“The Art of Producing Something with the Capabilities of the Other”: Love and Pleasure, Editorship, Colleagueship, and Friendship

Abstract

Jack Amariglio was the founding editor of Rethinking MARXISM (as it was then typographically rendered) in 1988. He held the post for nine years, followed by many more years on the editorial board. During his nine years of editorship, nothing appeared in RM under Jack’s name alone. His work was deeply embedded in a collective endeavor and can only be understood in relation to the others in the collective; at the same time, Jack’s work was an attractive force that did much to hold the collective together. Simultaneously, and for an additional two decades beyond his editorship of RM, Jack was a member of the Merrimack College faculty. In both of these roles, Jack was an exemplar of a claim from an early issue of RM. The editors’ introduction in volume 1, number 2, invited readers to quote the Herr Keuner stories by Bertolt Brecht, newly translated by Lee Baxandall: “Love,” wrote Brecht-as-Keuner, “is the art of producing something with the capabilities of the other.” This sort of love has been Jack’s work.