OCTOBER 29, 1987
VOL. 26 Number 4
THE LANCE
A St. Andrews Presbyterian College Student Publication
Rigsbee
Nobel
Translated
Laureate
Mark Powell
Communications
S t. Andrews Presbyterian College
Writer-In-Residcnce Ron Bayes called
David Rigsbee first thing Thursday morn
ing to inform him Joseph Brodsky had
won the 1987 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Rigsbee was happy for his former associ
ate.
“I’m happy for him; I think it’s a
brave, good choice to pick a 47 year-old
poet,” Rigsbee said. Rigsbee is the
director of the St. Andrews Press and the
Associate Dean of St. Andrews.
“Brodsky is a 20th Century
Metaphysical poet — he’s a Russian rein
carnation of John Donne,” Rigsbee said.
Rigsbee knew Brodsky was an
innovative, powerful poet when he trans
lated parts of the Russian poet’s last major
book of English poetry, “A Part of Speech.”
That was in 1980, but the translation came
after a long friendship and association with
the Nobel laurete.
It began when Rigsbee was
studying with Pulitzer Prize winner
Carolyn Kizer in his undergraduate years
at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.
“I was originally an English
major at UNC; then Carolyn suggested
there would be a lot more money in
translation than in writing poetry,
Rigsbee explained in his office on the
Laurinburg campus. “She suggested I
study Russian.”
Rigsbee did study Russian, later
eaming his bachelors degree in it. His early
project in Russian, about 1968, was the
translation of poetry.
“At the time, Yevtushenko and
Voznesensky were by far the most popular
and most translated of Russian poets,” he
said. “I wanted to translate someone that
hadn’t been u^nslated yet.”
That someone turned out to be
Brodsky — a young, little-known poet at
the time. Brodsky’s first translator was
George Kline of Bryn Mawr College in
Pennsylvania.
At Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Md., where Rigsbee got his
master’s degree in creative writing, he
translated Brodsky’s poems as part of his
master’s thesis.
“Right after I graduated from
Johns Hopkins, Carolyn Kizer called me
from Columbia University saying I should
come visit Brodsky there, where was visit
ing at the time,” Rigsbee said. “I flew up
there and we struck up a friendship imme
diately; he was very flattered that I had
translated his poetry.
“Joseph was, and is. very funny
and comes up with very original things all
the time; he’s capable of talking on any
topic and will launch into a speech out of
nowhere.”
Rigsbee said all during the 1970s
the two had an almost fraternal friendship.
“I was like his youngerbrother, he telling
me that he would leach me all the things
a poet needed to know about,” Rigsbee
said.
“I visited him often in New York;
we would read poetry together and spend
our summers driving around, seeing tlie
country.”
Rigsbee, the author of five books
of poetry with a 6th due out in December,
credits the publication of his first book
to Brodsky. EntiUed “Stamping Ground,”
Rigsbee’s book was published in 1976 by
Ardis, the premier publisher of Russian
See Rigsbee, page 12
Knights Pickle Mt. Olive
Buck Tredway
The rains let up just in time for
Knight booters to take a soggy 2-0 win over
Mt. Olive College in an inter-divisional
soccer match Tuesday afternoon. It was
the Knights second consecutive victory
which equals their longest winning streak
of the season.
One goal was scored in each half
of play and both goals were scored by sen
iors.
Matt Wilson opened the
scoring with a breakaway unassisted goal
15:46 into the first half. St. Andrews took 6
shots on goal in the first half while Mt.
Associate Dean and St. Andrews Press Director
David Rigsbee was among the first to translate the
worls of 1987 Nobel Prize for Literature winner
Convocation Was Perkinson's Last
Patrick Savage
Olive managed only 1.
Rob McLean scored the second
half goal on an assist by Kris Deal at20:48.
Deal placed the ball in perfect position for
McLean’s mid-air sidewinding kick, which
rocketed the ball into the left-hand side of
the net
The Knights had 9 second-half
shots on goal while ML Olive again man
aged only 1.
Mt. Olive College, which plays in
NAIA District 26, drops to 4-11. The
Knights improve to 5-H and play their
final game of the season November 4 at
home against Warren Wilson College.
On October 22, St. Andrews bid
farewell to President A.P. Perkinson as he
presided over his last formal ceremony at
the special autumn convocation in Avinger
Auditorium. Perkinson, citing a “point of
personal privilege,” told those assembled
of his good memories of St. Andrews since
he became president on May 1, 1975.
With a reference to the convocation, he
stated “It has been my privilege to have
attended over 40 such public occasions at
St. Andrews.”
Two honorary degrees were
also awarded at the convocation. A
Doctor of Divinity degree went to Douglas
Wayne Oldenburg, president of Colum
bia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Geor
gia, and former Chair of the Board of Trus
tees. A Doctor of Literature degree went
to Samuel Talmadge Ragan, poet laureate
of North Carolina and editor and publisher
of the Southern Pines Pilot.
Thomas L. Benson, Vice Presi
dent and Dean of the College, was the
convocation speaker. Benson’s address,
entitled “Foster the Light”, after a Dylan
Thomas poem, touched on many topics,
most importantly the state of higher educa
tion in the United States. Benson criticized
the “supermarket model” mentality of
some higher education institutions, while
reiterating St. Andrews’ struggle to main
tain its ideals to learning, slating that St.
Andrews must “keep the torch ablaze,
that torch which represents our
committment to learning.”
The St. Andrews Chorale performed
“Gloria” at the convocation, as well as the
Alma Mater. The St. Andrews Honor
Society served as ushers, marshals, and
standard bearers, while William Caudill
led the procession on the bagpipes.
Inside:
Mzala Speaks
On Violence
page 3
Brunnenburg desk
page 7
Micro Lab
improvements
page 8
O'Keeffe Musical
Celebration
page 9
Swansea to read
at Writers
Forum
tonight
page 11