Paul Zukofsky - Executor

Executor

Zukofsky is the copyright contact for his parents, Louis and Celia Zufoksky. He maintains tight control of his parents' archive. In 2009, Paul Zukofsky wrote an open letter telling graduate students and scholars that "In general, as a matter of principle, and for your own well-being, I urge you to not work on Louis Zukofsky, and prefer that you do not." In the letter, Paul Zukofsky required that graduate students ask him for permission to quote from his father's works in their dissertations (an extremely unusual practice), and made it clear that he might withhold such permission. Quoting from e. e. cummings (presumably without permission), he indicated that he believed that scholars write chiefly from self-interest and that their claims that their scholarship would help enhance Louis Zukofsky's artistic legacy were offensive:

I can perhaps understand your misguided interest in literature, music, art, etc. I would be suspicious of your interest in Louis Zukofsky, but might eventually accept it. I can applaud your desire to obtain a job, any job, although why in your chosen so-called profession is quite beyond me; but one line you may not cross i.e. never never ever tell me that your work is to be valued by me because it promotes my father. Doing that will earn my life-long permanent enmity. Your self-interest(s) I may understand, perhaps even agree with; but beyond that, in the words of e.e.cummings quoting Olaf: “there is some s I will not eat”.

Paul Zukofsky wrote in the letter that his chief concern was to derive income from his possession of copyrights in his father's work, not to censor what might be said, but it might well be the case that the unusual difficulty and expense of writing about Louis Zukofsky will affect the poet's legacy.

It has been pointed out that the claims Paul Zukofsky makes for having this control appear, however, to be in conflict with the "Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Poetry"

He is also known for his involvement in the removal of Arnold Schoenberg's archive from the University of Southern California. As of 1998, this archive resides in the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna, Austria.