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{{short description|American poet}}{{Infobox artist
{{Ref improve}}
| honorific_prefix =
{{Infobox artist
| name = <!-- include middle initial, if not specified in birth_name -->
| honorific_prefix =
| honorific_suffix =
| name = <!-- include middle initial, if not specified in birth_name -->
| image = Helen Adam.jpg
| honorific_suffix =
| image_size = 250px
| image = Helen Adam.jpg
| alt = Black and white photograph of Helen Adam, seated
| image_size = 250px
| caption =
| alt =
| native_name =
| caption =
| native_name_lang =
| native_name =
| birth_name = <!--only use if different from name-->
| native_name_lang =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1909|12|02|df=y}}
| birth_name = <!--only use if different from name-->
| birth_place = [[Glasgow]], Scotland
| birth_date = December 2, 1909
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1993|09|19|1909|12|02|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland
| death_place = [[New York City]], [[U.S.]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1993|09|19|1909|12|02|df=yes}}
| resting_place =
| death_place = [[New York City]], [[U.S]]
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| nationality =
| nationality = [[United Kingdom|Scottish]]
| education = [[Edinburgh University]]
| education = [[University of Edinburgh]]
| known_for = [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[poetry|poet]], [[collagist]] and [[photographer]]<br/>Active participant in the [[San Francisco Renaissance]]
| alma_mater =
| notable_works = ''The Elfin Pedlar and Tales Told by the Pixie Pool'', 1923<br/>''Charms and Dreams from the Elfin Pedlar's Pack'', 1924<br/>''Shadow of the Moon'', 1929<br/>''The Queen O' Crow Castle'', 1958<br/>''Ballads'', 1964<br/>''Counting Out Rhyme'', 1972<br/>''Selected Poems and Ballads'', 1974<br/>''Ghosts and Grinning Shadows'' (a collection of short stories), 1977<br/>''Turn Again to Me and Other Poems'', 1977<br/>''Gone Sailing'', 1980<br/>''Songs with Music'', 1982<br/>''The Bells of Dis'', 1984<br/>(With Auste Adam) ''Stone Cold Gothic'', 1984<br/>"San Francisco's Burning", 1985<br/>''A Helen Adam Reader''. Edited with notes and an introduction by [[Kristin Prevallet]], 2008<br/>
| known_for = *[[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[poetry|poet]], [[collagist]] and [[photographer]]
| style =
* Active participant in The [[San Francisco Renaissance]]
| movement =
| notable_works =
| spouse =
* ''The Elfin Pedlar and Tales Told by the Pixie Pool'', 1923
| awards = 1981 [[American Book Award]]
* ''Charms and Dreams from the Elfin Pedlar's Pack'', 1924
| elected =
* ''Shadow of the Moon'', 1929
| patrons =
* ''The Queen O' Crow Castle'', 1958
| memorials =
* ''Ballads'', 1964
| website = <!-- {{URL|Example.com}} -->
* ''Counting Out Rhyme'', 1972
| module =
* ''Selected Poems and Ballads'', 1974
* ''Ghosts and Grinning Shadows'' (a collection of short stories), 1977
* ''Turn Again to Me and Other Poems'', 1977
* ''Gone Sailing'', 1980
* ''Songs with Music'', 1982
* ''The Bells of Dis'', 1984
* (With Auste Adam) ''Stone Cold Gothic'', 1984.
* "San Francisco's Burning", 1985
* ''A Helen Adam Reader''. Edited with notes and an introduction by [[Kristin Prevallet]], 2008.

| style =
| movement =
| spouse =
| awards = 1981 [[American Book Award]]
| elected =
| patrons =
| memorials =
| website = <!-- {{URL|Example.com}} -->
| module =
}}
}}



'''Helen Adam''' (December 2, 1909 in [[Glasgow, Scotland]] – September 19, 1993 in [[New York City]]) was a [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[poetry|poet]], [[collagist]] and [[photographer]] who was part of a literary movement contemporaneous to the [[Beat Generation]] that occurred in San Francisco during the 1950s and 1960s. Though often associated with the Beat poets, she would more accurately be considered one of the predecessors of the Beat Generation.
'''Helen Adam''' (December 2, 1909 in [[Glasgow, Scotland]] – September 19, 1993 in [[New York City]]) was a [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[poetry|poet]], [[collagist]] and [[photographer]] who was part of a literary movement contemporaneous to the [[Beat Generation]] that occurred in San Francisco during the 1950s and 1960s. Though often associated with the Beat poets, she would more accurately be considered one of the predecessors of the Beat Generation.


