Kevin McMullen's "Editing and the Publishing Industry" class has brought an important, yet out-of-print, poet to a new generation of readers.
The Selected Poems of Harriet Monroe, published by the Southern Illinois University Press, was compiled and edited by students who sifted through, discussed, and selected poems covering the range and breadth of the author's styles and poetic interest. They also looked through handwritten manuscripts and letters to add context.
Monroe, who lived through the American Civil War, World War I, and the Great Depression, founded Poetry magazine in 1912. Her three collections of poetry and her own “selected poems” volume have all long been out of print. This volume includes previously published work and a number of poems drawing on manuscripts found in Monroe’s papers at the University of Chicago Library.
Last year, students and alumni in McMullen's class revived Susan Glaspell's novel Fidelity.
Read more about the process in "UNL project rediscovers, expands work of Poetry magazine founder" by Chris Dunker in Lincoln Journal Star and about the book on the publisher's website.
