Point of Contact - Punto de Contacto

09/11/2026

From the archive, into the present. Point of Contact’s vintage editions are now digitized and accessible to readers through puntopoint.org.
In July 1977, Point of Contact featured Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W. D. Snodgrass in “W. D. Snodgrass Translates Four Spanish Songs.”
Snodgrass was one of the most influential American poets of his generation. His first collection, Heart’s Needle, won the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and helped usher in the intensely personal mode of writing that came to be known as confessional poetry—although Snodgrass himself resisted the label.
He also had a deep Syracuse connection, teaching at Syracuse University from 1968 to 1977 during the formative years of its Creative Writing program. Translation was an important part of his literary practice throughout his career, spanning several languages and poetic traditions.
In this early Point of Contact contribution, poetry becomes an encounter across languages: four Spanish songs carried into English through the voice of another poet.
Rediscover the July 1977 edition and explore the complete Vintage Editions digital archive at puntopoint.org.

09/07/2026

From the archive, into the present. Point of Contact’s vintage editions are now digitized and accessible through puntopoint.org.
The Spring 1979 edition featured Carlos Fuentes, one of the most influential writers and public intellectuals of twentieth-century Latin America. A central figure of the Latin American literary boom, Fuentes was also a diplomat, essayist, and incisive commentator on politics, history, and relations between Latin America and the United States.
Published under the title “A Writer in an Alien Culture,” the text presents remarks Fuentes delivered on May 9, 1978, at City College of the City University of New York, as part of the Saposnekow Lecture Series on the theme The Writer in an Alien Culture.
The subject was particularly resonant for a writer whose life and work continually crossed borders—between Mexico and the United States, Latin America and Europe, literature and politics.
Nearly fifty years later, Fuentes’ reflections invite us back into questions that remain urgent: What does it mean to write between cultures? Where does a writer belong? And what becomes visible from the position of the outsider?
Explore the complete Spring 1979 edition and the newly digitized Vintage Editions collection at puntopoint.org.

09/06/2026

From the Point of Contact archives: where it all began.

Published in 1975, the very first edition of Punto de Contacto featured Jean Franco’s essay “The Limits of the Liberal Imagination: One Hundred Years of Solitude and Nostromo.”

A pioneering scholar of Latin American literature and cultural studies, Franco helped establish Latin American writing as an essential field of study in the English-speaking academy. Her influential work also brought sustained attention to women writers, gender, politics, and the cultural forces shaping literature across the Americas.

In this early essay, Franco places Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude in conversation with Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo, examining literature’s engagement with liberalism, imperialism, history, and power.

Fifty years later, her contribution reflects the vision present at Point of Contact’s founding: creating a space for rigorous, interdisciplinary, and cross-cultural dialogue.

Explore Point of Contact’s inaugural 1975 edition through our Vintage Editions digital collection at puntopoint.org. Link in bio.

09/04/2026

From the Point of Contact archives: POC 1976 is now available online. This vintage edition includes the special section “Periplum on Pound at Syracuse University,” bringing together several perspectives on the work and international influence of Ezra Pound.

The collection features:
• William Hoffa, “The Cantos and the Example of Antheil”
• J. U. Wilhelm, “Ezra Pound’s Dante”
• Michel Beaujour, “Pound in France”
• Two letters from Pound to Mexican scholar and translator José Vázquez Amaral

Vázquez Amaral devoted more than two decades to translating Pound’s Cantos into Spanish. The correspondence included in this edition offers a rare window into their intellectual exchange and into the complex networks of translation, scholarship, and cultural dialogue surrounding modernist literature.

Nearly fifty years later, this publication remains a compelling record.

Explore the complete 1976 edition and a growing archive of our vintage editions now fully digitized through the Point of Contact website: puntopoint.org

09/03/2026

Surrealism meets American art. Point of Contact presents its newly digitized collection of vintage editions.

The September/October 1976 issue of Point of Contact features “Jasper Johns and the Critique of Painting,” an essay by Greek-American poet, art critic, and surrealist Nicolas Calas.

A remarkable figure of the international avant-garde, Calas moved between poetry, political thought, Surrealism, anthropology, and art criticism. After becoming part of André Breton’s surrealist circle in Paris, he eventually settled in New York, where he became an incisive observer of postwar American art.

In this essay, Calas turns his attention to Jasper Johns, one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, considering his work within a larger questioning of what painting is—and what it can be.

Explore the complete 1976 edition through the Point of Contact website. Link to the vintage editions collection in bio.

08/10/2026

It takes art, science, and a whole lot of patience to preserve a masterpiece. ✨Meet expert conservator from Westlake Art Conservation Center, Lillie Steen, who takes us behind the lab doors to share the delicate process of restoring Tango (1991)—a powerful large-format folio combining the brilliant intaglio prints of Nancy Graves and the evocative prose of Pedro Cuperman. Part of the permanent collection at Point of Contact, this collaborative work explores the rhythmic intricacies of the dance the tango. Please consider supporting our efforts to safeguard this cultural treasure for the future, by making a tax-deductible donation to Point of Contact’s Living Collection Project. Your gift makes the art collection a dynamic resource that connects history with today’s emerging artists and tomorrow’s cultural leaders.

04/14/2026

https://news.syr.edu/2026/03/31/cruel-april-poetry-reading-celebrates-artists-living-with-disabilities/

Stephen Kuusisto, Urayoán Noel and OlaRose Ndubuisi will present their work at the annual Cruel April poetry reading on April 8.