers. She tr ...

s, he initiated annual coverage of St. Mark's Church's New Year's Eve poetry marathon. On the day that the Vietnam War ended, Ruas invited

Muriel Rukeyser Muriel Rukeyser (December 15, 1913 – February 12, 1980) was an American poet, essayist, biographer, novelist, screenwriter and political activist. She wrote across genres and forms, addressing issues related to racial, gender and class justice ...

to read her poem on peace. When Ruas learned that

William Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular culture and ...

was relocating to New York from Tangiers, he immediately invited him to do a series of readings of his extant works for another series that Ruas initiated, on Major Writers. Other authors in the series included

Jerzy Kosinski Jerzy is the Polish version of the masculine given name George. The most common nickname for Jerzy is Jurek (), which may also be used as an official first name. Occasionally the nickname Jerzyk may be used, which means "swift" in Polish. Peop ...

Donald Barthelme Donald Barthelme Jr. (pronounced ''BAR-thəl-mee''; April 7, 1931 – July 23, 1989) was an American short story writer and novelist known for his playful, postmodernist style of short fiction. Barthelme also worked as a newspaper reporter for t ...

(in collaboration with music director

Judith Sherman Judith Dorothy Sherman (born November 12, 1942) is an American audio engineer, and record producer. She has been nominated for 18 Grammy Awards and won 14 including for Producer Of The Year, Classical seven times (in 1993, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2015, ...

) and William Goyen. Other programming on contemporary fiction featured

Maxine Hong Kingston Maxine Hong Kingston (; born Maxine Ting Ting Hong; October 27, 1940) is an American novelist. She is a professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a B.A. in English in 1962. Kingston has written three ...

Ed Sanders Edward Sanders (born August 17, 1939) is an American poet, singer, activist, author, publisher and longtime member of the rock band the Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and hippie generations. Sanders is considered to have bee ...

, E.L. Doctorow, John Gardner,

Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognised as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writing has ... been of very great ben ...

, and

Richard Adams Richard George Adams (10 May 1920 – 24 December 2016) was an English novelist. He is best known for his debut novel ''Watership Down'' which achieved international acclaim. His other works included ''Maia'', '' Shardik'' and '' The Plague Do ...

, to name a few. In non-fiction, Ruas interviewed major figures including biographer

Nigel Nicolson Nigel Nicolson (19 January 1917 – 23 September 2004) was an English writer, publisher and politician. Early life and education Nicolson was the second son of writers Sir Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West; he had an elder brother Bene ...

, architectural theorist R. Buckminster Fuller, explorer

Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and Ethnography, ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his Kon-Tiki expediti ...

, social reformer

Jonathan Kozol Jonathan Kozol (born September 5, 1936) is an American writer, progressivism in the United States, progressive activist, and educator, best known for his books on public education in the United States. Education and experience Born to Harry Ko ...

, novelist and historian

Alex Haley Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992) was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book '' Roots: The Saga of an American Family.'' ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and ...

, memoirist Wyatt Cooper, memoirist and widow of

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

Matilde Urrutia Matilde Urrutia Cerda (5 May 1912 – 5 January 1985) was the third wife of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, from 1966 until he died in 1973. They met in Santiago, Chile in 1946, when she was working as a physical therapist in Chile. She was the first ...

, and poet and memoirist

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credi ...

, among others. In theater, Ruas presented diverse experimental playwrights including

Julian Beck Julian Beck (May 31, 1925 – September 14, 1985) was an American actor, stage director, poet, and painter. He is best known for co-founding and directing the Living Theatre, as well as his role as Reverend Henry Kane, the malevolent preacher ...

and

Judith Malina Judith Malina (June 4, 1926 – April 10, 2015) was a German-born American actress, director and writer. With her husband Julian Beck, Malina co-founded The Living Theatre, a radical political theatre troupe that rose to prominence in New York C ...

of the

Living Theatre The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/p ...

, “Bunny” V.R. Lang,

Joseph Chaikin Joseph Chaikin (September 16, 1935 – June 22, 2003) was an American theatre director, actor, playwright, and pedagogue. Early life and education The youngest of five children, Chaikin was born to a poor Jewish family living in the Borough Pa ...

