Henry Zolinsky
Born
Henry Saul Zolinsky

(1903-08-03)August 3, 1903
New York City
DiedMay 2, 2001(2001-05-02) (aged 97)
Laguna Hills, California
NationalityAmerican
Other namesHenry Zolan
Occupation(s)Poet, school teacher
Years active1921–2001
Known forObjectivism

Henry Saul Zolinsky (1901–2001) was an American Objectivist poet and friend of Whittaker Chambers, Meyer Schapiro, Louis Zukofsky, and Samuel Roth.[1][2][3]

Background

Shepard Hall at City College of New York circa 1907, where Zolinsky studied

Henry Saul Zolinsky was born in 1901. His parents were Nathan Edward Zolinsky and Rosa Gleich.[1] Zolinsky studied at the City College of New York (now often known as "CCNY") in the early 1920s. In early June 1923, Zolinsky interrupted his college studies to sail by ship with friend Meyer Schapiro for Rotterdam and a tour of Europe. In later June, Whittaker Chambers sailed over to Bremerhaven; the three met in Berlin and traveled together.[3]

Career

John Saxton Sumner (1915) went after Samuel Roth but wound up arresting Henry Zolinsky instead

At City College, Zolinsky was an editor of The Lavender, student poetry magazine. His circle of friends extended to other student poets and writers, including many from Columbia University like Louis Zukofsky, Whittaker Chambers, Meyer Schapiro, and Samuel Roth.[2][4] He published Zukofsky in The Lavender.[5]

In 1929, Henry Zolinsky was working for the bookstore of Samuel Roth in New York City. On October 4, 1929, John Saxton Sumner, head of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice or "NYSVV" (chartered by the New York State Legislature), raided a warehouse of the Golden Hind Press (owned by Samuel Roth) in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The warehouse held copies of Ulysses, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Fanny Hill, and others–at the time, all considered pornographic under current U.S. law. Legally, the NYSVV could not tie Roth to the warehouse, but they could and did tie Zolinsky and Roth's brother Max Roth, who were arrested at the warehouse (a distribution point near New York City). Zolinsky spent several months in jail.[6][7][8] Zolinsky and another employee named Julius Moss also managed a bank account each for Samuel Roth in the name of "Richard Ross" so the Roth could hide profits.[6]

In late 1929 or 1930, Zolinsky, his wife, and newborn daughter came to live in Lynbrook, Long Island, with Whittaker Chambers at the home of his mother, Laha Chambers.[3]

In December 1931, Zolinsky's name appeared with those of his college friends (among them, Zukofsky and Chambers) in the famous December 1931 "Objectivist" issue of Poetry magazine.[9][10][11]

In 1940, Zolinsky's name appears in the U.S. Census as 36 years old, living in New York City with wife Mary Jane Zolinsky (32) and daughter Nancy Zolinsky (10), and earning his living as a school teacher (as did his long-time friend Zukofsky).[2][12]

Personal and death

Around 1929, Zolinsky married Mary Elizabeth Nolan: they had a daughter Nancy that year.[1][3][12]

Zolinsky and his wife are buried as "Henry Zolan"[1] and "Mary Elizabeth Nolan Zolan" at the Bennett Valley Cemetery in Santa Rosa, California.[13]

Awards

Works (Poetry)

  • "Pain" in Poetry (December 1921)[4]
  • "Will Power" in Poetry (December 1921)[4]
  • "Feeling" in Poetry (December 1923)[14]
  • "Sorrow and Joy" in Poetry (December 1923)[14]
  • "Horatio" in Poetry (December 1931)[15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Henry Zolinsky". Find-a-Grave. May 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Henry Zolinsky". Knickerbocker Village. May 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Tanenhaus, Sam (1997). Whittaker Chambers: A Biography. Random House. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 Zolinsky, Henry (December 1921). "Two Poems". Poetry magazine: 134. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  5. ↑ Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. "Journals and Publishers of LZ". Z-site: A Companion to the Works of Louis Zukofsky. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  6. 1 2 Gertzman, Jay A. (2 September 2011). Bookleggers and Smuthounds: The Trade in Erotica, 1920-1940. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 230–1 (arrest), 251 (Ross), 365 (fn47 arrest), 370 (fn15 Ross). Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  7. ↑ "(unclear)". Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. 5 October 1929. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  8. ↑ Birmingham, Kevin (12 June 2014). The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses. Penguin. pp. 283–284. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  9. ↑ "Objectivist Issue". Poetry magazine. December 1931. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  10. ↑ Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. "The "Objectivists" and Their Publications". Z-site: A Companion to the Works of Louis Zukofsky. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  11. ↑ Gamble, Ashley (14 February 2017). "Treat Poems Like Objects Not Your Woman: The Objectivists". Poetic Skewels. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  12. 1 2 "Henry Zolinsky in the 1940 Census". U.S. Census Bureau. 1940. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  13. ↑ "Mary Elizabeth Nolan Zolan". Find-a-Grave. May 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  14. 1 2 Zolinsky, Henry (December 1923). "Two Sonnets". Poetry magazine: 134. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  15. ↑ Zolinsky, Henry (December 1923). "Two Sonnets". Poetry magazine: 134. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
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