Charles Simic

{{Infobox poet

| name = Charles Simic

| image = Charles simic 6693.JPG

| caption = Simic in 2015

| birth_name = Dušan Simić

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|05|09}}

| birth_place = Belgrade, Yugoslavia

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|01|9|1938|05|09}}

| death_place = Dover, New Hampshire, U.S.

| education = New York University (BA)

| occupation = Poet

| awards = {{Plainlist|

{{nowrap|Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1990)}}
Wallace Stevens Award (2007)
Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award (2014)}}

}}

Dušan Simić ({{lang-sr-cyr|Душан Симић}}, {{IPA|sh|dǔʃan sǐːmitɕ|pron}}; May 9, 1938 – January 9, 2023), known as Charles Simic, was a Serbian American poet and poetry co-editor of The Paris Review. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 for The World Doesn't End and was a finalist of the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for Selected Poems, 1963–1983 and in 1987 for Unending Blues. He was appointed the fifteenth United States Poet Laureate in 2007.{{cite web|title=Poet Laureate Timeline: 2001–present|url=https://www.loc.gov/poetry/laureate-2001-present.html|publisher=Library of Congress|year=2009|access-date=January 1, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805022616/http://www.loc.gov/poetry/laureate-2001-present.html|archive-date=August 5, 2010}}

Biography

=Early years=

Dušan Simić was born in Belgrade. In his early childhood, during World War II, he and his family were forced to evacuate their home several times to escape indiscriminate bombing of Belgrade. Growing up as a child in war-torn Europe shaped much of his worldview, Simic stated. In an interview from the Cortland Review he said, "Being one of the millions of displaced persons made an impression on me. In addition to my own little story of bad luck, I heard plenty of others. I'm still amazed by all the vileness and stupidity I witnessed in my life."[http://www.cortlandreview.com/issuefour/interview4.htm Charles Simic profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170408193340/http://www.cortlandreview.com/issuefour/interview4.htm |date=April 8, 2017 }}, CortlandReview.com. Retrieved April 21, 2017.

Simic immigrated to the United States with his brother and mother to join his father in 1954, when he was sixteen. After spending a year in New York, he moved with his family to Oak Park, Illinois, where he graduated from high school.{{Cite web |last=Govea |first=Javier |date=2023-01-10 |title=Charles Simic, 84 |url=https://www.oakpark.com/2023/01/10/charles-simic-84/ |access-date=2023-01-15 |website=Oak Park |language=en-US}} In 1961, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and in 1966, he earned his B.A. from New York University while working at night to cover the costs of tuition.{{Cite news |title=Charles Simic |url=https://poets.org/poet/charles-simic |access-date=2024-09-03 |work=Academy of American Poets |language=en}}

=Career=

Simic began to make a name for himself in the early to mid-1970s as a literary minimalist, writing terse, imagistic poems.{{Cite book|last=Rodriguez|first=J. Matos|title=Unmothered Americas: Poetry and Universality (On Charles Simic, Alejandra Pizarnik, and Giannina Braschi|publisher=Columbia University Academic Commons|year=2005|location=New York}} Critics have referred to Simic's poems as "tightly constructed Chinese puzzle boxes". He himself stated: "Words make love on the page like flies in the summer heat and the poet is merely the bemused spectator."Simic, Charles (ed.) (1992) The Best American Poetry 1992, Charles Scribner's Sons p xv {{ISBN|978-0-684-19501-8}}