==Collages==
== Life ==
Adam's first book of poetry, ''The Elfin Pedlar and Tales Told by the Pixie Pool'', was published in 1923, when she was 14 years old.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Helen Adam - Poet |url=https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/helen-adam/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=Scottish Poetry Library |language=en-GB}}</ref> The collection was in the [[Victorian era|Victorian]] [[literary genre|genre]] of [[light verse]] about [[fairy|fairies]] and other [[pastoral]] subjects. Her early books were well known and reviewed;<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Dunnigan |first=Sarah |date=2017-02-09 |title=Helen Douglas Adam (1909-93), child-poet of the pixie-pool |url=https://www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk/selcie/2017/02/09/helen-duncan-adam-1909-93-child-poet-of-the-pixie-pool/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=Scotland's Early Literature for Children Initiative |language=en-GB}}</ref> the composer [[Sir Charles Villiers Stanford]] set selections from ''The Elfin Pedlar'' to orchestral music, and performed them widely.<ref>Ange Mlinko, [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080414/mlinko "A Nurse of Enchantment"], book review, in ''[[The Nation]]'', byline March 27, 2008, accessed April 1, 2009</ref>
From Kristin Prevallet: "In a dark forest, a woman in a white strapless evening gown is stiffly toppling into the arms of a gigantic tarantula. One of her arms is nestled comfortably between the spider's strong, hairy forearms, and she appears comfortable with the monstrosity that is cuddling her. In another scene two bats are attached to the sleeve of an elegant lady's gown, dangling as if a part of her ensemble. The society debutantes around her appear to be oblivious to the grotesque attachment. The lady does have a slightly uncomfortable expression on her face, but it is not the bats that are making her nervous. Rather, she is worried that her private passions will be discovered by the outside world. She reassures herself, 'perhaps no one will notice them.' As in all of the collages of Helen Adam, the true desires of women are fulfilled not by mortal men, but by highly charged encounters with unhuman beings."


Adam attended the [[University of Edinburgh]] for two years as a non-matriculated student,<ref name=":0" /> after which she worked as a [[journalist]] in [[London]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2019-10-31 |title=Helen Adam (1909-1993) |url=https://www.ed.ac.uk/alumni/services/notable-alumni/alumni-in-history/helen-adam |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=The University of Edinburgh |language=en}}</ref> In 1939 she moved to the United States and eventually moved to San Francisco. In San Francisco she worked with such influential poets as [[Allen Ginsberg]] and [[Robert Duncan (poet)|Robert Duncan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://speccoll.library.kent.edu/literature/poetry/adam.html |title=Helen Adam Papers website |publisher=Speccoll.library.kent.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-06-18}}</ref> Adam also developed her first theater piece, 'San Francisco's Burning', a play with music, as well as unique visual designs & curtain by the San Francisco artist Gary Swartzburg, who worked with her on various theater projects prior to her moving to New York. One of the oldest of the poets in the ''[[San Francisco Renaissance]]'', she worked closely with Duncan, [[Jess Collins|Jess]], [[Madeline Gleason]], and [[Jack Spicer]], among others. She also encouraged many of the [[Beat Generation|Beat poets]] as they began to explore performance and writing as an art form. While her continued use of the [[ballad]] form "mystified" many of the poets more associated with the movement, the "magic and knowledge she brought to San Francisco startled the young wild sages of its Renaissance with a special kind of madness."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/prevallet/adam.html |title=The Reluctant Pixie Poole |publisher=Epc.buffalo.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-06-18}}</ref> [[Robert Duncan (poet)|Robert Duncan]] once referred to Adam as "the extraordinary nurse of enchantment."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Knight |first=Brenda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vnjTmEsXJwcC&q=Helen+Adam&pg=PA9 |title=Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution |date=October 1998 |publisher=Conari Press |isbn=9781573241380 |language=en}}</ref>
Helen Adam, whom the poet Robert Duncan once referred to as "the extraordinary nurse of enchantment," was an active participant in The San Francisco Renaissance, a literary movement contemporaneous to the Beat Generation that occurred in San Francisco during the 1950s and 60s. Born in Scotland in 1909, Adam primarily wrote supernatural ballads which tell of fatal romances, darkly sadistic sexual affairs, jealous lovers, and vengeful demons. Her collages arise from these ballads, and animate what she called her "lethal women." She assembled the majority of her collages in the late 1950s, having been influenced by the procedures of the well-known collage artist and painter Jess who was also living in San Francisco during this time. Jess's collages are a myriad of images, fitted like pieces of a puzzle which come together to form one visionary grande-collage. Universes of tiny details and connections are assembled together, a process that reflects the palimpsistic layering of contemporary poetry as much as it does the found-object and assemblage movements that are central to modern art. When compared to Jess's collages, Adam's are strikingly simple. They combine two images—a beautiful man or woman, and a creature. And this combination results in an ironic playfulness that teases the viewer to wonder: are these collages a form of self-portrait, a projection of this woman's deep fears mingled with her repressed desire?"


Helen Adam and her sister Pat collaborated on a ballad opera entitled ''San Francisco's Burning'' which was published in 1963 and reissued in 1985 with score by Al Carmines and drawings by Jess. Writer and friend [[Samuel R. Delany]] describes how the sisters took on the task of writing lyrics for different songs.<ref>Delany, Samuel R. "Beatitudes," in ''Occasional Views : More about Writing and Other Essays'', Wesleyan University Press, 2021. Pages 245-247.</ref> A collection of her poems was collected in a work titled ''Selected Poems and Ballads''. She was one of only four women whose work was included in [[Donald Allen|Donald Allen's]] landmark anthology, [[The New American Poetry 1945-1960]] (1960).<ref name=":0" /> Adam also appeared in several films: "Flotsum", a 45-minute art film done in San Francisco by her friend, the artist Gary Swartzburg, ''[[Poetry in Motion (film)|Poetry in Motion]]'' by [[Ron Mann]], ''Death'' and ''Our Corpses Speak'' by German experimental film maker [[Rosa von Praunheim]].
== Life ==
Adam was a precocious poet; her first book, ''The Elfin Pedlar'', was published in 1923, when the poet was fourteen years old. That book was in the [[Victorian era|Victorian]] [[literary genre|genre]] of [[light verse]] about [[fairy|fairies]] and other [[pastoral]] subjects. Her early books were well known and widely reviewed; the composer [[Sir Charles Villiers Stanford]] set selections from ''The Elfin Pedlar'' to orchestral music, and performed them widely.<ref>Ange Mlinko, [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080414/mlinko "A Nurse of Enchantment"], book review, in ''[[The Nation]]'', byline March 27, 2008, accessed April 1, 2009</ref>

Adam attended [[Edinburgh University]] for two years. After leaving Edinburgh University she worked as a [[journalist]] in [[London]]. In 1939 she moved to the United States and eventually moved to San Francisco. In San Francisco she worked with such influential poets as [[Allen Ginsberg]] and [[Robert Duncan (poet)|Robert Duncan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://speccoll.library.kent.edu/literature/poetry/adam.html |title=Helen Adam Papers website |publisher=Speccoll.library.kent.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-06-18}}</ref>
Adam also developed her first theater piece, 'San Francisco's Burning', a play with music, as well as unique visual designs & curtain by the San Francisco artist Gary Swartzburg, who worked with her on various theater projects prior to her moving to New York.
One of the oldest of the poets in the ''San Francisco Renaissance'', she worked closely with Duncan, [[Jess Collins|Jess]], [[Madeline Gleason]], and [[Jack Spicer]], among others. She also encouraged many of the Beat poets as they began to explore performance and writing as an art form. While her continued use of the [[ballad]] form “mystified” many of the poets more associated with the movement, the "magic and knowledge she brought to San Francisco startled the young wild sages of its Renaissance with a special kind of madness." <ref>{{cite web|url=http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/prevallet/adam.html |title=The Reluctant Pixie Poole |publisher=Epc.buffalo.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-06-18}}</ref>


