Acquisition:	Purchases, 1993 (R12984); 2004 (R15319); 2006 (R15441)
	Processed by:	Gautam Ganeshan, 2003; Hope Donovan Rider, 2004; Stephen Cooper, 2009; Born digital materials processed, arranged, and described by Chance Adams and Brenna Edwards, 2015-2022

Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

	Born in 1935 in Sialkot, Pakistan, Zulfikar Ghose moved with his family to Bombay, India during the Second World War in 1942. By 1965 he had only returned to Sialkot twice, once to attend a marriage and once to mourn a death. Thus, his writing reflects nostalgia for his roots ( "Mystique of Roots"), as well as confusion about where they are, India or Pakistan ( "Loss of India").
	In 1952, Ghose emigrated to London with his family. He obtained his degree from Keele University in 1952, and spent some years as a cricket correspondent for the Observer while working on his writing. Anthony Smith, B.S. Johnson, and Ghose met when all three served as joint editors, along with John Fuller, of an annual anthology of student poets called Universities' Poetry. He also made the acquaintance of Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, and the American novelist Janet Burroway, with whom he occasionally collaborated.
	From 1963-69, Ghose taught and wrote in London. Two collections of his poetry were published, The Loss of India (1964) and Jets From Orange (1967), along with an autobiography called Confessions of a Native-Alien (1965) and his first two novels, The Contradictions (1966) and The Murder of Aziz Khan (1969). He met, courted, and in 1964 married the Brazilian artist Helena de la Fontaine. During this time he kept up his correspondence with Anthony Smith despite the differing courses of their lives, and would continue to do so in the years to come.
	In 1969, Zulfikar Ghose uprooted and replanted himself once again in Austin, Texas, where he took up a position at the University of Texas as a professor of English. He continued writing and has published a number of novels including the Incredible Brazilian trilogy (1972-1985), as well as the collections of poetry The Violent West (1972) and A Memory of Asia (1984).
	Ghose died in Austin on June 30, 2022.

The inventory for the Zulfikar Ghose Papers is a conflation of one finding aid created in 1993 and preliminary inventories created for minimally processed additions received in 2004 and 2006. The additions were appended to the end of the original finding aid. Because all descriptions began the box numbering with Box 1, the 2004 addition is differentiated by adding the letter "a" to the original box number (e.g., Box 1a, Box 2a, etc.); the 2006 addition is differentiated by adding the letter "b" to the original box number (e.g. Box 1b, Box 2b, etc). The inventories were combined in 2025 to comply with a new content management system.

	1993 Acquisition
	The Zulfikar Ghose Papers is organized in two series, I. Poems and Short Story and II. Correspondence to Anthony Smith. The first includes poetry from The Loss of India, Jets from Orange, and other poems and work from that era. The second consists of correspondence with Anthony Smith from 1959-1992.
	The poetry holdings emphasize Ghose's work from the early 1960s. The collection of work related to The Loss of India is particularly strong, with nearly every poem from that publication represented in typescript, including "The Body's Independence "and "This Landscape, These People," two poems Ghose attributes to Anthony Smith's influence. Certain poems associated with, but not published in The Loss of India are also included here. One segment of edited work contains a note from Ted Hughes. Among the materials for Jets from Orange are a number of typescripts from that publication that were written concurrently with works from The Loss of India. Of the poems in the final folder, one is dedicated to B.S. Johnson ( "The Between of Love"), one authored by Edward Lucie-Smith ( "Lesson"), and one co-authored by Ghose and Janet Burroway ( "Your Country and Mine"). A single short story by Ghose, "The Third Wife," is also present. All the works are indexed by title in this guide.
	Most of the correspondence collected in the second series spans the years between 1959-63, during which Ghose and Smith were collaborating to edit Universities' Poetry. This and other themes are reflected in their correspondence, including their shared love of cricket, Ghose's relationship with imagism in poetry, his poverty, and his courting of Helena de la Fontaine. Of note are letters from across India during a subcontinental tour during the winter of 1961-62, and letters from Austin, Texas, after Ghose took a position at the university. The nature of their correspondence was described in a 1994 lecture Smith gave, a typescript of which is available in the A.C.H. Smith Collection at the Ransom Center.
	2004 Acquisition
	This addition to the papers of Zulfikar Ghose spans 1963-2004 and consists solely of correspondence between Ghose and the American author Thomas Berger. The letters cover topics such as their current writing projects, books they are reading, and personal concerns. The original order of the letters has been preserved.
	2006 Acquisition
	This addition to the Zulfikar Ghose Papers consists of drafts and proofs of most of his published and unpublished works dating from Statement Against Corpses (1964) to Kensington Quartet (2005, unpublished), as well as for many articles, essays, poems, and short stories. Significant correspondence is present, including letters to and from notables such as Wilson Harris, B. S. Johnson, Christopher Middleton, and A. C. H. Smith, as well as additional personal and business related correspondence. Also among the materials is a small amount of personal and professional items, including photographs, records from his teaching career at the University of Texas at Austin, scrapbooks containing clippings of his journalism articles, and reviews of his literary work.
	All of the material remains in the order it arrived at the Ransom Center, and only minimal processing has been done to ensure the safety, preservation, and accessibility of the collection. The Folder List is arranged into three series: Works, Correspondence, and Personal and Professional Materials. Series I. Works is further divided into two subseries: A. Novels and Other Works, and B. Shorter Works. Packing lists, written by Ghose and included inside the original shipping cartons, are located in the first box of items from each respective shipping carton. Original files, folders, and labels with titles and/or notes written on them by Ghose have been retained.

	People
		Smith, A. C. H. (Anthony Charles H.), 1935-.
		Hughes, Ted, 1930-1998.
		Lucie-Smith, Edward.
		Burroway, Janet.
	Subjects
		Poets, British--20th century.
	Document Types
		Typescripts.
		Poems.