Stanley Cavell (1926–2018)

Cavell at home, April 9, 2014. © Charles Bernstein

I met Stanley Cavell almost fifty years ago and he and his work have been constant companions since that time. I am grateful for his friendship and that of Cathleen Cavell, over all these years.

In 1982, I wrote an essay on his work, published in boundary 2 and collected in Content’s Dream: pdf. On December 10, 2012, we taped a Close Listening program at his house in Brookline. Susan Howe sat in: MP3. Cavell’s PennSound page collects a number of recordings of his lectures. 

Cavell c. 1928, with hia mother, Fanny. Coutesy Cathllen Cavell: