University Of Houston Grad Student Discovers Walt Whitman's Buried Literary Work; 'The Life And Adventures Of Jack Engle" A Sentimental Treasure
Zachary Turpin, a University of Houston grad student recently found the buried literary treasures of Walt Whitman. "The Life and Adventures of Jack Engle" has been re-published 165 years after its first publication.
According to a report, the New York newspaper in 1852 published anonymously the 36,000-word novella in six parts. The novella was found on Monday when it was published online. Turpin discovered the buried literary treasure of Whitman.
Turpin shared that he was just going through the internet for a research on 19th-century newspapers online. He noted that the novel that has been found is a sentimental one. Whitman's literary works were all treasures.
This discovery of Whitman's work is the second for Turpin. He already discovered a book-length newspaper series on fitness and healthy living. Whitman published it in 1858 under a pseudonym. The Jack Engle novel by Whitman that has just been found is sentimentalism and had been buried after all these years.
It is indicated that the novel received less response then and appeared to be unsigned with typographical errors. Jack Engle has never been reprinted nor was it mentioned by Whitman then. The novel was about the stories of an orphan's adventures.
Meanwhile, Ed Folsom who is the editor of The Walt Whitman Quarterly Review shared that the discovery of the novella is like seeing the workshop of a great writer. The Walt Whitman quarterly Review has been the one that published the novella online.
In the meantime, the work will be reprinted by Iowa University Press in both hardcopy and paperback. In his early days, Whitman already mentioned that he had no interest in reviving his early literary works. However, Whitman worked on his literary work "Leaves of Grass" that later on became a household name.
His work on "Jack Engle" has been a way for him to transition into poetry but has always been good at prose long before.
