The Hudson Review – Autumn 2004
Volume 57 Number 3
Autumn 2004
This issue begins, appropriately, with a tribute to founding editor Frederick Morgan (1922-2004). In an interview with board member Michael Peich, Morgan’s description of the journal couldn’t be more apt: “ongoing intellectual companionship.” This issue begins, appropriately, with a tribute to founding editor Frederick Morgan (1922-2004). In an interview with board member Michael Peich, Morgan’s description of the journal couldn’t be more apt: “ongoing intellectual companionship.” In this issue we are extremely well accompanied by an admirable, ambitious, and utterly readable historical “verse novel” by David Mason, a poetic narrative (a fictive poetry) based on the Ludlow mine massacre of 1914 in Colorado (unlike many large “projects,” this piece is as satisfying to read as it must have been to write); a masterfully crafted and beautifully disturbing story by Julie Keith, about the emotional abuse of a young girl and best of all, clever, biting reviews of poetry by Robert Phillips (one of the most intelligent, honest, and entertaining sets of reviews I have ever read), and Robert McDowell’s brilliant review of J. Edward Chamberlain’s If This is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories—an assessment so convincing I immediately sought out the book. If you are looking for intellectual companionship in the form of serious reading, authoritative voices, and strong, well articulated opinions, this issue is essential.