He was a professor of American literature and creative writing at University of New Hampshire beginning in 1973{{Cite news |last=Garner |first=Dwight |date=2023-01-09 |title=Charles Simic, Pulitzer-Winning Poet and U.S. Laureate, Dies at 84 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/books/charles-simic-dead.html |access-date=2023-01-28 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |last=Poets |first=Academy of American |title=About Charles Simic {{!}} Academy of American Poets |url=https://poets.org/poet/charles-simic |access-date=2023-01-28 |website=poets.org}} and lived in Strafford, New Hampshire.{{Cite web |title=Charles Simic |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/n80043344/charles-simic/ |access-date=2023-01-28 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}} Simic wrote on such diverse topics as jazz, art, and philosophy.{{Cite news|last=Chinen|first=Nate|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/arts/music/10poet.html|title=A Breezy Exchange Between Old Friends (Jazz and Poetry)|date=January 10, 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 19, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} He was influenced by Emily Dickinson, Pablo Neruda, and Fats Waller.{{Cite web|url=https://artfuldodge.spaces.wooster.edu/interviews/charles-simic/|title=A Conversation with Charles Simic|last=Williams|first=Eric}} He was a translator, essayist, and philosopher, opining on the current state of contemporary American poetry. He held the position of poetry editor of The Paris Review and was later replaced by Dan Chiasson. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1995, received the Academy Fellowship in 1998, and was elected a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2000.{{Cite web|url=https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/charles-simic|title=Charles Simic|last=Simic|first=Charles|date=February 4, 2014|website=Charles Simic|language=en|access-date=January 31, 2018}}

Simic was one of the judges for the 2007 Griffin Poetry Prize and continued to contribute poetry and prose to The New York Review of Books. He received the US$100,000 Wallace Stevens Award in 2007 from the Academy of American Poets.{{cite press release|title=Charles Simic Receives The Wallace Stevens Award|url=http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/386|publisher=Academy of American Poets|date=August 2, 2007|access-date=January 22, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625050713/http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/386|archive-date=June 25, 2008}}

Simic was selected by James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress, to be the fifteenth United States Poet Laureate, succeeding Donald Hall. In choosing Simic as the poet laureate, Billington cited "the rather stunning and original quality of his poetry".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/books/02poet.html?_r=1&oref=slogin|title=Charles Simic, Surrealist With Dark View, Is Named Poet Laureate|author=Motoko Rich|date=August 2, 2007|work=The New York Times|access-date=January 22, 2016}}

In 2011, Simic was the recipient of the Frost Medal, presented annually for "lifetime achievement in poetry".{{Cite web|url=https://poetrysociety.org/about/news/announcing-the-2011-frost-medalist-charles-simic|title=Announcing the 2011 Frost Medalist, Charles Simic|website=Poetry Society of America|access-date=April 18, 2020}}

Simic's extensive papers as well as other material about his work are held at the University of New Hampshire Library Milne Special Collections and Archives.{{Cite web |date=2008-03-07 |title=Guide to the Charles Simic Papers, 1958-2018 |url=https://library.unh.edu/find/archives/collections/charles-simic-papers-1958-2011 |access-date=2023-01-28 |website=Library |language=en}}

=Personal life and death=

Simic married fashion designer Helene Dubin in 1964, and their union produced two children. In 1971, he became an American citizen.{{Cite web |date=January 10, 2023 |title=Charles Simic, Pulitzer prize-winning poet, dies at age 84 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/10/charles-simic-pulitzer-prize-winning-poet-dies-84 |access-date=January 10, 2023 |website=The Guardian |language=en}} Simic died of complications of dementia on January 9, 2023, at age 84.{{cite web|title=Charles Simic, Pulitzer-Winning Poet and U.S. Laureate, Dies at 84|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/books/charles-simic-dead.html|work=The New York Times|last=Garner|first=Dwight|date=January 9, 2023|access-date=January 9, 2023}}{{cite news |title=Umro američki pesnik srpskog porekla Čarls Simić |url=https://www.telegraf.rs/pop-i-kultura/knjige-stripovi/3612898-umro-carls-simic |access-date=January 9, 2023 |publisher=Telegraf |date=January 9, 2023}}