Jean-Claude van Itallie Jean-Claude van Itallie (May 25, 1936 – September 9, 2021) was a Belgian-born American playwright, performer, and theatre workshop teacher. He is best known for his 1966 anti-Vietnam War play '' America Hurrah;'' ''The Serpent'', an ensemble p ...

Richard Schechner Richard Schechner is University Professor Emeritus at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and editor of ''TDR: The Drama Review''. Biography Richard Schechner received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1956, ...

, and the team of

Andrei Serban Andrei Șerban (born June 21, 1943) is a Romanian- American theater director. A major name in twentieth-century theater, he is renowned for his innovative and iconoclastic interpretations and stagings. In 1992 he became Professor of Theater at t ...

and

Elizabeth Swados Elizabeth Swados (February 5, 1951 – January 5, 2016) was an American writer, composer, musician, choreographer, and theatre director. Swados received Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book of a Music ...

. He presented

Mabou Mines Mabou Mines is an experimental theatre company founded in 1970 and based in New York City. Founding and history Mabou Mines was founded by David Warrilow, Lee Breuer, Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and Philip Glass, at the house of Akalaiti ...

company performing

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

. When

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

was under attack by critics during the last years of his life, Ruas defended him by covering his ''Memoirs'', his novel ''Moise and the World of Reason'' and broadcasting a production of ''Two-Character Play' ''and ''In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel''. In 1976, Ruas created the Audio Experimental Theater, a platform for avant-garde performances at WBAI. The series presented works adapted for radio by

Meredith Monk Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. From the 1960s onwards, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recordi ...

Yvonne Rainer Yvonne Rainer (born November 24, 1934) is an American dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker, whose work in these disciplines is regarded as challenging and experimental.

Richard Foreman Richard Foreman (born Edward L. Friedman; June 10, 1937 – January 4, 2025) was an American avant-garde experimental playwright and the founder of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater. Though highly original and singular, his work was influenced by ...

Ed Bowes Ed Bowes is a filmmaker, writer, and director who pioneered the use of video as cinema. The first person to make a feature-length film in video, he used poets, musicians, artists, video- and filmmakers as performers in films such as ''Romance'' ( ...

Vito Acconci Vito Acconci (, ; January 24, 1940 – April 27, 2017) was an American performance art, performance, video and installation artist, whose diverse practice eventually included sculpture, architectural design, and landscape design. His performan ...

, Ed Friedman, Charles Ludlam, and Robert Wilson and

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

, among others. Ruas left WBAI in 1977, during the crisis in which the station's building, the old Swedish Church, was sold. He and Marnie Mueller, the former WBAI Program Director, developed the idea to cover “Arts in New York” on public television, and proposed programming in each of the arts to

WNYC-TV WPXN-TV (channel 31) is a television station in New York City, serving as the local Ion Television outlet. Owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company, the station maintains offices on Seventh Avenue in Midtown ...

and

WNET-TV WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educa ...

. At the time, public television primarily covered community affairs, current events, news, and entertainment. While “Arts in New York” was being considered, in 1978, Ruas and Mueller received an NEA grant to produce a program on a contemporary artist. For

New York, Channel 31, they produced “In Daylight and Cool White,” a documentary on Minimalist artist

Dan Flavin Dan Flavin (April 1, 1933 – November 29, 1996) was an American minimalist artist famous for creating sculptural objects and installations from commercially available fluorescent light fixtures. Early life and career Daniel Nicholas Flavi ...

, who worked with light sculpture. At the last minute, due to a disagreement with the artist, the program was canceled, and instead donated to the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

's Film Department archives as a period document.

