Preamble:
At the start of the twentieth century, a group of eminent Europeans sought “to found in Europe an organization . . . [to] assemble all the European admirers of [Walt Whitman] and propagate his works.” A century later, The Transatlantic Walt Whitman Association believes that Whitman remains a crucial figure for remembering and re-imagining the literary, critical, and political roles that poetry plays in the world. The Association explores and fosters the artistic, democratic, and intercultural vision of Walt Whitman in the context of the need for improved European and transatlantic cooperation.
The Transatlantic Walt Whitman Association seeks to:
• promote the cultural and literary presence of Walt Whitman, re-reading and re-writing him for the current age;
• understand Whitman’s significance in Europe’s literary, political, and cultural heritage, as well as Europe’s influence on Whitman’s life and writings;
• promote the teaching of Whitman’s works, especially in their intercultural contexts;
• create a network of collaboration and exchange among teachers and students of Whitman, both within Europe and across the Atlantic;
• cooperate with, and support, the work of The Walt Whitman Archive and of The Walt Whitman Quarterly Review in making Whitman’s writings, as well as writings about them, available to a broadening international audience;
• endorse and enable the work of Whitman’s translators;
• explore and foster the intersections between Whitman’s writings and other forms of cultural, social, and political expression.
February, 2007
Paris, France
From Left to Right: (Front Row) Maria Clara Bonetti Paro, Betsy Erkkilä, , Ed Folsom, Mario Corona, Lolita Hagondokoff, Marina Camboni; (Second Row) Marta Skwara, Ken Price, Walter Grünzweig, Jay Grossman, Éric Athenot; (Third Row) Unidentified Whitman Enthusiast, Merel Leeman, Christine Gerhardt