Awards

PEN Translation Prize (1980){{cite web | title=1980 Literary Award Winner | website=PEN America | date=November 2, 2012 | url=https://pen.org/1980-literary-award-winner/ | access-date=January 10, 2023}}
Ingram Merrill Foundation Fellowship (1983)
MacArthur Fellowship (1984–1989){{cite web | title=Charles Simic | website=MacArthur Foundation | date=August 9, 2022 | url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-march-1984/charles-simic | access-date=January 10, 2023}}
Pulitzer Prize finalist (1986){{cite web | title=Simic Finalist 1986 | website=The Pulitzer Prizes | url=https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/charles-simic | access-date=January 10, 2023}}
Pulitzer Prize finalist (1987){{cite web | title=Simic Finalist 1987 | website=The Pulitzer Prizes | url=https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/charles-simic-0 | access-date=January 10, 2023}}
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1990){{cite web | title=Simic Winner 1990 | website=The Pulitzer Prizes | url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/charles-simic | access-date=January 10, 2023}}
Wallace Stevens Award (2007){{cite web | title=Charles Simic Receives the Wallace Stevens Award | website=poets.org | date=April 4, 2019 | url=https://poets.org/charles-simic-receives-wallace-stevens-award | access-date=January 10, 2023}}
Frost Medal (2011){{cite web | title=Announcing the 2011 Frost Medalist, Charles Simic | website=Poetry Society of America | date=January 24, 2011 | url=https://poetrysociety.org/about/news/announcing-the-2011-frost-medalist-charles-simic | access-date=January 10, 2023}}
Vilcek Prize in Literature (2011){{cite web | title=Charles Simic | website=Vilcek Foundation | date=May 15, 2020 | url=https://vilcek.org/prizes/prize-recipients/charles-simic/ | access-date=January 10, 2023}}
Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award (2014){{cite web | title=Laureate of the Zbigniew Herbert Literary Award 2014 | website=Fundacja Herberta | date=May 9, 1938 | url=https://fundacjaherberta.com/en/the-herbert-prize/laureates/laureate-of-the-zbigniew-herbert-literary-award-2014/ | access-date=January 10, 2023}}
Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings (2017){{cite web | title=Charles Simic | website=Struga Poetry Evenings | date=May 9, 1938 | url=https://1.svp.org.mk/poets/charles-simic/ | access-date=January 10, 2023}}

Bibliography

= Poetry =

;Collections

1967: {{cite book |title=What the Grass Says: Poems |location=San Francisco |publisher=Kayak |date=1967 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/poetry/more_simic.html |title=Former Poet Laureate Charles Simic |publisher=Library of Congress }}
1969: {{cite book |title=Somewhere Among Us a Stone Is Taking Notes |date=1969}}
1971: Dismantling the Silence
1972: White
1974: Return to a Place Lit by a Glass of Milk
1976: Biography and a Lament
1977: Charon's Cosmology
1978: Brooms: Selected Poems
1978: School for Dark Thoughts
1980: They Forage at Night
1980: Classic Ballroom Dances
1982: Austerities
1983: Weather Forecast for Utopia & Vicinity: Poems, 1967–1982
1985: Selected Poems, 1963–1983 (1986 Pulitzer Prize finalist)
1986: Unending Blues (1987 Pulitzer Prize finalist)
1989: Pyramids and Sphinxes
1989: Nine Poems
1989: The World Doesn't End: Prose Poems (1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry)
1990: The Book of Gods and Devils
1992: Hotel Insomnia
1994: A Wedding in Hell: Poems
1995: Frightening Toys
1996: Walking the Black Cat: Poems, (National Book Award in Poetry finalist)
1997: {{cite book |title=Looking for Trouble: Selected Early and More Recent Poems |date=1997 |url=https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571192335-looking-for-trouble.html |publisher=Faber and Faber |isbn=978-0-571-19233-5}}
1999: Jackstraws: Poems (The New York Times Notable Book of the Year) {{ISBN|978-0-15-601098-6}}
1999: {{cite book |title=Selected Early Poems |isbn=978-0-8076-1456-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/selectedearlypoe0000simi |last1=Simic |first1=Charles |date=1999}}
2001: Night Picnic, {{ISBN|978-0-15-100630-4}}
2003: The Voice at 3:00 am: Selected Late and New Poems {{ISBN|978-0-15-603073-1}}
2004: Selected Poems: 1963–2003 (winner of the 2005 International Griffin Poetry Prize)
2005: Aunt Lettuce, I Want to Peek Under Your Skirt (illustrated by Howie Michels)
2005: My Noiseless Entourage: Poems {{ISBN|978-0-15-101214-5}}
2008: 60 Poems, {{ISBN|978-0-15-603564-4}}
2008: That Little Something: Poems {{ISBN|978-0-15-603539-2}}
2008: The Monster Loves His Labyrinth: Notebooks, {{ISBN|978-1-931337-40-3}}
2010: {{cite book |title=Master of Disguises, Poems |date=2010 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-547-50453-7}}
2013: {{cite book |title=New and Selected Poems: 1962–2012 |date=2013 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-547-92830-2}}
2013: {{cite book |title=Selected Early Poems |date=2013 |publisher=George Braziller Inc |isbn=978-0-8076-1620-8}}
2015: {{cite book |title=The Lunatic |date=2015 |publisher=HarperCollins/Ecco |isbn=978-0-06-236474-6}}
2017: {{cite book |title=Scribbled in the Dark |date=2017 |publisher=HarperCollins/Ecco |isbn=978-0-06-266117-3}}
2019: {{cite book |title=Come Closer and Listen: New Poems |location=New York |publisher=Ecco |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-06-290846-9}}
2022: {{cite book |title=No Land in Sight: Poems |publisher=Knopf |date=2022 |isbn=978-0-593-53493-9}}