WPS1 and Clocktower Radio

In 2004, Ruas resumed broadcasting under the direction of Linda Yablonsky with the series Conversations with Writers for WPS1, Art on Air, in Long Island City. When the station moved from Queens to the historic Clocktower building in downtown Manhattan in 2009, it was renamed Art International Radio. Ruas continued the series there under the direction of David Weinstein until 2013. During this time, Ruas, Weinstein, and AIR associate Tennae Maki restored Ruas’ original WBAI programs and listed them at Clocktower under the name Historic Audio from the Archives of Charles Ruas. Following this initiative, Weinstein and Ruas continued collaborating on the Downtown History Project, making archival recordings of major figures from the downtown scene of the 1960s, including

Joan Jonas Joan Jonas (born July 13, 1936) is an American visual artist and a pioneer of video and performance art, "a central figure in the performance art movement of the late 1960s".Joanne Akalaitis JoAnne Akalaitis (born June 29, 1937, in Cicero, Illinois) is an avant-garde American theatre director and writer. She has won five Obie Awards for direction (and sustained achievement) and was a co-founder of the New York theater company Mabou ...

Fanny Howe Fanny Howe (born October 15, 1940, in Buffalo, New York) is an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Howe has written more than 20 books of poetry and prose. Her major works include poetry ...

Susan Howe Susan Howe (born June 10, 1937) is an American poet, scholar, essayist, and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among other poetry movements.

, R.H. Quaytman,

Yvonne Rainer Yvonne Rainer (born November 24, 1934) is an American dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker, whose work in these disciplines is regarded as challenging and experimental.

and

, until interrupted by the covid pandemic. CharlesRuas 1985 by PeterHujar

Literary and arts journalism

Ruas began writing about literature and the arts for diverse publications in the 1960s. From 1979 until 1982, he was a contributor to the ''

SoHo Weekly News The ''SoHo Weekly News'' (SWN) was a weekly alternative newspaper founded by music publicist Michael Goldstein and published in New York City from 1973 to 1982. Positioned as a competitor to ''The Village Voice'', it struggled financially. T ...

''. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a regular contributor to ''

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American art magazine, based in New York City. It covers visual arts from ancient to contemporary times. It is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. ''ARTnews'' has a readership of 180,000 in 124 co ...

'' and '' Art in America''. In 1983, Ruas was asked to translate

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

's first book, ''Death and the Labyrinth:

Raymond Roussel Raymond Roussel (; 20 January 1877 – 14 July 1933) was a French poet, novelist, playwright, musician, and chess enthusiast. Through his novels, poems, and plays he exerted a profound influence on certain groups within 20th century French litera ...

'', about one of the fathers of experimental writing. When in Paris, Ruas was introduced to Foucault by

Edmund White Edmund Valentine White III (January 13, 1940 – June 3, 2025) was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. A pioneering figure in LGBTQ and especially gay literature after the Stonewall riots, he wrote with ra ...

, who was a close friend. An interview was conducted at Foucault's home, in French, just one year before Foucault was to die of AIDS, and it was published in the article “Archéologie d’une passion” in ''Magazine littéraire''. It was included as a postscript in all editions of the translated volume, alongside an Introduction by

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

, who had originally discovered Roussel when he was studying in Paris. For his work on Foucault and contribution as a translator and critic, Charles Ruas was first nominated for the Chevalier (Knight) of the

Order of Arts and Letters The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

. In 1985,

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

published ''Conversations with American Writers'', collecting Ruas's most notable interviews with literary figures of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, including

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

Joseph Heller Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel '' Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...

Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short-story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel '' The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerou ...

Susan Sontag Susan Lee Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, critic, and public intellectual. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on "Camp", Notes on 'Ca ...

, and

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically accl ...

, among others. The book has been translated into numerous languages.

China

In 1992, when China reopened to the outside world post-Cultural Revolution, Ruas returned as a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Professor of American Literature and Civilization to

in Tianjin, his birthplace. While serving as a professor for two years, he connected with the family of his mother's friend, Grace Divine Liu, the American wife of his father's Chinese colleague. As a widow, she had been assigned to teach English at Nankai University in the same department where Ruas was teaching. Her life story resulted in the book ''Grace in China'', for which Ruas wrote the Introduction. This material, as well as Ruas’ research into his own family history in China from before the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

to 1946, is now deposited in the Tianjin Museum of Modern History. Ruas's Family Papers and Tianjin History Collection is housed at

Princeton University Library Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...

. ''Conversations with American Writers'' was translated into Mandarin in 1995. Then in 2019, for its centennial celebration, Nankai University awarded Ruas the College of Foreign Languages Distinguished Professor Medal.

