Stephen Rojcewicz | University of Maryland, College Park (original) (raw)
Papers by Stephen Rojcewicz
Journal of Poetry Therapy, 2023
Having been attacked by the Marxist critic Michael Gold in 1930 for ostensibly ignoring the socia... more Having been attacked by the Marxist critic Michael Gold in 1930 for ostensibly ignoring the social issues of the day, and by Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson in 1942 and 1943 with accusations insinuating plagiarism, Thornton Wilder responded primarily as a creative writer. Although his plays and novels reflect his own literary goals, some passages include subtle responses to his critics. His prefaces, personal correspondence, and memoranda for his attorneys directly responded to the accusations. The attacks, at times ad hominem and homophobic, and often made in bad faith, had consequences. Wilder experienced astonishment, disgust, and personal distress. As a result of one controversy, The Skin of Our Teeth failed to win the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949, Wilder did not win, an outcome some critics attribute to these controversies. Wilder reacted to these attacks in the same way he lived his life and composed his writings, with poise, dignity, sensitivity, creativity, and an affirmation of human freedom.
Confinia psychiatrica. Borderland of psychiatry. Grenzgebiete der Psychiatrie. Les Confins de la psychiatrie, 1979
Fyodor Dostoevsky has continued to grow in stature and influence among modern writers. His modern... more Fyodor Dostoevsky has continued to grow in stature and influence among modern writers. His modernity is based, among other things, upon his psychological penetration of character and motive. Suicide received considerable attention and analysis in his novels and stories. Although dynamic psychiatry has always held Dostoevsky in high regard, practically all psychiatrists have tended to ignore Dostoevsky's valuable insights into the subject of suicide. This paper offers a total view of the author's contributions to suicidology, through a study of suicidal behavior in his fiction, journalism and in his own life experiences. Dostoevsky's writings are testimony to the continuous and brilliant interrelations between his fictional and journalistic narratives, his understanding of individual, family and group dynamics, his intellectual search for the roots of ideology, and the authentic experience and spiritual quest of his life.
Journal of Poetry Therapy, 2009
... pages 141-154. Available online: 04 Sep 2009. ... He examines philosophy, literature, the oth... more ... pages 141-154. Available online: 04 Sep 2009. ... He examines philosophy, literature, the other humanities, contemporary newspapers, science, and religion in his frustrated quest for help. He meditates on universal themes, seeking an answer to the question: how is man to live? ...
Capital Psychiatry, 2023
This poem is a villanelle, a sixteenth-century European form originating from a rustic dance (vil... more This poem is a villanelle, a sixteenth-century European form originating from a rustic dance (villano, "peasant"). A villanelle consists of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain, with the first and third lines of the first stanza rhyming, and this rhyme being repeated alternately in the following stanzas. These two refrain lines form the final couplet in the quatrain. The second line of the first stanza rhymes, more or less, with the second line of the subsequent stanzas. Many modern villanelles feature slight modifications.
Capital Psychiatry , 2022
52 haiku, reflecting each week in the year. Although the poems were written in English, I have tr... more 52 haiku, reflecting each week in the year. Although the poems were written in English, I have translated one haiku into Jpaanese, and another into Latin.
Delos: A Journal of Translation and World Literature, 2020
Journal of Poetry Therapy, 2021
Write a Poem, Save Your Life: A Guide for Teens, Teachers, and Writers of All Ages by Meredith He... more Write a Poem, Save Your Life: A Guide for Teens, Teachers, and Writers of All Ages by Meredith Heller is an important contribution to developmental and therapeutic uses of poetry, and of great value to teens, adults, teachers, poets, and therapists. Primarily written for pre-teens and teens in a classroom or workshop setting, Write a Poem, Save Your Life provides inspiration from the author’s life experience, practical writing exercises and prompts, and powerful examples of poems by Heller’s middle school and high school students.
An examination of the classical sources available to James Joyce for the character of Daedalus, a... more An examination of the classical sources available to James Joyce for the character of Daedalus, and how he used them in creating his character Stephen Dedalus in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. A separate article with Stephen Rojcewicz's translations of the relevant passages from Vergil and Ovid accompanies this article in this issue.
Delos: A Journal of Translation and World Literature, 2019
At the beginning of Book 4 of the Odyssey, Telemachus, accompanied by Nestor’s son, Peisistratus,... more At the beginning of Book 4 of the Odyssey, Telemachus, accompanied by Nestor’s son, Peisistratus, has arrived at the palace of the Greek leader Menelaus at Sparta. Telemachus is in search of information about his missing father, Odysseus. The earlier books of the Odyssey, except for indirect references and the introductory few lines, do not depict the ordeals of the hero Odysseus, but primarily deal with his son, Telemachus, only an infant when Odysseus left for the Trojan War. By now Odysseus has been gone for approximately twenty years, and Homer depicts Telemachus as grieving, depressed, weeping, insecure, anxious, and confused. Athena, appearing to Telemachus in Book 1, encourages him to travel, seeking knowledge about his father. Guided by Athena, Telemachus first lands in Pylos, where the wise hero and counselor Nestor sends Telemachus to Menelaus and Helen at Sparta, so that Telemachus can learn the truth about his father.
Sophocles' play Oedipus Tyrannus concludes with the chorus commenting on the fate of the ... more Sophocles' play Oedipus Tyrannus concludes with the chorus commenting on the fate of the protagonist. This is Oedipus, " who knew the famous riddle and was a most powerful man ." This essay examines whether Oedipus' knowledge of the riddle fully exhausts the meanings of the Sphinx. It is difficult to read any ancient tragedy in a fresh manner without preconceptions molded by centuries of accepted ideas and commentary, scholarly and polemical. Focusing on the Greek text of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, we can elicit further questions and enigmas concerning the Sphinx and Oedipus. Some of us might be somewhat surprised to realize that the Greek text of Sophocles' play: • does not cite the words of the riddle of the Sphinx; • does not give the words of Oedipus' answer to the riddle; • does not make explicit how the Sphinx dies; and • reports that an oracle had predicted that Oedipus would kill his parents (in the plural). In addition to a close reading of the play, we will attempt to address the above puzzles by a cross-disciplinary method. Psychoanalysts have examined and clarified several aspects of the Sphinx, but have not satisfactorily explained the above inconsistencies or surprises. Investigation of literary texts, linguistic etymology, and examples of ancient art will supplement the textual and psychological analyses. The power of the Oedipus legend may be overdetermined, reflecting multiple irrational fears and conflicts, including different issues for different individuals and cultures.
This handbook of bibliotherapy from Poland is a valuable, comprehensive survey of the current sta... more This handbook of bibliotherapy from Poland is a valuable, comprehensive survey of the current state of poetry therapy/bibliotherapy in central and Eastern Europe. It is scholarly as well as practic...
Journal of Phenomenological Psychology
Having often read praises of Horace’s poetic treatise on poetry, commonly called the Ars Poetica ... more Having often read praises of Horace’s poetic treatise on poetry, commonly called the Ars Poetica [ The Art of Poetry ] although it is formally named Epistula ad Pisones [ Letter to the Pisos ], I was quite disappointed in the first English translations I read in the 1960s and 1970s. Most versions seemed to me to be dull, without energy, very pedantic and stilted. No one reading these versions could imagine what made the work important or memorable. Although English translations have greatly improved since then, I would still like to offer a new version of the concluding section, which I have named The Mad Poet. These lines (453–476) may be the first ever description of a poetry reading (and you thought today’s amateur poets could be pushy and obnoxious). I translated the section almost literally, trying to use a vigorous vocabulary that still remained faithful to the original Latin. In one instance, I changed the active voice into passive, to allow the English syntax to be smoother.
