urn:taro:utexas.hrc.00394 Reginald Gibbons: A Preliminary Inventory of his Collection of William Goyen (1915-1983) and Thomas McGrath (1916-1990) in the Manuscript Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Finding aid created by Liz Murray Harry Ransom Center, 2006 Finding aid encoded by Stephen Cooper, 2008 Finding aid written in English. Collection Summary Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin Gibbons, Reginald, 1947- Reginald Gibbons Collection of William Goyen and Thomas McGrath 1945-2004 Manuscript Collection MS-05000 12 boxes (5.04 linear feet) This collection reflects Gibbons' advocacy for the publication of the works of William Goyen and Thomas McGrath, especially during his years as editor of Northwestern University's TriQuarterly literary magazine and TriQuarterly Books. The collection primarily consists of typescripts of works, interviews, reviews, and correspondence. English Scope and Contents

Poet, writer, literary critic, and academic, Reginald Gibbons enjoyed a long-standing personal and professional relationship with William Goyen and Thomas McGrath. This collection reflects Gibbons' advocacy for the publication of both writers' works, especially during his years as editor of Northwestern University's TriQuarterly literary magazine and TriQuarterly Books. The material, primarily typescripts of works, interviews, reviews, and correspondence, is organized in three Series: I. William Goyen; II. Gibbons Correspondence re Goyen, 1981-2004; and III. Thomas McGrath.

The William Goyen Series is subdivided into three Subseries: A. Works; B. Goyen Correspondence, 1945-1983; and C. About Goyen.

The Works in Subseries A. contain short stories and novels already present in the Ransom Center's Goyen Papers. Titles include Arcadio (1983), Had I a Hundred Mouths: New and Selected Stories, 1947-1983 (1985), Half a Look of Cain: A Fantastical Narrative (1994), House of Breath (1999), New Work and Work in Progress (1983) preface by Joyce Carol Oates, Precious Door (1982), and Wonderful Plant (1980). Also present are individual short stories and Study Master notes by Goyen for works by Willa Cather and Ralph Ellison.

Subseries B. Goyen Correspondence, 1945-1983, includes original and photocopied letters to and from writers Eve Caram and Katherine Anne Porter, theater director-producer Margo Jones, editor and publisher Carol Southern, and Reginald Gibbons.

Material about Goyen in Subseries C. includes articles, obits, reviews, biographical entries, a 1982 interview for Masques, inventories of Goyen's literary papers, and a 1992 issue of Mid-American Review on Goyen.

The Gibbons correspondence regarding Goyen in Series II. has much to do with his active role as Goyen's literary executor and the publication of Goyen's works. Correspondents include Eve Caram; Clark Davis; Gary Haber; Robert Phillips; Patrice Repusseau, Goyen's wife, actress Doris Roberts; Stephen Spender; Eudora Welty; and others.

The Thomas McGrath papers in Series III. are arranged in two Subseries: A. Thomas McGrath: Life and the Poem, in TriQuarterly 70, 1987, and B. Correspondence re TriQuarterly issue and McGrath-Related Material.

Subseries A. contains drafts, corrections, and proofs of an interview conducted between January 30 and February 1, 1987 by Gibbons and Terrence Des Pres. The interview titled Thomas McGrath: Life and the Poem was subsequently published as a special issue of TriQuarterly and in an expanded version by the University of Illinois Press in 1992.

Much of Subseries B. regarding the TriQuarterly interview includes Gibbons' correspondence with Philip Levine, Frederick Stern, British historian E. P. Thompson, and Josh Weiner. Of special interest are numerous letters from McGrath to Gibbons from 1987-1988. Also present is a typescript of an oral interview of Alice McGrath conducted by Michael Balter in 1987.

 Acquisition:

Gift, 2005 (G12425)

 Access:

Open for research, except for restricted correspondence and versions of Leander

 Processed by:

Liz Murray, 2006

An audio cassette commemorating a celebration of Tom McGrath on March 15, 1991, in Chicago was transferred to the Ransom Center's Sound Recordings Collection.

Container List Series I. William Goyen Subseries A. Works 1 1 Another Man's Son, short story, corrected typescripts 1 Arcadio (1983), novel 1 Corrected typescripts 1 2 October 9, 1979 1 3 September 8, 1981 1 4 Uncorrected proof with marginal notes by Gibbons 1 5 Drafts of Gibbons's review for The New York Times, November 6, 1983 1 6 Reviews and publicity 1 7 The Faces of Blood Kindred: A Novella and Ten Stories (French translation, 1996), reviews 1 8 The Fallen Aerialist: Marvello's Story, published version in The Southern Review, Spring 1991 1 Had I a Hundred Mouths: New and Selected Stories, 1947-1983 (1985) 1 9 Edited typescript and print versions of title story 1 10 Edited draft of collected stories 2 1 Edited draft, cont'd 2 2 Preface by Joyce Carol Oates, typescripts and correspondence 2 3 Proof, corrected pages 2 4 Reviews and correspondence 2 Half a Look of Cain: A Fantastical Narrative (1994), novel 2 5 Typescript, incomplete photocopy 2 6 Related papers, typescripts, 1993 2 7 Edited typescript, selected galley pages, and afterword, Spring 1994 3 1 Excerpt in Gulf Coast, Summer 1994 3 House of Breath (1999), novel 3 2 Afterword drafts by Gibbons 3 3 Book proposal by Gibbons and Hahn; reviews 3 4 Jesus in My Body, Jesus in My Flesh, uncorrected carbon typescript 3 New Work and Work in Progress (1983), short works and interview 3 5-7 Interview, typescripts and fragments 3 8 TriQuarterly 56, Winter 1983 issue 3 9-10 TriQuarterly and Palaemon Press, camera-ready copy and photocopy of published version, with correspondence 4 Precious Door (1982), short stories 4 1 Partial uncorrected typescript 4 2-3 Final versions, November 1980 and 1982 4 4 Typescript copy from Goyen, inscribed to Gibbons, April 29, 1981 4 5 Recovering, typescript, and print version in TriQuarterly 58, Fall 1983 4 6 Short stories, various typescripts and print versions, photocopies 4 7-8 Study Master notes (text by Goyen) for Willa Cather's My Antonia and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man 4 9 Wonderful Plant (1980), novel, photocopy of Palaemon Press edition Subseries B. Goyen Correspondence, 1945-1983 5 1 Caram, Eve, copies of Goyen's letters, with Robert Phillips' correspondence, 1980-1982 5 2 Gibbons, Reginald, 1979-1983 5 3 Harry Ransom Center, 1974-1983, and related material 5 4-5 Jones, Margo, photocopies, 1945-1955 5 6 Porter, Katherine Anne, photocopies, 1947-1951 5 7 Rice University, 1969-1979 5 8 Southern, Carol, photocopies, 1982-1983 Subseries C. About Goyen 5 9 Articles, obits, reviews, etc. 5 10 Dictionary of Literary Biography, re Goyen entry 5 11 The Handbook of Texas, 1984-1985, with typescripts of Goyen article 5 12 Interview for Masques, Summer 1982, full and edited typescripts 5 Inventories 5 13 1983, Gibbons 5 14 1984, Nancy Escher 6 1 Mid-American Review, vol. 13, no. 1, 1992, issue on Goyen Series II. Gibbons Correspondence re Goyen, 1981-2004 6 2 re Goyen's script Aimee, 1990 6 3 Caram, Eve, 1984-1987 6 4 Davis, Clark, and others re Goyen book projects, 1993-2004 6 5 Haber, Gary, 1984-1985 6 Harry Ransom Center 6 6 1983-1988, Decherd Turner 6 7-8 1990-1999 6 9 Hoffman, Mary-Pat, 1987-1995 6 10 Horvath, Brooke, and others re A Goyen Companion (1997) 6 11 ICM (Jed Mattes, Roberta Pryor), 1981-1988 7 1 Mid-American Review, 1990-1993 7 2 Miller, Steve (Red Ozier Press), 1983-1985 7 3-4 Permissions, 1989-1994 7 5 Phillips, Robert, 1983-2004 7 6-7 Repusseau, Patrice, 1982-2004 7 8 Rice University, Fondren Library, 1984-1985 8 1 Roberts, Doris, 1984-1996 8 2 Serpent's Tail Press, 1987 8 3 Spender, Stephen, 1993, with typescript introduction to Selected Letters from a Writer's Life 8 4-5 The Texas Humanist, 1983-1986 8 6 University of Chicago Press, 1985 8 7-8 University of Texas Press, 1984-1994 8 9 Vaughn, Sam (Doubleday), 1984-1985 8 10 Welty, Eudora, 1984 8 11-12 Various correspondents, 1982-1999 Series III. Thomas McGrath Subseries A. Thomas McGrath: Life and the Poem, in TriQuarterly 70, 1987 9 Typescripts, corrections, and proofs 9 1-2 Unedited top copy 9 3-4 Full interview with corrections and marks for first cuts 9 5 First revision 9 6-7 Second revision 9 8 Edited version sent to McGrath, January 1987 10 1 Des Pres corrections 10 2 McGrath corrections 10 3-4 Page proofs Subseries B. Correspondence re TriQuarterly issue and McGrath-Related Material 10 5 ACM interview, Thomas McGrath: A Conversation 10 6-8 Gibbons, Reginald, especially letters from McGrath, 1987-1988 11 1 Gibbons, Reginald, cont'd 11 2 Levine, Philip 11 3 McGrath, Alice. The Education of Alice McGrath, oral history interview by Michael Balter, 1987 11 4 Stern, Frederick C. 11 5 Thompson, E. P. 12 University of Illinois, re Life and the Poem 12 1-2 General 12 3 Permissions 12 4 Royalties 12 5 TriQuarterly issue annotated for publication (1992) 12 6 Weiner, Josh