A Preliminary Inventory of His David Foster Wallace Collection at the
Harry Ransom Center
Creator:
Moore, Steven, 1951-
Title:
Steven Moore Collection of David Foster
Wallace
Dates:
1987-2010
Extent:
4 document boxes, 1 oversize box (3.36 linear feet), and 39 electronic files (3.4
MB)
Abstract:
The Steven Moore Collection of David
Foster Wallace details a personal and professional relationship between the two
author-scholars primarily through Wallace's letters to Moore and Moore's reading
notes on Wallace's work.
Call Number:
Manuscript Collection MS-5268
Language:
English
Access:
Open for research. To request access to electronic files, please email Reference.
Restrictions on Use:
Certain restrictions apply to the use of electronic files. Researchers must agree
to the
Materials Use Policy for Electronic Files before accessing them. Original computer
disks and
forensic disk images are restricted. Copying electronic files, including screenshots
and
printouts, is not permitted.
The Steven Moore Collection of David Foster Wallace details a personal and
professional relationship between the two author-scholars primarily through
Wallace's letters to Moore and Moore's reading notes on Wallace's work. The
collection is organized in four series: Series I. Correspondence, 1987-2004,
undated; Series II. Works, 1989-2004; Series III. Published material, 1993-2010;
and
Series IV. Works by others, 2003-2010.
Series I. contains forty handwritten and typed letters, postcards, and notes
(1987-2004) from Wallace to Moore revealing a growing friendship and an increasing
trust by Wallace in Moore's opinion and editorial input. The letters discuss various
pieces of writing including their own, their writing and teaching careers, and
personal matters such as Wallace's frustrations with his busy schedule and a
physical altercation he had with a graduate student concerning David Markson's
Wittgenstein's Mistress. Additional letters from
Wallace to Moore are located with Wallace's drafts in Series II. In addition,
Series I.
contains photocopies of seventeen Wallace letters (1990-2001) to Markson that
mainly
discuss writing and other professional activities, at times providing insight
into
Wallace's appreciation of Markson's writing. The penciled notes on some of these
letters are Moore's. Also present are several letters from Wallace to Alexander
Laurence and Thomas Stewart.
Series II. contains typescript drafts of works that Wallace sought Moore's opinion
on. Most of the drafts are photocopies of originals Wallace sent to his publisher
or
agent except for the draft of Brief Interviews with Hideous
Men, which is a printout Wallace made from his own computer. Wallace
sent letters or notes with five of the drafts and wrote notes to Moore on the
corresponding envelopes of the drafts of Brief
Interviews and E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S.
Fiction. The series also contains Moore's reading notes on Brief Interviews and Infinite
Jest, as well as a photocopy of Moore's two-page letter recommending
cuts from the latter which Wallace had requested. Moore's scattered notes are
present in the margins of the Infinite Jest draft.
Series III. contains periodicals (1993-2010) with Wallace stories, essays, book
reviews, and interviews.
Series IV. contains works by others such as reviews, scholarly articles and
presentations, in-memoriam essays, and interviews with Wallace acquaintances.
Related Material
Additional Wallace materials at the Ransom Center are located in the David Foster
Wallace Papers, the David Foster Wallace Collection, the Bonnie Nadell Collection
of
David Foster Wallace, the Don DeLillo Papers, and the James Linville Paris Review Collection.
Separated Material
Thirty-four books, including many advance reading copies and uncorrected proofs, by
and about David Foster Wallace are cataloged separately and housed in the Ransom
Center Library. A single CD-R containing a 2006 study of Infinite Jest by Greg Carlisle was transferred to the Ransom Center's
Electronic Records Collection.
