The Jargon Society is an independent press founded by the American poet Jonathan Williams. Jargon is one of the oldest and most prestigious small presses in the United States and has published seminal works of the American literary avant-garde, including books by

Charles Olson Charles John Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modernist United States poetry, American poet who was a link between earlier Literary modernism, modernist figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams an ...

Louis Zukofsky Louis Zukofsky (January 23, 1904 – May 12, 1978) was an American poet. He was the primary instigator and theorist of the so-called "Objectivist" poets, a short lived collective of poets who after several decades of obscurity would reemerge a ...

, Paul Metcalf,

James Broughton James Broughton (November 10, 1913 – May 17, 1999) was an American poet and poetic filmmaker. He was part of the San Francisco Renaissance, a precursor to the Beat poets. Broughton was an early bard of the Radical Faeries, as well as a member ...

, and Williams himself, as well as ''

sui generis ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind" or "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". It denotes an exclusion to the larger system an object is in relation to. Several disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. ...

'' books of folk art such as ''White Trash Cooking''. Though most of Jargon's writers are either cult figures or genuine obscurities, the books themselves are often intricately designed deluxe editions.

Guy Davenport Guy Mattison Davenport (November 23, 1927 – January 4, 2005) was an American writer, translator, illustrator, painter, intellectual, and teacher. Life Guy Davenport was born in Anderson, South Carolina, in the foothills of Appalachia on Novem ...

described the Jargon Society as "a paradoxical fusion of fine printing and ''

samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

'' diffusion."

History

The Jargon Society was founded in 1951 by Jonathan Williams and David Ruff in a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Chinese restaurant. ''Jargon 1'' was the first work to be published by the small press, consisting of Williams' poem "Garbage Litters the Iron face of the Sun’s Child" and an etching by Ruff, made into a folded pamphlet. Only 150 copies were produced. ''Jargon 2'', published in the same year, was called "The Dancer," and contained a poem by

Joel Oppenheimer Joel Lester Oppenheimer (Jacob Hammer) (February 18, 1930 – October 11, 1988) was an American poet associated with both the Black Mountain poets and the New York School. He was the first director of the St. Marks Poetry Project (1966–1968) ...

and a drawing by

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" or "Bob" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combine painting, Combines (1954� ...

. Williams continued publishing works from fellow students and teachers while attending

Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The coll ...

Black Mountain, North Carolina Black Mountain is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,426 at the 2020 United States census. It is part of the Asheville metropolitan area. The town is named for the old train stop at the Black Mountai ...

. Williams enjoyed publishing writers and artists that were considered "underdogs," often encouraging collaboration between them. His predilection to champion outsiders in art and literature earned Williams the epithet "custodian of snowflakes" from literary critic Hugh Kenner. The press has published many influential works of the literary avant-garde, including ''The Maximus Poems'' by Charles Olson and ''The Neugents'' by David M. Spear. Jargon passed down the opportunity to publish the now Beat Generation classic, ''

Howl Howl most often refers to: * Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species * "Howl" (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl or The Howl may also refer to: Film * '' The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 Am ...

'', 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 ...

. One of the most well-known titles published by Jargon was ''White Trash Cooking'' by Ernest Matthew Mickler. This cookbook, which had been rejected by publishers in the Northeast before its publication by Jargon, was such a success that the small press could not keep up with orders. After a month, unable to keep up with demand, Jargon sold the rights to Ten Speed Press for $90,000 and a 15% royalties clause. Jargon has also sponsored many programs in literature and the arts, providing support for poets, photographers, and others "who are deserving but not recognized." The Jargon Society's inventory and rights were given to the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center soon after Williams' passing in 2008. The museum has continued publication under the imprint. As of 2019, there are 115 Jargon titles, including 85 books and 30 broadsides, pamphlets, and other types of work. The most recent publication is ''The Black Mountain College Anthology of Poetry'', produced in collaboration with the

University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a not-for-profit university press associated with the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the southern United States. It is a mem ...

''.''

Notable titles

Se
Jargon Society: A Checklist
for a full list of publications. Some of the more notable titles are: * ''The Dancer'', Joel Oppenheimer (1951). * ''Fables and Other Little Tales'', Kenneth Patchen (1953). * ''The Maximus Poems 1-10'', Charles Olson (1953). * ''The Immoral Proposition'', Robert Creeley (1953). * ''The Maximus Poems 11-22'', Charles Olson (1956). * ''All That Is Lovely in Men'', Robert Creeley (1955). * ''Some Time'', Louis Zukofsky (1956). * ''Will West'', Paul Metcalf (1956). * ''Passage'', Michael McClure (1956). * ''The Improved Binoculars: Selected Poems'', Irving Layton (1956). * ''The Dutiful Son'', Joel Oppenheimer (1956). * ''Hurrah for Anything: Poems and Drawings,''

Kenneth Patchen Kenneth Patchen (December 13, 1911January 8, 1972) was an American poet and novelist. He experimented with different forms of writing and incorporated painting, drawing, and jazz music into his works, which have been compared with those of Will ...