;Translations

1970: Ivan V. Lalić, Fire Gardens
1970: Vasko Popa, The Little Box: Poems
1970: Four Modern Yugoslav Poets: Ivan V. Lalić, Branko Miljkovic, Milorad Pavić, Ljubomir Simović
1979: Vasko Popa, Homage to the Lame Wolf: Selected Poems
1983: Co-translator, Slavko Mihalić, Atlantis
1987: Tomaž Šalamun, Selected Poems
1987: Ivan V. Lalić, Roll Call of Mirrors
1989: Aleksandar Ristović, Some Other Wine or Light
1991: Slavko Janevski, Bandit Wind
1992: Novica Tadić, Night Mail: Selected Poems
1992: Horse Has Six Legs: Contemporary Serbian Poetry
1999: Aleksandar Ristović, Devil's Lunch
2003: Radmila Lazić, A Wake for the Living
2004: Günter Grass, The Günter Grass Reader
2019: Vasko Popa, Selected Poems{{cite book | last=Popa | first=Vasko | last2=Simic | first2=Charles | title=Vasko Popa : selected poems | publisher=New York Review Books | publication-place=New York | date=2019 | isbn=978-1-68137-336-2 | oclc=1037899168 | page= }}

;List of poems

class='wikitable sortable'
width=25%\|Title !\|Year !\|First published !\|Reprinted/collected
Left out of the Bible \|2021 \|{{cite journal \|author=Simic, Charles \|date=May 31, 2021 \|title=Left out of the Bible \|journal=The New Yorker \|volume=97 \|issue=14 \|pages=45 \|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/31/left-out-of-the-bible }} \|
Windy day \|2021 \|{{cite journal \|author=Simic, Charles \|date=September 20, 2021 \|title=Windy day \|journal=The New Yorker \|volume=97 \|issue=29 \|pages=65 \|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/20/windy-day }}

class='wikitable sortable'

width=25%|Title

!|Year

!|First published

!|Reprinted/collected

Left out of the Bible

|2021

|{{cite journal |author=Simic, Charles |date=May 31, 2021 |title=Left out of the Bible |journal=The New Yorker |volume=97 |issue=14 |pages=45 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/31/left-out-of-the-bible }}

Windy day

|2021

|{{cite journal |author=Simic, Charles |date=September 20, 2021 |title=Windy day |journal=The New Yorker |volume=97 |issue=29 |pages=65 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/20/windy-day }}