Editing and work in translation

Upon his return to New York from China, Ruas was asked to edit the unfinished manuscript of Marguerite Young's monumental biography of labor leader

Eugene Victor Debs Eugene Victor Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five-time candidate of the Socialist Party o ...

, the first Socialist candidate for President of the United States, who ran against Woodrow Wilson from prison during WWI. ''Harp Song for a Radical: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs'' was published by Knopf in 1999. Ruas translated

Pierre Assouline Pierre Assouline (born 17 April 1953) is a French writer and journalist. He was born in Casablanca, Morocco to a Jewish family. He has published several novels and biographies, and also contributes articles for the print media and broadcasts for ...

's biography of D. H. Kahnweiler, the gallerist who sponsored the rise of Modernism in France, in 1990. This was followed by Assouline's ''Life of

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ( ; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...

'', on the illustrator and creator of the perennially popular comic book series ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...

''. Ruas then worked on two contemporary Polish histories by Agata Tuszynska. The first was ''Vera Gran the Accused'', on the popular early twentieth century Jewish Warsaw singer who was falsely accused of collaboration and treason and forced into exile in France. The second was Tuszinska's autobiographical ''Family History in Fear'', about discovering her Jewish identity and tracing anti-Semetic persecution and survival during World War II, and under Communism. For his work in furthering literature and the arts as a scholar and critic and for his translations from the French, in 2012, Ruas was awarded Chevalier de l'Order des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Lettres) by the government of France. A ceremony was held at the French Consulate in New York in 2015.

Books

* ''The Intellectual Development of the Duc de Saint Simon'' - Charles Ruas. Princeton University, 1970. * ''Conversations with American Writers'' – Charles Ruas. Knopf, 1985, * ''Conversations with American Writers'' – Charles Ruas. McGraw Hill, 1986, * ''Conversations with American Writers'' – Charles Ruas. Quartet Books, Ltd, London, 1986, ISBN 0-7043-2554-3 * ''Conversations with American Writers'' – Charles Ruas. Macmillan India, Ltd., New Delhi, 1986, ISBN 0-33390-919-4 * ''Conversaciones con escritores norteamericanos'' – Charles Ruas (Spanish translation by Carlos Gardini). Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires, 1986, ISBN 950-07-0378-5 * ''Conversations with American Writers'' – Charles Ruas. (Mandarin translation.) China Translation and Publishing Corporation, Beijing, 1995, ISBN 7-5001-0396-4 * ''Death and the Labyrinth: The World of Raymond Roussel'' – Michel Foucault. John Ashbery (Introduction), Charles Ruas (Translator and Postscript Interview with Michel Foucault). Doubleday, 1986, / University of California Press, 1987, ISBN 0-5200-5990-5 / Athlone, 1987, ISBN 0-485-12059-3 / Athone Contemporary Thinkers Series, 2004, ISBN 0-8264-6435-1 / Continuum, 2007, / Bloomsbury, 2006, ISBN 9781441175366 * ''An Artful Life: The Biography of D.H. Kahnweiler'' – Pierre Assouline. Charles Ruas (Translator). Grove/Atlantic, 1990, * ''Grace: An American Woman in China, 1934–1974'' – Eleanor McCallie Cooper, William Liu. Charles Ruas (Introduction). Soho Press, 2003, *''Harp Song for a Radical: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs'' – Marguerite Young. Charles Ruas Editor. Knopf, 2009, *''Hergé: The Man Who Created Tintin'' — Pierre Assouline. Charles Ruas (Translator) Oxford University Press, 2009, *''Vera Gran: The Accused'' – Agata Tuszynska. Charles Ruas (Translator). Knopf, 2013, *''Portrait of a Family in Fear'' – Agata Tuszynska. Charles Ruas (Translator). Knopf, 2016,

