University of Texas at Austin

Steven Moore:

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.


Administrative Information


Acquisition: Purchases, 2012 (2012-01-010-P); 2019 (19-06-004-P)
Processed by: Stephen Cooper, 2012 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

Scope and Contents


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.

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