= Non-fiction =

1985: The Uncertain Certainty: Interviews, Essays, and Notes on Poetry
1990: Wonderful Words, Silent Truth: Essays on Poetry and a Memoir
1992: Dime-Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell
1994: The Unemployed Fortune-Teller: Essays and Memoirs
1997: Orphan Factory: Essays and Memoirs
2000: A Fly in the Soup: Memoirs
2003: The Metaphysician in the Dark (University of Michigan Press, Poets on Poetry Series)
2006: {{cite book|title=Memory Piano |date=2006|url=https://www.press.umich.edu/178651/memory_piano| publisher=University of Michigan Press, Poets on Poetry Series|isbn=978-0-472-06940-8}}
2008: The Renegade: Writings on Poetry and a Few Other Things
2015: The Life of Images: Selected Prose{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/books/review-charles-simic-displays-a-poets-voice-and-his-passions.html|title=Review: Charles Simic Displays a Poet's Voice and His Passions|first=Dwight|last=Garner |date=March 31, 2015|work=The New York Times}}

References

External links

=Profiles=

[http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/charles-simic Profile and poems of Charles Simic, including audio files], at the Poetry Foundation.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060525124650/http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=5559 Profile and poems written and audio at Poetry Archive]
[http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/27 poets.org biography, poems written and audio]
[http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/awards-and-poets/shortlists/2005-shortlist/charles-simic/ Griffin Poetry Prize biography and video clip]
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4076 Hossack, Irene. "Charles Simic".] The Literary Encyclopedia; first published May 4, 2006.

=Work=

[https://web.archive.org/web/20130131080134/http://thecoffinfactory.com/issue-four/ Charles Simic Poetry], published in Issue Three and Issue Four of The Coffin Factory
[https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/charlessimic/ Charles Simic Online Resources, Library of Congress]
[http://www.kwls.org/podcasts/charles_simic_2003/ Audio recording (.mp3) of Charles Simic reading at the Key West Literary Seminar, 2003]
[http://cafeirreal.alicewhittenburg.com/simic.htm "Seven Prose Poems" by Charles Simic] in The Cafe Irreal Issue 13, February 1, 2005
[http://media.nybooks.com/102008-simic.mp3 Simic reading from a collection of his own works] (Audio, 14 mins)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090511175637/http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/buniverse/videos/view/?id=306 Video of Charles Simic reading at Boston University's Robert Lowell Memorial Lecture, 2009] (60 mins)
[https://voetica.com/voetica php? collection/Audio recording 40 Charles Simic Poems read by Thomas Boeck at Voetica.com]
[http://www.nybooks.com/authors/133 Simic author page and article archive] from The New York Review of Books

=Interviews and review=

{{cite journal| url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5507/the-art-of-poetry-no-90-charles-simic|title=Charles Simic, The Art of Poetry No. 90|author=Mark Ford|journal=The Paris Review|date=Spring 2005}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20130131080134/http://thecoffinfactory.com/issue-four/ Poetry featured in The Coffin Factory issues 3 and 4]
[http://www.cortlandreview.com/issuefour/interview4.htm The Cortland Review interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170408193340/http://www.cortlandreview.com/issuefour/interview4.htm |date=April 8, 2017 }} (August 1998)
[https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/299613 "Charles Simic: The Orphan Of Silence"; Doctoral thesis by Goran Mijuk], February 1, 2002
[https://archive.org/details/CharlesSimic-InterviewByDejanStojanovic An Interview with Charles Simic] by Dejan Stojanović Serbian Magazine, August 9–23, 1991 (No. 89)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110827060356/http://shorts.nthword.com/2011/04/sessions-charles-simic-on-confessions.html SESSIONS: Confessions of a Poet Laureate], shorts.nthword.com, April 18, 2011
[https://web.archive.org/web/20150611074751/http://bombmagazine.org/article/3201/charles-simic-and-toma-alamun 2008 Bomb Magazine discussion between Charles Simic & Tomaž Šalamun]