An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center
Creator
Leventhal, Abraham Jacob, 1896-1979
Title
A.J. Leventhal Collection
Dates:
1918-1982
Extent:
1 box (.42 linear feet)
Abstract:
This collection contains correspondence and a few works by
Leventhal, including essays on James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. The bulk of the
collection comprises letters from Beckett to Leventhal.
Abraham Jacob Leventhal (1896-1979), often called "Con" by his friends, grew up in Dublin and attended a
protestant school, despite his Jewish heritage. Just after the first World War
he took a break from his university studies to work for the first Zionist
Commission in Palestine and to help found the
Palestine Weekly. When, upon returning to
Dublin, the
Dublin Magazine turned down his review of
James Joyce's
Ulysses he founded his own literary journal,
the
Klaxon, in order to publish it. When his
friend Samuel Beckett left a post at Trinity College, Leventhal assumed the
position.
Leventhal's friendship with Beckett continued on and off through out
Leventhal's life. It cooled off considerably when Leventhal, a married man,
began an affair with Ethna McCarthy, a women for whom Beckett harbored strong
feelings. After years of openly living together, Leventhal married Ethna, and
Beckett reconciled himself to the couple. Later on Leventhal acted as a
secretary for Beckett, intercepting and answering correspondence and generally
helping to shield Beckett from his admiring public.
Scope and Contents
Letters from Samuel Beckett to Leventhal make up the bulk of the A. J.
Leventhal Collection, 1918-1982, supplemented with typescripts of poems and
essays and other correspondence. The collection is arranged by the name of the
individual to whom the materials relate: Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, Valery
Larbaud, A. J. Leventhal, and Marion Leigh Leventhal. All correspondence and
individual works are listed in the Index of Correspondents and Index of Works
at the end of this finding aid.
The Samuel Beckett section contains typescripts of a few poems published
in Beckett's
Collected Poems in French and English, as
well as over 150 letters and postcards written to A. J. Leventhal (1934-1979),
and a few written to Leventhal's wife, Ethna. Also present are two groups of
letters written to Beckett by obsessed followers and some ephemera associated
with a production of
Waiting for Godot.
The James Joyce section holds a visiting card and a letter from Joyce,
as well as several articles written about Joyce by Leventhal. The Valery
Larbaud section contains two exchanges between Larbaud and T.B. Rudmose Brown
as well as an article about Larbaud. The A.J. Leventhal section contains mostly
personal correspondence, including several letters from Leslie Daiken, and the
Marion Leigh Leventhal section has letters written to Marion.
Related Material
Other materials associated with A. J. Leventhal may be found in the
Mary Hutchinson Collection at the Ransom Center.
