|
Scope and Contents |
|
|
The papers of American writer, editor, and teacher Charles R. Larson consist mainly
of his notes, correspondence, and research material, as well as drafts and proofs
of
his reviews, essays, and novels. Included are typescript and handwritten notes
and
drafts; clippings, tearsheets, and photocopied excerpts of published works;
correspondence; photographs; theater programs; newsletters, catalogs, flyers and
brochures; agreements; page proofs; course assignments and syllabi; and curricula
vitae. Also present is some original manuscript material by African and Native
American writers. The materials date primarily from 1967-2002 and are organized
in
three series: I. Novels and Autobiographical Piece (1974-1982 and undated, 2.5
boxes); II. Critical and Editorial Work and Lectures (1894-2008, 27.5 boxes);
and
III. Works by African Writers (1959-2002 and undated, 4 boxes, 1 galley file).
Most
of the papers are in English, although some letters are in French and poems by
Chiedza Musengezi are also in Shona. Indexes of works and correspondents at the
end
of this finding aid list locations for all works and correspondence in the
collection. |
|
|
Series I. Novels and Autobiographical Piece includes page proofs of Larson’s novel
Arthur Dimmesdale (1983); handwritten and typed
drafts of The Insect Colony (1978); and drafts of
several unpublished novels and an essay. |
|
|
Series II. Critical and Editorial Work and Lectures is subdivided into three
subseries: A. African Literature, B. African American Literature and Film, and
C.
Native American Literature. As Larson stated in his book proposal for The Ordeal of the African Writer, he has spent "a
professional lifetime of studying, evaluating, writing about, and teaching African
literature," and his papers reflect this. Larson’s numerous files on African writers
contain his research material, such as clippings and photocopies of works by African
writers, and his notes on their works, along with some correspondence and drafts
of
Larson’s reviews. Similar files relating to Larson’s work on African American
and
Native American writers make up Subseries B. and C. |
|
|
Of particular note are files relating to Larson’s extensive research for his books
The Ordeal of the African Writer and Invisible Darkness: Jean Toomer and Nella Larsen. In
writing The Ordeal of the African Writer, Larson
interviewed and corresponded with writers and publishers about challenges faced
by
African writers; his notes, correspondence, and other research material are present,
along with drafts and page proofs of the book. For Invisible
Darkness, Larson corresponded with individuals who had known African
American writers Jean Toomer and Nella Larsen, and he gathered documents and other
evidence of their lives along with articles and other works about the writers.
An
unpublished autobiography by Nigerian writer Cyprian Ekwensi and correspondence
with
writer Bessie Head (South Africa, Botswana) are included in Larson’s files on
those
writers. Files relating to Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera contain a draft of her
unfinished work Obedience, which Larson hoped to ready for
publication. Also of interest are files relating to the Zimbabwe International
Book
Fair (ZIBF) from 1996 to 2001 and the 2005 International Conference on African
Literature and the English Language (ICALEL) which include correspondence, brochures
and flyers, publisher catalogs, clippings, programs, and papers presented. Larson’s
copy of Richard Wright’s FBI file is located with the files on African American
writers. Among the files on Native American writers is a file containing a
typescript of Idunne by Hyemeyohsts Storm, press packets, and
correspondence with the author. |
|
|
While a few original works by African writers are present in Larson’s files for his
short story anthologies and in submission files for Worldview and Kalahari Review, most of the
original manuscripts by African writers are located in Series III. Among these
are
galley proofs of Ayi Kwei Armah’s Two Thousand
Seasons; typescripts of short stories by S. Henry Cordor; an inscribed
typescript of Solomon Deressa’s Some Poems Finished and Unfinished;
signed photocopy typescripts of Wole Soyinka’s Camwood on the
Leaves, The Invention, and Madmen and Specialists; and typescripts of Sindiwi
Magona’s Last and Mother to Mother. An
index of works at the end of this finding aid lists all authors and works
represented in the collection. |
|
Series Descriptions |
|
|
Series I. Novels and Autobiographical Piece, 1974-1982, undated (2.5
boxes) |
|
|
Series I. includes page proofs of Larson’s novel Arthur Dimmesdale (1983), written from the point of view of the
character from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet
Letter, and one handwritten manuscript and two typescripts of
The Insect Colony (1978), a novel about
Europeans living in Africa. Also present are typescripts of Larson’s
unpublished novels Gridlock, The Ice King,
Journal of the Plague Years, Last Rights,
and Reach Out. "Sliding through
the Sixties", a reflection on Larson’s experiences during that
decade, is represented by one handwritten manuscript and a page of notes.
