Editor's page

WITH his death from a heart attack on Labor Day, September 2, 2002, Renascence lost its Senior Editor, Emeritus Professor of English, Dr. Joseph Schwartz. This special Graham Greene issue (anticipating the Greene centenary in 2004), was Dr. Schwartz's idea. It is with sadness that we dedicate the issue to Dr. Schwartz's memory.

Before his retirement from Marquette after nearly fifty years, Dr. Schwartz had been one of the longest serving editors of the journal and in veritable fact the "savior" of Renascence on more than one occasion. When the Catholic Renascence Society disbanded in the 1970s, it was Dr. Schwartz who urged then Vice President for Academic Affairs, Edward Simmons, to take the journal under Marquette's wing. Then, in the early 1990s, when another university was interested in taking over publication of Renascence, Dr. Schwartz prevailed on Academic Vice President Dr. Frank Lazarus to re-affirm the university's support of the journal. For these labors and his continued efforts to make Renascence the high quality, nationally and internationally known scholarly journal it is, in 1999 Dr. Schwartz received the Distinguished Retiring Editor Award from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals.

As an editor Joseph Schwartz was both discriminating and encouraging. His policy of welcoming young scholars' work, and always providing a careful response to any genuinely scholarly effort, has earned Renascence an enviable reputation as a nurturer of new talent. Dr. Schwartz's efforts to publish special issues on recognized, and some emerging authors and topics, have further distinguished the journal's fiftyfive year history. His commitment to the journal's scholarly witness to the vitality of the Christian tradition in literature and literary criticism has been a beacon for those of us who have been associated with Renascence as contributors, editors, Renascence Associates, and editorial staff.

With Dr. Schwartz's death, I also lost a colleague, a mentor, and a friend. I do not use the term "mentor" lightly. I have known only one true mentor in my life, and that was Joseph Schwartz. Both in my early years as a faculty member at Marquette, and during my eight years' editorship at Renascence, he provided a wealth of advice, suggestions, and criticism. As Samuel Hazo notes, to have a conversation with Joseph Schwartz was always an enlivening and educative experience. Whatever skills I have as an editor, whatever strengths I have as a scholar and teacher, I owe much of their development to the encouragement and mentoring of Joseph Schwartz. Requiescat in pace.

Copyright Marquette University Fall 2002
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