Jay Wright
Jay Wright is an accomplished American poet and playwright, born on May 25, 1935, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He grew up in New Mexico and Southern California, becoming fluent in both English and Spanish, and developed a keen understanding of diverse cultural perspectives, including those of African American, Hispanic, and Native American communities. After serving in the U.S. Army and playing minor league baseball, Wright pursued higher education, earning a degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a master's from Rutgers University.
Throughout his career, he has received numerous prestigious accolades, such as the Guggenheim Fellowship and the MacArthur Fellowship, which have allowed him to dedicate time to his research and writing. Much of Wright's work delves into themes of cultural identity and spirituality, often drawing from his studies in comparative religion, philosophy, and anthropology. His poetry collections, including "Disorientations: Groundings" and "The Prime Anniversary," reflect a rich tapestry of cultural influences and introspective exploration. In addition to poetry, Wright has also ventured into playwriting, with multiple works published in recent years, showcasing his continuing literary contributions.
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Subject Terms
Jay Wright
- Born: May 25, 1935
- Birthplace: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Author Profile
Jay Wright was reared in New Mexico and Southern California. He became fluent in English and Spanish and knowledgeable regarding African American, Hispanic, and Native American ways of looking at the world. Extended travels in Mexico and Europe in later years also expanded his cultural literacy and the empathy evident in his work. His poetry expresses his interest in understanding the many different cultures that have contributed to modern global identity.
After high school in San Pedro, California, Wright played minor league baseball and served in the US Army. He earned a degree at the University of California at Berkeley in 1961, studied briefly at Union Theological Seminary, and received a master’s degree from Rutgers University in 1966. Though he taught at Tougaloo College, Talladega College, and Yale University in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Wright did not pursue a regular academic career. Married in 1971 to Lois Silber, Wright settled in New Hampshire to continue his research and writing.
Wright’s serious devotion to poetry and his prolific production brought him numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1968, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974, the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 1986, and a Academy of American Poets Fellowship in 1996. He received the Yale University Bolligen Prize in Poetry in 2005 and the American Book Award/ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. These awards allowed Wright time to study and to write. The study of comparative religion, philosophy, and anthropology is central to Wright’s poetic work, which explores the history of slavery in the New World by investigating the mythologies and cosmologies of the African, European, and Native American peoples.
Wright has published numerous anthologies of his poetry. Disorientations: Groundings, published in 2013, explores the metaphysical, physical sciences, and number theory as well as the cultures of New Mexico, Buenos Aires, and Alexandria, Virginia.
In 2019, Wright published The Prime Anniversary. This work is also a collection of poetry, as well as a one-act play. It is inspired by many diverse sources, such as ancient Greek philosophers as well as modernist Spanish writers. As in many of his previous works, Wright explores spirituality in the context of cultural rituals. Its contents are also meant to be deeply introspective, with the reader exploring their own reactions to the sentiments he sets forth.
In 2021, Wright published another collection of poetry titled Thirteen Quintets for Lois, which combines form and structure to explore being and grace. Wright went on to publish two plays in 2022, which are The Dramatic Radiance of Number: Selected Plays of Jay Wright, Volume One and Figurations and Dedications: Selected Plays of Jay Wright, Volume Two.
Bibliography
Berlin, Michael "On the Prime Anniversary by Jay Wright." The Georgia Review, 2019, thegeorgiareview.com/posts/on-the-prime-anniversary-by-jay-wright. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.
Clifford, James. The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. Harvard UP, 1988.
Daddario, Will, and Matthew Goulish. Pitch and Revelation: Reconfigurations of Reading, Poetry, and Philosophy through the Work of Jay Wright. Punctum Books, 2022.
Gracey, Jordyn. "Visiting Poet Jay Wright to Give Readings." Chronicle. Duke University, 4 Apr. 2014. Accessed 27 Mar. 2015.
Harris, Wilson. The Womb of Space: The Cross-Cultural Imagination. Greenwood Press, 1983.
Kutzinski, Vera M. Against the American Grain: Myth and History in William Carlos Williams, Jay Wright, and Nicolás Guillén. The Johns Hopkins UP, 1987.
Moore, J. Peter. "Rhythm, Divination, and Naming in Jay Wright’s Poetry." Hyperallergic, 4 Jan. 2020, hyperallergic.com/524557/the-prime-anniversary-jay-wright. Accessed 30 Sep. 2024.
Okpewho, Isidore. “Prodigal’s Progress: Jay Wright’s Focal Center.” MELUS, vol. 23, no. 3, fall 1998, pp. 187–209.
Stepto, Robert B. “After Modernism, after Hibernation: Michael Harper, Robert Hayden, and Jay Wright.” Chant of Saints: A Gathering of Afro-American Literature, Arts, and Scholarship, edited by Michael S. Harper and Robert B. Stepto, U of Illinois P, 1979.
Welburn, Ron. “Jay Wright’s Poetics: An Appreciation.” MELUS, vol. 18, no. 3, fall 1993, p. 51.
Wiman, Christian. "Jay Wright." Ambition and Survival: Becoming a Poet. Copper Canyon, 2013, pp. 213–16.