Manuscripts in Series I. are arranged alphabetically by title. |
|
|
Series II. Critical and Editorial Work and Lectures, 1894-2008 (27.5
boxes) |
|
|
Series II. consists of Larson’s research, writing and teaching files. It is
composed of three subseries: A. African Literature, B. African American
Literature and Film, and C. Native American Literature. Larson’s files have
been kept in the general groups in which they were received, but within
those groupings the files have been arranged alphabetically by file title. |
|
|
African Literature files include subject files on African writers and
manuscripts; files relating to Larson’s books More
Modern African Stories (Opaque Shadows
and Other African Stories), Ordeal of the
African Writer, and Under African Skies:
Modern African Stories; files of The International Conference on
African Literature and the English Language (ICALEL) and Zimbabwe
International Book Fair (ZIBF) materials; and files related to writer Yvonne
Vera. Among the African writers represented in the subject files are Leila
Aboulela, Chinua Achebe, André Brink, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ernest Emenyonu,
Nuruddin Farah, Athol Fugard, Bessie Head, Wahome Mutahi, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o,
Alan Paton, Lenrie Peters, Richard Rive, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ousmane
Sembéne, and Wole Soyinka. The files contain clippings and tearsheets;
Larson’s notes, review typescripts, and course material; photocopies of
works by African writers; correspondence; theater programs; and similar
material, all dating from 1953-2008. The bulk of the correspondence in the
series is from Bessie Head and Nuruddin Farah. Also present are a limited
number of letters from other writers, such as Leila Aboulela, Mark
Mathabane, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Ben Okri, and Wole Soyinka. An index of
correspondents at the end of this finding aid provides locations for all
correspondence in the collection. Although there are few original
manuscripts by African writers in the subject files, there is a photocopy
typescript of "Khama, the Great" by Bessie
Head, a photocopy printout of Cyprian Ekwensi’s autobiographical In
My Time, and typescripts of "My
Father, the Englishman, and I" and "Sagal" by Nuruddin Farah. In addition, original typescripts of
works submitted to Kalahari Review and Worldview are present; notable among these are
short stories by Leila Aboulela, Ama Ata Aidoo, Steve Chimombo, Solomon
Deressa, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ezenwa-Ohaeto, Sindiwe Magona, and William Saidi.
A file of photographs of African writers includes images of Leila Aboulela,
S. Henry Cordor, Nuruddin Farah, Camara Laye, Véronique Tadjo, and Wole
Soyinka; a file of photographs of Chinua Achebe is also present. |
|
|
Files for Larson’s anthologies of short stories contain correspondence,
permissions, and agreements, as well as his notes and typescripts of his
introductions. In addition, page proofs of Under
African Skies: Modern African Stories are present, and a file of
material relating to Larson’s anthology African Short
Stories: A Collection of Contemporary African Writing includes a
corrected typescript of "Mulyankota" by
Nuwa Sentongo. Larson’s book The Ordeal of the
African Writer is represented by numerous files, including
extensive research files; responses Larson received to a writer’s
questionnaire he sent to African writers; correspondence with James Gibbs,
Bernth Lindfors, publishers, and others; typescript drafts; page proofs; and
more. |
|
|
The International Conference on African Literature and the English Language
(ICALEL) and Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) files include
correspondence, brochures, flyers, publisher catalogs, clippings, programs,
and papers presented, covering ICALAL 2005 and ZIBF 1996-1997 and 2000-2001.
ZIBF 1998 and 1999 materials are located in Larson’s The Ordeal of the African Writer files. |
|
|
Files pertaining to Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera contain correspondence with
her, her husband John Jose, and others; articles about Vera and tearsheets
of her stories; drafts, proofs, and tearsheets of Larson’s article "Vera Yvonne: Sorting It Out"; and material
from Larson’s work on Vera’s unfinished typescript Obedience,
which he hoped to ready for publication. These files date from 1996 to 2008. |
|
|
Subseries B. African American Literature and Film is comprised of Larson’s
lecture files; files created by Larson for an unrealized work on black
films; material from another unrealized project on Richard Wright’s Native Son; and numerous files from Larson’s
work on Jean Toomer and Nella Larsen, Invisible
Darkness: Jean Toomer and Nella Larsen (1993). African American
lecture files include Larson’s notes, course assignments and syllabi,
clippings, tearsheets, and typescripts of Larson’s reviews. Among the
subjects are James Baldwin, Sterling A. Brown, Charles Chesnutt, Countee
Cullen, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, Marita Golden, Langston Hughes,
Zora Neale Hurston, Charles Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, William Melvin
Kelley, Gayl Jones, Leroi Jones, Nella Larsen, Claude McKay, Malcolm X, Toni
Morrison, Paul Robeson, George Schuyler, Jean Toomer, Alice Walker, Booker
T. Washington, Phillis Wheatley, John Wideman, and John A. Williams, as well
as the Harlem Renaissance, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, Richard
Wright’s FBI file, and other topics. A photocopy of the published
translation by Mariano J. Lorente of Cirilio Villaverde’s Spanish novel
The Quadroon or Cecilia Valdes, about
interracial relationships in slaveholding nineteenth-century Cuba, is
included with the African American files. |
|
|
Among African American Film files are Larson’s notes and research material he
gathered for a proposed book on black film. Files pertaining to another
unrealized project for which Larson intended to examine differing versions
of Richard Wright’s Native Son contain
Larson’s research proposal, travel information, clippings, notes by Larson,
and Larson’s typescript reviews. Toomer/Larsen files are those resulting
from Larson’s extensive research on writers Jean Toomer and Nella Larsen for
his book Invisible Darkness: Jean Toomer and Nella
Larsen (1993). Correspondence, documents, photographs,
clippings, tearsheets, notes, outlines, drafts, reviews, advertisements, and
a publishing agreement are all present. |
|
|
Subseries C. Native American Literature includes files created by Larson on
Native American authors, some a result of his critical work on novels by
Native Americans, American Indian Fiction
(1978), and one general file created while working on the book. Among the
authors represented are Denton R. Bedford, Dallas Chief Eagle, D’Arcy
McNickle, John Joseph Mathews, Jon Mockingbird, N. Scott Momaday, Mourning
Dove, Nas’Naga, John M. Oskison, George Pierre, Leslie Silko, Hyemeyohsts
Storm, and James Welch. The files contain clippings, tearsheets, notes by
Larson, reviews by Larson, correspondence, course assignments, press
releases, and similar material, all dating from 1933 to 2003. A typescript
of Storm’s Idunne with corrections and notes by Larson and a
corrected typescript of Leslie Silko’s "Introduction to Yellow Woman" are also present. A file on
Mexican American writer Rudolfo Anaya containing notes by Larson,
tearsheets, correspondence, and course assignments is included as well. |
|
|
Series III. Works by African Writers, 1959-2002, undated (4 boxes, 1
galley file) |
|
|
Series III. consists primarily of original manuscripts by African writers,
along with some tearsheets, clippings, and other materials. Arrangement is
alphabetical by author. Of special note are galley proofs of Two Thousand Seasons (1973) by Ayi Kwei Armah
and a typescript from a stage adaptation by James Gibbs of Armah’s The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, dating from
around 1970; typescripts of Syl Cheney-Coker’s In the Silence of
Memory (undated) and "Sierra Leone:
How Long the Betrayed Country?" (1998); typescripts of short
stories and anthologies by S. Henry Cordor, as well as his essay "Triumph and Tribulation of an African Writer from
Liberia" (1997); an inscribed typescript of Solomon Deressa’s
Some Poems Finished and Unfinished (1972); an undated
typescript of Redemption Road by Elma Shaw;
and typescripts of Wole Soyinka’s Camwood on the
Leaves (undated), The Invention
(1959), Madmen and Specialists (undated), and
"Ethical Images for the Millenial [sic]
Writer" (1997), as well as a signed copy of Soyinka’s poem "Telephone Conversation" with a postage stamp
depicting the author affixed to it. |
|
|
Other significant materials include an undated typescript of "The Two Villages" by Innocent Banda, a
photocopy of a corrected typescript of Blind Adventure by Sly
Edaghese, typescripts of Sindiwi Magona’s Mother to
Mother (undated) and its precursor Last (1997),
and typescripts by Bai T. Moore of "Categories of
Traditional Liberian Songs" and "The
Woman with the Black Snake," both from 1969. Undated typescript
poems by Omodele (Alice Perry Johnson), a typescript of Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again (1966), photocopy
corrected proofs of Worl’ Do for Fraid (1984)
by Nabie Yayah Swaray, an undated typescript of Black
Justice by David O. Umobuarie, and a photocopy of a printer’s
copy typescript of The Corpse’s Comedy (1974)
by Nanabenyin Kweku Wartemberg complete the series. |