Her papers are held at [[University at Buffalo, The State University of New York]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.buffalo.edu/pl/collections/ |title=Collections - The Poetry Collection - Special Collections - University at Buffalo Libraries |publisher=Library.buffalo.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-06-18}}</ref> and [[Kent State University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://speccoll.library.kent.edu/literature/poetry/adam.html |title=''Overview of the Helen Adam Papers'', Kent State Library |publisher=Speccoll.library.kent.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-06-18}}</ref>
Helen Adam and her sister collaborated on a ballad opera entitled ''San Francisco's Burning'' which was published in 1963 and reissued in 1985 with score by Al Carmines and drawings by Jess. A collection of her poems was collected in a work titled ''Selected Poems and Ballads''. She was one of only four women whose work was included in [[Donald Allen]]'s landmark anthology, [[The New American Poetry 1945-1960]] (1960). Adam also acted in three films: 'Flotsum', a forty five minute art film done in San Francisco by her friend, the artist Gary Swartzburg, ''Death'' and ''Our Corpses Speak'', both of which were filmed in Germany. Her life was a subject of a documentary film directed by
experimental film maker [[Rosa von Praunheim]].


Following the death of her sister in the 1980s, Adam disappeared from public view, dying in Brooklyn, New York, in September 1993.<ref name=":1" />
Her papers are held at [[University at Buffalo, The State University of New York]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.buffalo.edu/pl/collections/ |title=Collections - The Poetry Collection - Special Collections - University at Buffalo Libraries |publisher=Library.buffalo.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-06-18}}</ref> and [[Kent State University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://speccoll.library.kent.edu/literature/poetry/adam.html |title='&#39;Overview of the Helen Adam Papers'&#39;, Kent State Library |publisher=Speccoll.library.kent.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-06-18}}</ref>


== Awards ==
== Awards ==
Line 74: Line 48:


== Poem ==
== Poem ==
A good example of Helen Adam's verse with its striking use of language is "Margaretta's Rime":
An example of Helen Adam's verse with its striking use of language is "Margaretta's Rime":


{{poemquote|
:'''Margaretta's Rime'''
'''Margaretta's Rime'''


:''In Amsterdam, that old city,''
In Amsterdam, that old city,
:''Church bells tremble and cry;''
Church bells tremble and cry;
:''All day long their airy chiming''
All day long their airy chiming
:''Clavers across the sky.''
Clavers across the sky.
:''I am young in the old city,''
I am young in the old city,
:''My heart dead in my breast.''
My heart dead in my breast.
:''I hear the bells in the sky crying,''
I hear the bells in the sky crying,
:''"Every being is blest."''
"Every being is blest."
:''In Amsterdam, that old city,''
In Amsterdam, that old city,
:''Alone at a window I stand,''
Alone at a window I stand,
:''A spangled garter my only clothing,''
A spangled garter my only clothing,
:''A candle flame in my hand.''
A candle flame in my hand.
:''The people who pass that lighted window,''
The people who pass that lighted window,
:''Looking me up and down,''
Looking me up and down,
:''Know I am one more tourist trifle''
Know I am one more tourist trifle
:''For sale in this famous town.''
For sale in this famous town.
:''Noon til dusk at the window waiting,''
Noon til dusk at the window waiting,
:''Nights of fury and shame.''
Nights of fury and shame.
:''I am young in an old city''
I am young in an old city
:''Playing an older game.''
Playing an older game.
:''I hear the bells in the sky crying''
I hear the bells in the sky crying
:''To the dead heart in my breast,''
To the dead heart in my breast,
:''The gentle bells in the sky crying''
The gentle bells in the sky crying
:''"Every being is blest."''
"Every being is blest."}}

==Collages==
Adam made a series of collages in the 1950s, influenced by San Francisco artist Jess.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Riding the Meridian -- Lit [art] ure |url=https://archive.the-next.eliterature.org/meridian/adam4.html |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=archive.the-next.eliterature.org}}</ref> Of the work, [[Kristin Prevallet]] said that "the true desires of women are fulfilled not by mortal men, but by highly charged encounters with unhuman beings."<ref name=":2" />


== Selected publications ==
== Selected publications ==
* ''The Elfin Pedlar and Tales Told by the Pixie Pool'', 1923
* ''The Elfin Pedlar and Tales Told by the Pixie Pool'', New York, London, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1924. {{OCLC|1499053}}
* ''Charms and Dreams from the Elfin Pedlar's Pack'', 1924
* ''Charms and Dreams from the Elfin Pedlar's Pack'', 1924
* ''Shadow of the Moon'', 1929
* ''Shadow of the Moon'', 1929
Line 111: Line 89:
* ''Counting Out Rhyme'', 1972
* ''Counting Out Rhyme'', 1972
* ''Selected Poems and Ballads'', 1974
* ''Selected Poems and Ballads'', 1974
* ''Ghosts and Grinning Shadows'' (a collection of short stories), 1977
* ''Ghosts and Grinning Shadows'' (a collection of short stories), Hanging Loose Press, 1977 {{ISBN|9780914610106}}
* ''Turn Again to Me and Other Poems'', 1977
* ''Turn Again to Me and Other Poems'', Kulchur Foundation, 1977. {{OCLC|3240919}}
* ''Gone Sailing'', 1980
* ''Gone Sailing'', West Branch, Iowa: Toothpaste Press, 1980. {{ISBN|9780915124305}}, {{OCLC|6016319}}
* ''Songs with Music'', 1982
* ''Songs with Music'', 1982
* ''The Bells of Dis'', 1984
* ''The Bells of Dis'', Coffee House Press, 1985. {{ISBN|9780915124923}}, {{OCLC|633348555}}
* (With Auste Adam) ''Stone Cold Gothic'', 1984.
* (With Auste Adam) ''Stone Cold Gothic'', N.Y., N.Y. : Kulchur Foundation, 1984. {{ISBN|9780936538082}}, {{OCLC|11068931}}
* "San Francisco's Burning", 1985
* "San Francisco's Burning", 1985; Brooklyn Hanging Loose Press, 1999. {{ISBN|9780914610434}}, {{OCLC|330471884}}
* ''A Helen Adam Reader''. Edited with notes and an introduction by [[Kristin Prevallet]], 2008.
* ''A Helen Adam Reader''. Edited with notes and an introduction by [[Kristin Prevallet]], Orono : National Poetry Foundation, 2007. {{ISBN|9780943373744}}, {{OCLC|494131823}}


== References ==
== References ==
Line 133: Line 111:
*[http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/prevallet/adam.html "The Reluctant Pixie Poole", ''A Recovery of Helen Adam's San Francisco Years'', Kristin Prevallet, 1995]
*[http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/prevallet/adam.html "The Reluctant Pixie Poole", ''A Recovery of Helen Adam's San Francisco Years'', Kristin Prevallet, 1995]
*[http://ublibraries.smugmug.com/Poetry/Helen-Adam/27568050_48gNZ6#!i=2321019666&k=RVzMQgf Helen Adam Artwork (collages)] from the University at Buffalo Libraries
*[http://ublibraries.smugmug.com/Poetry/Helen-Adam/27568050_48gNZ6#!i=2321019666&k=RVzMQgf Helen Adam Artwork (collages)] from the University at Buffalo Libraries