Journal of Poetry Therapy, 2020
Dating back to the ancient Greek poets and artists, and sustained through later European art and ... more Dating back to the ancient Greek poets and artists, and sustained through later European art and literature, the winged horse Pegasus is linked with heroic deeds and with poetry and creativity through his association with the Muses. The reception of Pegasus since antiquity divides into two main strands: his role in the Perseus and Bellerophon myths, connecting the winged horse with heroic deeds and battles with monsters; and an allegoricalsymbolical interpretation, based on Pegasus' association with the fountain of the Muses. This article traces the literary sources of Pegasus, providing English translations of the relevant ancient Greek and Latin texts, and sampling early modern and modern Italian, German, and English works. Demonstrating the development of the heroic and the allegorical-symbolical avenues of interpretation, the paper also summarizes the satirical aspect of Pegasus. Full attention to all these aspects reinforces the excellence of Pegasus as a symbol of poetry therapy.
Capital Psychiatry, 2021
This poem is a sestina, a complex medieval verse form, invented by the Provençal troubadours, the... more This poem is a sestina, a complex medieval verse form, invented by the Provençal troubadours, then further developed by medieval Italian and French poets. The sestina follows a strict pattern of six unrhymed six-line stanzas, concluded by a three-line envoy. The six end-words of the first stanza are repeated, in a different order, in the subsequent five six-line stanzas, with the closing envoy containing all six end-words, two per line.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 08893675 2011 549683, Feb 13, 2011
Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, Feb 28, 1971
The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1973
Journal of Poetry Therapy, 2023
Having been attacked by the Marxist critic Michael Gold in 1930 for ostensibly ignoring the socia... more Having been attacked by the Marxist critic Michael Gold in 1930 for ostensibly ignoring the social issues of the day, and by Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson in 1942 and 1943 with accusations insinuating plagiarism, Thornton Wilder responded primarily as a creative writer. Although his plays and novels reflect his own literary goals, some passages include subtle responses to his critics. His prefaces, personal correspondence, and memoranda for his attorneys directly responded to the accusations. The attacks, at times ad hominem and homophobic, and often made in bad faith, had consequences. Wilder experienced astonishment, disgust, and personal distress. As a result of one controversy, The Skin of Our Teeth failed to win the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949, Wilder did not win, an outcome some critics attribute to these controversies. Wilder reacted to these attacks in the same way he lived his life and composed his writings, with poise, dignity, sensitivity, creativity, and an affirmation of human freedom.
Confinia psychiatrica. Borderland of psychiatry. Grenzgebiete der Psychiatrie. Les Confins de la psychiatrie, 1979
Fyodor Dostoevsky has continued to grow in stature and influence among modern writers. His modern... more Fyodor Dostoevsky has continued to grow in stature and influence among modern writers. His modernity is based, among other things, upon his psychological penetration of character and motive. Suicide received considerable attention and analysis in his novels and stories. Although dynamic psychiatry has always held Dostoevsky in high regard, practically all psychiatrists have tended to ignore Dostoevsky's valuable insights into the subject of suicide. This paper offers a total view of the author's contributions to suicidology, through a study of suicidal behavior in his fiction, journalism and in his own life experiences. Dostoevsky's writings are testimony to the continuous and brilliant interrelations between his fictional and journalistic narratives, his understanding of individual, family and group dynamics, his intellectual search for the roots of ideology, and the authentic experience and spiritual quest of his life.
Journal of Poetry Therapy, 2009
... pages 141-154. Available online: 04 Sep 2009. ... He examines philosophy, literature, the oth... more ... pages 141-154. Available online: 04 Sep 2009. ... He examines philosophy, literature, the other humanities, contemporary newspapers, science, and religion in his frustrated quest for help. He meditates on universal themes, seeking an answer to the question: how is man to live? ...
Capital Psychiatry, 2023
This poem is a villanelle, a sixteenth-century European form originating from a rustic dance (vil... more This poem is a villanelle, a sixteenth-century European form originating from a rustic dance (villano, "peasant"). A villanelle consists of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain, with the first and third lines of the first stanza rhyming, and this rhyme being repeated alternately in the following stanzas. These two refrain lines form the final couplet in the quatrain. The second line of the first stanza rhymes, more or less, with the second line of the subsequent stanzas. Many modern villanelles feature slight modifications.