Anthologies

* ''The Art of Literary Publishing: Editors and Their Craft,'' edited by Bill Henderson. Pushcart Press, 1980, . ** "New Directions: An Interview with James Laughlin" with Susan Howe ** "The Struggle Against Censorship: with Maurice Girodias, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Carl Solomon, and James Grauerholtz" * ''Writers at Work, Sixth Series,'' edited by George Plimpton. The Viking Press, 1984, . ** "Carlos Fuentes: An Interview," with Alfred MacAdam. * ''Tennessee Williams Interviews'', edited by Albert J. Devlin. University Press of Mississippi, 1986. ISBN 0-87805-263-1. * "Tony Morrison, Interview," ''The Fiction Writer's Market'', 1987. Writer's Digest Books, 1987. ISBN 0-89879-267-3. * ''Marguerite Young Festschrift'', University of Hawaii Press, 1993. ** "The Epic Imagination." * ''Marguerite Young, Our Darling: Tributes and Essays,'' edited by Miriam Fuchs, Dalkey Archive Press, 1994. * ''Conversations with Susan Sontag'', edited by Leland Poague. University Press of Mississippi, 1995. ISBN 0-87805-834-6. ** "Susan Sontag: Me, Etcetera" * ''Conversations with Eudora Welty, Vol II'', edited by Peggy Whitman Prenshaw. University Press of Mississippi, 1996. ISBN 0-87805-864-8. * ''Foucault Live: Collected Interviews'', edited by Sylvère Lotringer. Semiotext(e), Columbia University Press, 1996. ISBN 9781570270185. * ''Recollections of Anaïs Nin: By Her Contemporaries'', edited by Benjamin Franklin V. Ohio University Press, 1996. ISBN 0821411659. * ''Donald Barthelme, Not Knowing: The Essays and Interviews'', edited by Kim Herzinger. Villard, 1999. ISBN 0679409831. * ''Burroughs Live: Collected Interviews,'' edited by Sylvère Lotringer. Semiotext(e), Columbia University Press, 2001. ISBN 9781584350101. * ''Conversations with Robert Stone'', edited by William Heath. University Press of Mississippi, 2016. ISBN 978-1-4968-0891-2.

Select articles and reviews

Literary reviews

* "The Volatile Voyeur: ''Cecil Beaton: A Biography''," Review, ''The New York Native'', September 20, 1986. * "Marguerite Young, Interview." ''The Paris Review'' #71, New York, 1977. * "Andy Warhol," Interview, ''Book Forum'', June 1980. * "Han Suyin, ''My House Has Two Rooms''," Review, ''Soho News'', July 23, 1980. * John Berger: ''Pig Earth'', Review, ''Soho News'', August 20, 2980. * "Truman Capote," Interview, ''Soho News'', September 3, 1980. * "E.L. Doctorow," Interview, ''Soho News'', September 3, 1980. * "Paul Theroux," Interview, ''Soho News'', September 21, 1980. * "Susan Sontag," Interview, ''Soho News'', October 12, 1890. * "Mary Lee Settle," Interview, ''Soho News'', October 1980. * "Eudora Welty," Interview, ''Soho News'', October 1980. * "Anne Arensberg," Interview, ''Soho News'', October 22, 1980. * "Vincent Virgas," Interview, ''Soho News'', December 23, 1980. * "Toni Morrison," Interview, ''Soho News'', March 11, 1981. * "Elizabeth Bowen, ''The Collected Stories''," Review, ''Soho News'', April 15, 1981. * "Gore Vidal," Interview, ''Soho News'', 1981. * "Elizabeth Spencer, ''Collected Stories''," Review, ''Soho News'', 1981. * "Robert Stone, ''A Flag for Sunrise''," ''New York Times Book Review'', October 18, 1981. * "Mario Vargas Ilosa, ''Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter''," ''New York Times Book Review'', September 1, 1982. * "Susan Sontag: ''Past Present and Future''," ''New York Times Book Review'', October 24, 1982.

