Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austin

Reg. no. 13558

Liz Murray, 1996

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin

This collection of William Gaddis material comes from the archive of Steven Moore, senior editor of the Review of Contemporary Fiction and Dalkey Archive Press, who has written and co-edited three books on Gaddis. With interest in Gaddis emerging in his college years, Moore sought to assemble a complete body of work by and about Gaddis, providing a wealth of bio/bibliographic information and material for this collection. Included are bound galleys of Gaddis's books, as well as articles, and writings for the Harvard Lampoon. Also present are numerous articles, critical essays, typescript drafts of books about Gaddis, typescripts of Moore's works on Gaddis, as well as reviews, interviews, and correspondence.

The collection is divided into four series: Works by Gaddis, Works about Gaddis, Correspondence (Steven Moore), and Gaddis, Personal. The first series contains bound proofs of Gaddis's books: Carpenter's Gothic, A Frolic of His Own, J R, The Recognitions, along with source materials. Additional works by Gaddis exist, including speeches, and writings for the Harvard Lampoon .

The second series, Works about Gaddis, contains printed and typescript essays by numerous authors, including typescripts of Moore's writings. These works compare and contrast the nature and importance of Gaddis's writing in contemporary literature. Also included are reviews of Gaddis's books, proofs of Gaddis's daughter Sarah's novel Swallow Hard, typescript of Jack Green's Fire the Bastards, and other book-length works on Gaddis.

Steven Moore's correspondence appears in the third series. Included is correspondence between Moore and William Gaddis, Vincente Livelli, Robert Minkoff, Tomasz Mirkowicz, Charles Monaghan, and Helen Parker, publishers, and authors and reviewers of Gaddis's work.

Biographical and bibliographical material is contained in the fourth series Gaddis, Personal, along with interviews, including a videotaped segment with Malcolm Bradbury for the "Writers in Conversation" series, and informal photographs of Gaddis.

A large collection of books received with this collection was transferred to the HRC book collection. Included are various versions of Gaddis's works, books used as source material for his writings, dissertations, other critical works, and a recording, "Songs of the 1940's," featuring Stella Brooks and Greta Keller.