Capital Psychiatry , 2022
52 haiku, reflecting each week in the year. Although the poems were written in English, I have tr... more 52 haiku, reflecting each week in the year. Although the poems were written in English, I have translated one haiku into Jpaanese, and another into Latin.
Delos: A Journal of Translation and World Literature, 2020
Journal of Poetry Therapy, 2021
Write a Poem, Save Your Life: A Guide for Teens, Teachers, and Writers of All Ages by Meredith He... more Write a Poem, Save Your Life: A Guide for Teens, Teachers, and Writers of All Ages by Meredith Heller is an important contribution to developmental and therapeutic uses of poetry, and of great value to teens, adults, teachers, poets, and therapists. Primarily written for pre-teens and teens in a classroom or workshop setting, Write a Poem, Save Your Life provides inspiration from the author’s life experience, practical writing exercises and prompts, and powerful examples of poems by Heller’s middle school and high school students.
An examination of the classical sources available to James Joyce for the character of Daedalus, a... more An examination of the classical sources available to James Joyce for the character of Daedalus, and how he used them in creating his character Stephen Dedalus in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. A separate article with Stephen Rojcewicz's translations of the relevant passages from Vergil and Ovid accompanies this article in this issue.
Delos: A Journal of Translation and World Literature, 2019
At the beginning of Book 4 of the Odyssey, Telemachus, accompanied by Nestor’s son, Peisistratus,... more At the beginning of Book 4 of the Odyssey, Telemachus, accompanied by Nestor’s son, Peisistratus, has arrived at the palace of the Greek leader Menelaus at Sparta. Telemachus is in search of information about his missing father, Odysseus. The earlier books of the Odyssey, except for indirect references and the introductory few lines, do not depict the ordeals of the hero Odysseus, but primarily deal with his son, Telemachus, only an infant when Odysseus left for the Trojan War. By now Odysseus has been gone for approximately twenty years, and Homer depicts Telemachus as grieving, depressed, weeping, insecure, anxious, and confused. Athena, appearing to Telemachus in Book 1, encourages him to travel, seeking knowledge about his father. Guided by Athena, Telemachus first lands in Pylos, where the wise hero and counselor Nestor sends Telemachus to Menelaus and Helen at Sparta, so that Telemachus can learn the truth about his father.
Sophocles' play Oedipus Tyrannus concludes with the chorus commenting on the fate of the ... more Sophocles' play Oedipus Tyrannus concludes with the chorus commenting on the fate of the protagonist. This is Oedipus, " who knew the famous riddle and was a most powerful man ." This essay examines whether Oedipus' knowledge of the riddle fully exhausts the meanings of the Sphinx. It is difficult to read any ancient tragedy in a fresh manner without preconceptions molded by centuries of accepted ideas and commentary, scholarly and polemical. Focusing on the Greek text of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, we can elicit further questions and enigmas concerning the Sphinx and Oedipus. Some of us might be somewhat surprised to realize that the Greek text of Sophocles' play: • does not cite the words of the riddle of the Sphinx; • does not give the words of Oedipus' answer to the riddle; • does not make explicit how the Sphinx dies; and • reports that an oracle had predicted that Oedipus would kill his parents (in the plural). In addition to a close reading of the play, we will attempt to address the above puzzles by a cross-disciplinary method. Psychoanalysts have examined and clarified several aspects of the Sphinx, but have not satisfactorily explained the above inconsistencies or surprises. Investigation of literary texts, linguistic etymology, and examples of ancient art will supplement the textual and psychological analyses. The power of the Oedipus legend may be overdetermined, reflecting multiple irrational fears and conflicts, including different issues for different individuals and cultures.