(1957). * ''the Whip'', Robert Creeley (1957). * ''Lunar Baedeker & Time-Tables'', Mina Loy (1958). * ''Letters: Poems MCMLIII-MCMLVI'', Robert Duncan (1958). * ''Overland to the Islands'', Denise Levertov (1958). * ''1450-1950'', Bob Brown (1959), with Corinth Books. * ''Jargon 31: 14 Poets, 1 Artist'' (1958) - Poems by Paul Blackburn,

Bob Brown Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is an Australian former politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a Australian Senate, senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian ...

Edward Dahlberg Edward Dahlberg (July 22, 1900 – February 27, 1977) was an American novelist, essayist, and autobiographer. Background Edward Dahlberg was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Elizabeth Dahlberg. Together, mother and son led a vagabond existence ...

, Max Finstein, Allen Ginsberg,

Paul Goodman Paul Goodman (September 9, 1911 – August 2, 1972) was an American writer and public intellectual best known for his 1960s works of social criticism. Goodman was prolific across numerous literary genres and non-fiction topics, including the ...

Denise Levertov Priscilla Denise Levertov (24 October 1923 – 20 December 1997) was a British-born naturalised American poet. She was heavily influenced by the Black Mountain poets and by the political context of the Vietnam War, which she explored in her p ...

, Walter Lowenfels, Edward Marshall, EA Navaretta, Joel Oppenheimer, Gilbert Sorrentino, Jonathan Williams,

, each with a drawing by Fielding Dawson. * ''A Form of Woman'', Robert Creeley (1959), with Corinth Books. * ''The Maximus Poems'', Charles Olson (1960), with Corinth Books. * ''On My Eyes'', Larry Eigner (1960). * ''The Darkness Surrounds Us'', Gilbert Sorrentino (1960). * ''Untitled Epic Poem on the History of Industrialization'', Buckminster Fuller (1962). * ''A Test of Poetry'', Louis Zukofsky (1964). * ''A Line of Poetry, a Row of Trees'', Ronald Johnson (1964). * ''Genoa: A Telling of Wonders'', Paul Metcalf (1965). * ''Flowers and Leaves'', Guy Davenport (1966). * ''T&G: The Collected Poems (1936-1966)'', Lorine Niedecker (1969). * ''The Spirit Walks, the Rocks Will Talk: Eccentric Translations form Two Eccentrics'', Ronald Johnson (1969). * ''Plum Poems'', Ross Feld (1971). * ''Patagonia'', Paul Metcalf (1971). * ''The Appalachian photographs of Doris Ulmann'',

Doris Ulmann Doris Ulmann (May 29, 1882 – August 28, 1934) was an American photographer, best known for her portraits of the people of Appalachia, particularly craftsmen and musicians, made between 1928 and 1934. She collaborated with writer Julia Pet ...

(1971). * ''A Long Undressing: Collected Poems, 1949-1969'', James Broughton (1971). * ''Spring of the Lamb'', Douglas Woolf (1972). * ''Epitaphs for Lorine'', Jonathan Williams (1973). * ''The Family Album of Lucybelle Carter'', Ralph Eugene Meatyard (1974). * ''The Middle Passage: A Triptych of Commodities'', Paul Metcalf (1976). * ''Madeira & Toasts for Basil Bunting's 75th Birthday'', ed. Jonathan Williams (1977). * ''Elite/Elate Poems: Selected Poems 1971-75'', Jonathan Williams (1979). * ''Just Friends/Friends and Lovers: Poems 1959-1962'', Joel Oppenheimer (1980). * ''Both'', Paul Metcalf (1982). * ''Sappho’s Raft (le rideau de la Mytilénienne)'', Thomas Meyer (1982); not to be confused with ''Sappho'' by Meyer, published by Coracle Press. * ''White Trash Cooking'', Ernest Matthew Mickler (1986). * ''Names & Local Habitations: Selected Earlier Poems 1951-1972'', Joel Oppenheimer (1988). * ''Bill Anthony’s Greatest Hits.'', William Anthony (1988). * ''At Dusk Iridescent: A Gathering of Poems 1972-1997'', Thomas Meyer (1999).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jargon Society Book publishing companies based in North Carolina Publishing companies established in 1951

History

Notable titles

References

External links