An Inventory of Her David Foster Wallace Collection at the Harry Ransom Center
Creator:
Nadell, Bonnie
Title:
Bonnie Nadell Collection of David Foster
Wallace
Dates:
1980-2011
Extent:
8 boxes (3.36 linear feet)
Abstract:
Spanning nearly thirty years, the Bonnie
Nadell Collection of David Foster Wallace documents Nadell's literary representation
of
Wallace, primarily with personal and professional correspondence between Nadell, Wallace,
and publishing insiders. Also present are serial publications containing pieces by
or about
Wallace.
Call Number:
Manuscript Collection MS-05218
Language:
English
Access:
Open for research. Researchers
must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before
using
archival materials.
Use Policies:
Ransom Center collections may contain material with sensitive or confidential information
that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers
are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable
living
individuals represented in the collections without the consent of those individuals
may have
legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy
may
arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be
deemed
highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Ransom Center and The University
of
Texas at Austin assume no responsibility.
Restrictions on Use:
Authorization for publication is given on behalf of the University of Texas as the
owner of
the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright
holder
which must be obtained by the researcher. For more information please see the Ransom
Centers' Open Access and Use Policies.
Bonnie Nadell worked in publishing for Simon & Schuster in New York City during the
early 1980's. She moved to San Francisco around 1985, becoming a literary agent for
Frederick Hill at Frederick Hill Associates. Lacking clients as a new agent, Nadell
answered
the phones and went through the slush file, a group of unsolicited manuscript submissions,
where an excerpt of what was to become David Foster Wallace's The Broom of the System caught her attention. Wallace became her
first client and she his first and only U. S. literary agent. Nadell had a large influence
on Wallace's writing career, guiding him as an agent and as a close friend. With Nadell's
assistance, Wallace published three novels, three short story collections, and numerous
short fiction, essays, and nonfiction works with, among many others, Little, Brown
and
Company, Viking Press, W. W. Norton & Company, the New Yorker, GQ, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Harper's Magazine, and the Atlantic Monthly. In addition to Wallace, Nadell has represented
Sonia Nazario, Antonya Nelson, and Rebecca Solnit. She is now the vice president of
Hill
Nadel Literary Agency, based in Los Angeles.
DeMarco-Barrett, Barbara. "Voices on Writing: Bonnie
Nadell." http://www.asja.org/newspub/files/xl200903.pdf [accessed 4/1/2011].
Neyfakh, Leon. "Remembering David Foster Wallace: 'David Would Never Stop Caring' Says Lifelong Agent."
http://www.observer.com/2008/arts-culture/david-foster-wallaces-agent [accessed
4/1/2011].
Scope and Contents
Spanning nearly thirty years, the Bonnie Nadell Collection of David Foster Wallace
documents Nadell's literary representation of Wallace, primarily with personal and
professional correspondence between Nadell, Wallace, and publishing insiders. The
collection
is organized in two series: Series I. Correspondence, and Series II. Agent files.
Series I.
contains over forty letters (1985-2008) from Wallace to Nadell and about twenty-four
email
printouts between the two discussing personal and publishing issues. In a 1989 letter,
Wallace voices his anticipation of a Nadell visit: ". . . Boston
is fun; we'll have laughs, listen to rap and James Brown. . ." In the most recent
email (2008), Wallace discusses plans to begin an article for GQ on the just-nominated Barack Obama, stressing his need for "close, candid access to a couple of Obama's junior speech guys"
before they become too involved in the campaign. Additional correspondence in Series
I. is
between Wallace or Nadell and various translators and publishing world colleagues
and
acquaintances. The content of this correspondence is almost entirely
professionally-oriented. In the earliest letter (1985) of the collection, a twenty-three
year old Wallace introduces himself and a "representative"
chapter of The Broom of the System to Frederick Hill.
Series II. contains files relating to Brief Interviews with Hideous
Men, The Broom of the System, Consider the Lobster, Everything and More, Girl With Curious Hair, Infinite Jest, Signifying Rappers, and 'periodical publications.' The files mostly contain
correspondence between Nadell and editors and publishers, with some Wallace correspondence
as well. Interspersed are unmarked, and often undated, typescript copies of various
short
Wallace pieces that most likely were meant for submission to editors. These typescripts
remain in their original locations within the respective folders in which they arrived,
perhaps indicating the approximate date Nadell was sending them out. Also present
is an
essay, "Ralph and the Legal Milestone" (1980), which
Wallace wrote for a creative writing class, receiving an A+.
Series III. is a collection of magazines containing articles and stories by and about
David
Foster Wallace. It is divided into three subseries: A. Pieces by Wallace, B. Pieces
about
Wallace, and C. Unidentified. The materials in this series were acquired in 2016,
and are an
addition to the original acquisition in 2011.
The collection remains predominately organized as it arrived at the Ransom Center,
with
some minor corrections to the rough chronological order of the correspondence in each
folder.
Related Material
Additional Wallace materials are located in the Ransom Center in the David Foster
Wallace
Papers, the David Foster Wallace Collection, the Don DeLillo Papers, and the James
Linville
Paris Review Collection.