This handbook of bibliotherapy from Poland is a valuable, comprehensive survey of the current sta... more This handbook of bibliotherapy from Poland is a valuable, comprehensive survey of the current state of poetry therapy/bibliotherapy in central and Eastern Europe. It is scholarly as well as practic...
Journal of Phenomenological Psychology
Having often read praises of Horace’s poetic treatise on poetry, commonly called the Ars Poetica ... more Having often read praises of Horace’s poetic treatise on poetry, commonly called the Ars Poetica [ The Art of Poetry ] although it is formally named Epistula ad Pisones [ Letter to the Pisos ], I was quite disappointed in the first English translations I read in the 1960s and 1970s. Most versions seemed to me to be dull, without energy, very pedantic and stilted. No one reading these versions could imagine what made the work important or memorable. Although English translations have greatly improved since then, I would still like to offer a new version of the concluding section, which I have named The Mad Poet. These lines (453–476) may be the first ever description of a poetry reading (and you thought today’s amateur poets could be pushy and obnoxious). I translated the section almost literally, trying to use a vigorous vocabulary that still remained faithful to the original Latin. In one instance, I changed the active voice into passive, to allow the English syntax to be smoother.
Journal of Poetry Therapy, 2020
Dating back to the ancient Greek poets and artists, and sustained through later European art and ... more Dating back to the ancient Greek poets and artists, and sustained through later European art and literature, the winged horse Pegasus is linked with heroic deeds and with poetry and creativity through his association with the Muses. The reception of Pegasus since antiquity divides into two main strands: his role in the Perseus and Bellerophon myths, connecting the winged horse with heroic deeds and battles with monsters; and an allegoricalsymbolical interpretation, based on Pegasus' association with the fountain of the Muses. This article traces the literary sources of Pegasus, providing English translations of the relevant ancient Greek and Latin texts, and sampling early modern and modern Italian, German, and English works. Demonstrating the development of the heroic and the allegorical-symbolical avenues of interpretation, the paper also summarizes the satirical aspect of Pegasus. Full attention to all these aspects reinforces the excellence of Pegasus as a symbol of poetry therapy.
Capital Psychiatry, 2021
This poem is a sestina, a complex medieval verse form, invented by the Provençal troubadours, the... more This poem is a sestina, a complex medieval verse form, invented by the Provençal troubadours, then further developed by medieval Italian and French poets. The sestina follows a strict pattern of six unrhymed six-line stanzas, concluded by a three-line envoy. The six end-words of the first stanza are repeated, in a different order, in the subsequent five six-line stanzas, with the closing envoy containing all six end-words, two per line.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 08893675 2011 549683, Feb 13, 2011
Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, Feb 28, 1971
The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1973
Among the marvelous accomplishments of The Skin of Our Teeth, Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-wi... more Among the marvelous accomplishments of The Skin of Our Teeth, Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1942 drama, is creation of the name, “George Antrobus,” an act of genius that reflects numerous multicultural and multilingual concerns within Western civilization and its Judeo-Christian background. “George Antrobus” alludes to a huge sweep of history and mythology, including Oedipus (through the answer to the riddle of the Sphinx), Adam in Genesis, the Son of Man in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha, and the New Testament, the divine element of human nature in gnostic texts, the figure of Odysseus as hero, wanderer via ship, and survivor in the Odyssey, and the wonders of humanity in a Choral Ode in Sophocles’ Antigone. This name, moreover, represents the Americanization of these classical motifs.
Paper presented at the Third International Thornton Wilder Conference, Peterborough, N.H, June 12, 2018.
Latin Hendecasyllables after Catullus, and Sapphic Strophes after Horace. Presented at the Confer... more Latin Hendecasyllables after Catullus, and Sapphic Strophes after Horace. Presented at the Conference on Women and Classical Scholarship, celebrating the retirement of Judith P. Hallett, Professor of Classics, University of Maryland, College Park, April 27, 2018.
A video of this presentation is available at:
https://youtu.be/ie4eCcnvSe0