{{Authority control}}


{{Poets in The New American Poetry 1945–1960}}
{{Poets in The New American Poetry 1945–1960}}
{{American Book Awards}}

{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, Helen}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, Helen}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American poets]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish women writers]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:American Book Award winners]]
[[Category:American women poets]]
[[Category:American women poets]]
[[Category:British emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Scottish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:People from Glasgow]]
[[Category:Writers from Glasgow]]
[[Category:Scottish women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century British women writers]]
[[Category:Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:20th-century American poets]]

Latest revision as of 13:28, 4 June 2024

Helen Adam
Black and white photograph of Helen Adam, seated
Born(1909-12-02)2 December 1909
Glasgow, Scotland
Died19 September 1993(1993-09-19) (aged 83)
New York City, U.S.
NationalityScottish
EducationUniversity of Edinburgh
Known forScottish poet, collagist and photographer
Active participant in the San Francisco Renaissance
Notable workThe Elfin Pedlar and Tales Told by the Pixie Pool, 1923
Charms and Dreams from the Elfin Pedlar's Pack, 1924
Shadow of the Moon, 1929
The Queen O' Crow Castle, 1958
Ballads, 1964
Counting Out Rhyme, 1972
Selected Poems and Ballads, 1974
Ghosts and Grinning Shadows (a collection of short stories), 1977
Turn Again to Me and Other Poems, 1977
Gone Sailing, 1980
Songs with Music, 1982
The Bells of Dis, 1984
(With Auste Adam) Stone Cold Gothic, 1984
"San Francisco's Burning", 1985
A Helen Adam Reader. Edited with notes and an introduction by Kristin Prevallet, 2008
Awards1981 American Book Award

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 during the 1950s and 1960s. Though often associated with the Beat poets, she would more accurately be considered one of the predecessors of the Beat Generation.

Life

[edit]

Adam's first book of poetry, The Elfin Pedlar and Tales Told by the Pixie Pool, was published in 1923, when she was 14 years old.[1] The collection was in the Victorian genre of light verse about fairies and other pastoral subjects. Her early books were well known and reviewed;[2] the composer Sir Charles Villiers Stanford set selections from The Elfin Pedlar to orchestral music, and performed them widely.[3]

Adam attended the University of Edinburgh for two years as a non-matriculated student,[2] after which she worked as a journalist in London.[4] In 1939 she moved to the United States and eventually moved to San Francisco. In San Francisco she worked with such influential poets as Allen Ginsberg and Robert Duncan.[5] Adam also developed her first theater piece, 'San Francisco's Burning', a play with music, as well as unique visual designs & curtain by the San Francisco artist Gary Swartzburg, who worked with her on various theater projects prior to her moving to New York. One of the oldest of the poets in the San Francisco Renaissance, she worked closely with Duncan, Jess, Madeline Gleason, and Jack Spicer, among others. She also encouraged many of the Beat poets as they began to explore performance and writing as an art form. While her continued use of the ballad form "mystified" many of the poets more associated with the movement, the "magic and knowledge she brought to San Francisco startled the young wild sages of its Renaissance with a special kind of madness."[6] Robert Duncan once referred to Adam as "the extraordinary nurse of enchantment."[7]

Helen Adam and her sister Pat collaborated on a ballad opera entitled San Francisco's Burning which was published in 1963 and reissued in 1985 with score by Al Carmines and drawings by Jess. Writer and friend Samuel R. Delany describes how the sisters took on the task of writing lyrics for different songs.[8] A collection of her poems was collected in a work titled Selected Poems and Ballads. She was one of only four women whose work was included in Donald Allen's landmark anthology, The New American Poetry 1945-1960 (1960).[2] Adam also appeared in several films: "Flotsum", a 45-minute art film done in San Francisco by her friend, the artist Gary Swartzburg, Poetry in Motion by Ron Mann, Death and Our Corpses Speak by German experimental film maker Rosa von Praunheim.