Arts journalism

* "Kiki Smith at Pace Wildenstein," ''Art News'', 1997. * "Giacometti Retrospective at MoMA," ''Art News'', December 2001. * "Selected Works: Jack Smith's ''Flaming Creatures'' and works by Jackie Windsor, John Coplans, Lynn Yamamoto at PS 1," ''Art News'', October 2001. * "Ellen Zimmerman at Gagosian," ''Art News'', December 2001. * "Vermeer and the Delft School at Metropolitan Museum of Art," ''Art News'', December 2001. * "John Coplans at Andrea Rosen Gallery," ''Art News'', December 2001. * "John Riddy on John Ruskin's ''Praeterita'' at Lawrence Markey, ''Art News'', December 2001. * "Jewish Artists on the Edge at Yeshiva University," ''Art News'', April 2002. * "Pierre Klossoski's Large-Scale Drawings at Zabriskie Gallery," ''Art in America'', January 2003. * "Marina Karella Retrospective: The Benaki Museum Annex for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece," ''Art in America'', April 2005. * "Claude and François Lalanne: Sculpture at Paul Kasmin Gallery," ''Art News'', November 2006. * "Victorian Best Sellers: The Morgan Library," ''Art News'', January 2007. * "Edward Hopper's Etchings: 1915–1923 at Museum of Modern Art," ''Art News'', May 2008.

Asian arts and culture

* "China's Other Cultural Revolution: History and Chinese Art, 1850–1980," ''Art in America'', September 1, 1998. * "20th Century Chinese Art: Inside Out: New Chinese Art at Asia Society and PS 1 Contemporary Art Center," ''Art in America'', September 1998. * "Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art of Japan at Japan Society," ''Art News'', November 2001. * "Contemporary Chinese Artists, Goedhuis Gallery," ''Art News'', April 2002 * "The Silk Road: Import/Export: A Passage to China at Asia Society," ''Art in America'', March 2002. * "Designed for Pleasure: The World of Edo, Japan, in Prints and Paintings at the Asia Society," ''Art News'', June 2007. * "Rough and Refined: Contemporary Japanese Avant-Garde at Leo Castelli Gallery," ''Art News'', June 2007. * "Art and China's Revolution at Asia Society," ''Art News'', October 2008.

Arts and literature journalism in France

* "Susan Sontag," ''l'Express'' (Paris), 1984. * "Norman Mailer," Interview, ''Contre Ciel: Le magazine de lecture'' (Paris), December 1984. * "Tennessee Williams, la Jungle," Interview, ''l'Express'' (Paris), May 1984. * "Paul Theroux," Interview, l'Express (Paris), July 1984. * "Truman Capote,'Comme j'étais gentil!,'" Interview, ''l'Express'' (Paris), August 1984. * "Michel Foucault," Interview, "Archéologie d'une passion," ''Magazine littéraire'' (Paris), No. 221, July–August 1985. * "Rodin in China, Fine Arts Palace, Beijing," ''Art in America'', December 1993. * "Delpire & Cie., Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris," ''Art in America'', 2010.

Filmography

* ''Joan Jonas: I Want to Live in the Country (And Other Romances)'' (1976), written and performed by Joan Jonas, intercutting scenes from the Nova Scotia countryside with images of a Soho loft studio set-up, and featuring visuals, readings and music. (consultant) * ''Better, Stronger'' (1978), written and directed by Ed Bowes. With Karen Achenbach and Charles Ruas. Camera by Tom Bowes. Video Feature Film, Walsung Productions. * ''How to Fly'' (1980), written and directed by Ed Bowes. With Tom Bowes and Karen Achenbach. Video Feature Film, Walsung Productions. (consultant) * ''Spitting Glass'' (1989), written and directed by Ed Bowes. With Rosie Hall and cameo by Sophie Marsh. Musical score by Brooks Williams. Costumes by Nicole Miller. Produced by Amy Taubin. Video Feature Film, Walsung Productions. (consultant)

References

External links

Conversations With Writers, PS1

Pacifica Radio Archives

Clocktower

Historic Audio from the Archives of Charles Ruas

The Writers Room New York City

PEN American Center

France Honors Carla Peterson and Charles Ruas with the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters at the French Embassy in New York

Charles Ruas Papers and Audio Archives, Princeton University Firestone Library

Charles Ruas Archives - The Allen Ginsberg Project

Charles Ruas Interviews, Columbia University

The Queens Public Library Memory Project : The United Nations CommunityEast Asian Library Princeton University The Ruas China Archives 1860-1946
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruas, Charles 1938 births China Hands Princeton University alumni University of Paris alumni American art critics Literary critics of English Literary critics of French American broadcasters American producers Living people SoHo Weekly News people Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres