An Inventory of His Collection in the Manuscript Collection at the Harry
Ransom Humanities Research Center
Creator:
Vidyatmananda, Swami,
1913-2000
Title:
Swami Vidyatmananda Collection
Dates:
1923-1986
Extent:
1 box (.42 linear feet)
Abstract:
The Swami Vidyatmananda Collection
comprises correspondence to Vidyatmananda as well as correspondence he gathered
through his association with the Vedanta Society of Southern California and the
Centre Védantique Ramakrishna in Gretz, France. Three distinct groups of
correspondence are present: letters between Christopher Isherwood and Swami
Vidyatmananda (John Yale), 1950-1986; correspondence to Lady Sandwich (formerly
Amiya Corbin) from Aldous Huxley, John Van Druten, Christopher Isherwood, Walter
De
la Mare, E. M. Forster, and Gerald Heard, 1944-1977; and letters to the French
diplomat Martha Vanek from Jan Masaryk, René Fülöp-Miller, and Igor Stravinsky,
1923-1930.
RLIN Record #:
TXRC03-A21
Language:
English
Access:
Open for research
Administrative Information
Provenance
This collection was gathered and donated in two parts by Swami Vidyatmananda.
Vidyatmananda personally collected the Isherwood correspondence over the years
1950-1986. There is a note given by Vidyatmananda at the start of the Lady Sandwich
correspondence explaining how he came to be in possession of the remaining
materials. Lady Sandwich was affiliated with the Hollywood Vedanta Center
contemporaneously with Vidyatmananda, enabling him to assemble her correspondence.
Martha Vanek had been a member of the Centre Védantique Ramakrishna in Gretz,
which
Vidyatmananda came to be the manager of many years later.
Swami Vidyatmananda, born John Yale in 1913, underwent initiation and training under
Swami Prabhavananda at the Vedanta Society of Southern California. He observed
brahmacharya, took sannyas in 1964, and was ordained as a monk in the Ramakrishna
order.
On a trip to India, Vidyatmananda visited the Belur Math in Howrah, the Ramakrishna
Mission Institute of Culture in Calcutta, and other pilgrimage sites throughout
the
subcontinent. Based on his experiences he contributed a number of travelogue
articles to the journal Vedanta and the West.
Eventually he collected his impressions of India to write A
Yankee and the Swamis: A Westerner's View of the Ramakrishna Order
(2001).
In time, Swami Vidyatmananda became an editor of Vedanta and
the West, and also edited What Religion Is: In
the Words of Swami Vivekananda (1982), with an introduction by
Christopher Isherwood. He continued his career as a devotee of Ramakrishna at
the
Centre Védantique Ramakrishna in Gretz, France, where he served as the center's
manager until his death in 2000.
Sources:
Yale, John. A Yankee and the Swamis: A Westerner’s View of the
Ramakrishna Order. Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2001.
Scope and Contents
The Swami Vidyatmananda Collection comprises correspondence to Vidyatmananda as well
as correspondence he gathered through his association with the Vedanta Society
of
Southern California and the Centre Védantique Ramakrishna in Gretz, France. Three
distinct groups of correspondence are present: letters between Christopher Isherwood
and Swami Vidyatmananda (John Yale), 1950-1986; correspondence to Lady Sandwich
(formerly Amiya Corbin) from Aldous Huxley, John Van Druten, Christopher Isherwood,
Walter De la Mare, E. M. Forster, and Gerald Heard, 1944-1977; and letters to
the
French diplomat Martha Vanek from Jan Masaryk, René Fülöp-Miller, and Igor
Stravinsky, 1923-1930.
The Isherwood correspondence is arranged chronologically. Among the letters is a 1955
postcard written by both Isherwood and King Vidor. Isherwood's letters to
Vidyatmananda come from London, New York, San Francisco, and Santa Monica, and
reach
Vidyatmananda first at the Vedanta Center of Southern California, then at the
Centre
Védantique Ramakrishna in Gretz, France. The correspondence includes Isherwood's
edits on an essay by Vidyatmananda, Vidyatmananda's edits on Isherwood's novel
A Meeting by the River (1967), as well as a
debate on whether to dedicate that novel to John Yale or Swami Vidyatmananda.
They
also exchange views on Swami Prabhavananda, Vidyatmananda's monastic superior,
leading to occasional tensions between them. Nonetheless, they continued to
correspond until Isherwood's death in 1986.
The earliest letters to Lady Sandwich come from John van Druten and concern the
publication of articles in Vedanta and the West as
well as a talk van Druten gave at the Hollywood Vedanta Center. There is one letter
from Aldous Huxley, dated 1955, in which he conveys his feelings and remembrances
about the passing of his wife Maria that year. The letters from Isherwood reflect
his concern for his brother Richard, who had succumbed to alcoholism, and his
appreciation for Amiya Corbin's help in the matter. Among his correspondence are
two
photographs of his mother, his brother, and himself. The few letters from Walter
de
la Mare include newspaper clippings of reviews of his work. E. M. Forster and
Gerald
Heard each sent Amiya Corbin handwritten correspondence, of which a modest amount
is
collected here.
Martha Vanek served in the French diplomatic service in Prague, and had been a member
of the Centre Védantique Ramakrishna. Collected here are a card to her from Jan
Masaryk, a letter in German from René Fülöp-Miller, and a letter from Igor
Stravinsky with a large photograph of himself, dated 1930.
Related Material
Materials related to this collection can be found in the Ransom Center's Christopher
Isherwood Collection of manuscripts and diaries.
Index Terms
Subjects
Corbin, Ella Lilian
(Amiya)--Correspondence.
De la Mare, Walter,
1873-1956--Correspondence.
Forster, E. M. (Edward
Morgan),|d1879-1970--Correspondence.