Her papers are held at University at Buffalo, The State University of New York,[9] and Kent State University.[10]

Following the death of her sister in the 1980s, Adam disappeared from public view, dying in Brooklyn, New York, in September 1993.[4]

Awards

[edit]

Poem

[edit]

An example of Helen Adam's verse with its striking use of language is "Margaretta's Rime":

Margaretta's Rime

In Amsterdam, that old city,
Church bells tremble and cry;
All day long their airy chiming
Clavers across the sky.
I am young in the old city,
My heart dead in my breast.
I hear the bells in the sky crying,
"Every being is blest."
In Amsterdam, that old city,
Alone at a window I stand,
A spangled garter my only clothing,
A candle flame in my hand.
The people who pass that lighted window,
Looking me up and down,
Know I am one more tourist trifle
For sale in this famous town.
Noon til dusk at the window waiting,
Nights of fury and shame.
I am young in an old city
Playing an older game.
I hear the bells in the sky crying
To the dead heart in my breast,
The gentle bells in the sky crying
"Every being is blest."

Collages

[edit]

Adam made a series of collages in the 1950s, influenced by San Francisco artist Jess.[11] Of the work, Kristin Prevallet said that "the true desires of women are fulfilled not by mortal men, but by highly charged encounters with unhuman beings."[11]

Selected publications

[edit]
  • The Elfin Pedlar and Tales Told by the Pixie Pool, New York, London, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1924. OCLC 1499053
  • Charms and Dreams from the Elfin Pedlar's Pack, 1924
  • Shadow of the Moon, 1929
  • The Queen O' Crow Castle, 1958
  • Ballads, 1964
  • Counting Out Rhyme, 1972
  • Selected Poems and Ballads, 1974
  • Ghosts and Grinning Shadows (a collection of short stories), Hanging Loose Press, 1977 ISBN 9780914610106
  • Turn Again to Me and Other Poems, Kulchur Foundation, 1977. OCLC 3240919
  • Gone Sailing, West Branch, Iowa: Toothpaste Press, 1980. ISBN 9780915124305, OCLC 6016319
  • Songs with Music, 1982
  • The Bells of Dis, Coffee House Press, 1985. ISBN 9780915124923, OCLC 633348555
  • (With Auste Adam) Stone Cold Gothic, N.Y., N.Y. : Kulchur Foundation, 1984. ISBN 9780936538082, OCLC 11068931
  • "San Francisco's Burning", 1985; Brooklyn Hanging Loose Press, 1999. ISBN 9780914610434, OCLC 330471884
  • A Helen Adam Reader. Edited with notes and an introduction by Kristin Prevallet, Orono : National Poetry Foundation, 2007. ISBN 9780943373744, OCLC 494131823

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Helen Adam - Poet". Scottish Poetry Library. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  2. ^ a b c Dunnigan, Sarah (2017-02-09). "Helen Douglas Adam (1909-93), child-poet of the pixie-pool". Scotland's Early Literature for Children Initiative. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  3. ^ Ange Mlinko, "A Nurse of Enchantment", book review, in The Nation, byline March 27, 2008, accessed April 1, 2009
  4. ^ a b "Helen Adam (1909-1993)". The University of Edinburgh. 2019-10-31. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  5. ^ "Helen Adam Papers website". Speccoll.library.kent.edu. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
  6. ^ "The Reluctant Pixie Poole". Epc.buffalo.edu. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
  7. ^ Knight, Brenda (October 1998). Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution. Conari Press. ISBN 9781573241380.
  8. ^ Delany, Samuel R. "Beatitudes," in Occasional Views : More about Writing and Other Essays, Wesleyan University Press, 2021. Pages 245-247.
  9. ^ "Collections - The Poetry Collection - Special Collections - University at Buffalo Libraries". Library.buffalo.edu. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
  10. ^ "Overview of the Helen Adam Papers, Kent State Library". Speccoll.library.kent.edu. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
  11. ^ a b "Riding the Meridian -- Lit [art] ure". archive.the-next.eliterature.org. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
[edit]
Library resources about
Helen Adam
By Helen Adam
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