Professor.
M.A. 1975, Stanford.
Office: 212L Allen Hall.
Phone: (225) 578-2984.
E-mail: kamenetz@gmail.com
Website: www.kamenetz.com
Rodger Kamenetz is the author of the landmark international bestseller The Jew in the Lotus and the National Jewish Book Award-winning Stalking Elijah. His five books of poetry include The Lowercase Jew. He has been called "the most formidable of the Jewish-American poets". His memoir, Terra Infirma, has been described as "the most beautiful book every written about a mother and son."
His latest book, The History of Last Night's Dream, opens up the whole field of word and image, psychology and imagination, and points to an ancient but now hidden way of using dreams to rediscover the soul. It is a book that promises to change the way we dream.
Rodger Kamenetz was the founding director of LSU's MFA program and was also the founding director of LSU's Jewish Studies Program. He holds a joint professorship in English and in LSU's Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. He is internationally known for his work on Jewish-Buddhist dialogue, and lectures frequently on contemporary religion. His articles and essays on religion have appeared in The New York Times Magazine. He organized a national campaign of Passover Seders for Tibet, in cooperation with the International Campaign for Tibet including a special seder for Tibet in Washington D.C. attended by the Dalai Lama. A PBS documentary about Rodger's work, also titled The Jew in the Lotus, was first broadcast in 1999.
Publications:
Books:
The History of Last Night's Dream (Harper Collins, 2007);The Lowercase Jew (Northwestern, 2003); Terra Infirma: A Memoir of My Mother's Life in Mine (Schocken, 1999); Stalking Elijah (Harper Collins, 1997); Stuck ( Time Being, 1997); The Jew in the Lotus (Harper Collins, 1994); The Missing Jew: New and Selected Poems (Time Being, 1992), Nympholepsy ( Dryad, 1985); The Missing Jew (Dryad, 1979).
Film and Television: The Jew in the Lotus (PBS, 1999)
Poems in Magazines including: The New Republic, Grand Street, Shenandoah, Image, Pequod, Boulevard, Crazyhorse, Michigan Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner,NER/BLQ, Antioch Review. Poems in Anthologies including: Telling and Remembering, The Prairie Schooner Anthology of Jewish American Writing, Voices Within The Ark, McGraw-Hill Book of Poetry.
Personal Essays in: Ploughshares, New England Review, Missouri Review, Grand Street, North American Review, Georgia Review, Civilization, New York Times Magazine.
Professional Service, Honors, and Awards:
Awards: Prairie Schooner Reader's Choice Award in Poetry; National Jewish Book Award for Jewish Thought (1997); National Endowment for the Arts in Literature Fellowship (1992); Nathan Cummings Foundation Research Grant (1991); Louisiana State Arts Council Grant in Non-Fiction (1990).
Service: Director, Jewish Studies Minor (1994-2005); Project Director, LEQSF Enhancement Grant for Jewish Studies (1994-1996); Director of Creative Writing, LSU (1983-1985);
WEB SITE: http://kamenetz.com Following are streaming video clips from the film, The Jew in the Lotus.
Following are streaming video clips from the film, The Jew in the Lotus, playing at the Cinema Village in New York City for one week only from Jan 26 to Feb 6, 1999.
Clip (Real Audio Format)
Clip (Real Audio Format)
Clip (Real Audio Format)
December 31, 1998: National Public Radio, All Things Considered: NPR's Lynn Neary reports on some of the work that made 1998 a big year for spirituality writing. It was one of the fastest growing segments in publishing, as people of many faiths wrote about their spiritual beliefs, experiences, practices and rituals. Lynn talked with a few of the writers (including Rodger Kamenetz) included in a new book, The Best Spiritual Writing of 1998. Edited by Phillip Zelesky, the book is published by Harper San Francisco. (7:15)
Clip (Real Audio Format)
April 25, 1997: National Public Radio Morning Edition: NPR's Lynn Neary reports that before the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, ended his visit to the United States, he took part in a Jewish seder in Washington. The seder is a traditional meal marking the holiday of Passover, when Jews repeat the story of their escape from slavery in Egypt....a story Jewish and Buddhist leaders believe closely mirrors the Tibetan people's persecution under Chinese. Rodger Kamenetz is interviewed.