An Inventory of Her Collection of Céline Survey Materials in the
Manuscript Collection at the Harry Ransom Center
Creator:
Kaplan, Alice Yaeger, 1954-
Title:
Alice Kaplan Collection of Céline
Survey Materials
Dates:
circa 1991-1997
Extent:
1 box (.42 linear feet)
Abstract:
The Alice Kaplan Collection of Céline
Survey Materials, circa 1991-1997, primarily comprises the responses Kaplan received
to her Céline survey questionnaire, the bulk of which date between 1991-1992.
Also
included are Kaplan’s preliminary research materials, contact information for
the
authors, and some correspondence with several authors.
Alice Kaplan was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1954. Kaplan received a B.A.
degree in French from the University of California at Berkeley in 1975 and obtained
a PhD in French at Yale University in 1981.
As of 2009, Kaplan works as a Professor of French at Yale University. She previously
worked as a Professor of Romance Studies and Literature at Duke University, where
she also founded and served as first director of Duke's Center for French and
Francophone Studies. Kaplan became a member of the usage panel of the American
Heritage Dictionary in 1997 and sits on the editorial board of the South Atlantic
Quarterly.
Kaplan's books include Reproductions of Banality: Fascism,
Literature, and French Intellectual Life (1986); French Lessons: A Memoir (1993); The
Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach (2000); and
The Interpreter (2005). In addition, Kaplan
translates French novels, including Roger Grenier’s Le
Pierrot noir, Les Larmes d’Ulysse, and
Partita.
In 1991, Kaplan created and distributed a survey questionnaire on French writer
Louis-Ferdinand Céline to selected contemporary American novelists, poets,
translators, editors, and essayists. She compiled her findings and analyses in
an
article entitled "The Céline Effect: A 1992 Survey of
Contemporary American Writers," which was published in Modernism/modernity in 1996.
Sources:
“Alice Kaplan.” Rusoff Literary Agency,
http://www.rusoffagency.com, (accessed 1 October 2008).
“Alice Kaplan.” Wikipedia, http://www.wikipedia.org,
(accessed 1 October 2008).
Kaplan, Alice. “The Céline Effect: A 1992 Survey of Contemporary American Writers.”
Modernism/modernity 3.1 (1996): 117-136.
Scope and Contents
The Alice Kaplan Collection of Céline Survey Materials, circa 1991-1997, primarily
comprises the responses Kaplan received to her Céline survey questionnaire, the
bulk
of which date between 1991-1992. Also included are Kaplan’s preliminary research
materials, mailing lists, a transcript from a 1992 conference
on Céline at Duke University, and a partial draft of an article written in French
with Phillipe Roussin. Minimal correspondence with several authors is included
as
well. The materials are arranged in a single series, subdivided into returned
survey
questionnaires and Kaplan’s pre- and post-survey work.
The returned survey questionnaires are arranged alphabetically by author. A wide
variety of responses to Kaplan’s letter and survey questionnaire are exhibited:
some
authors filled out and sent back the questionnaire while others opted to send
letters instead of or in addition to the questionnaire. A number of authors also
wrote back to say they would not be able to respond to the questionnaire. Included
are responses from Saul Bellow, Charles Bernstein, Norman Oliver Brown, Lydia
Davis,
Raymond Federman, Gary Indiana, John Irving, Philip Levine, Joseph McElroy, Mark
Mirsky, Ted Morgan, Tom Wolfe, and others. All respondents are included in the
following Index of Survey Participants. The general nature of the author’s response
(questionnaire, letter, or both) is indicated in the index next to the author’s
name. Unopened questionnaires which did not reach their intended recipient and
were
returned to Kaplan are also included (folder 1.4).
Related Material
Two other collections at the Ransom Center contain Céline manuscripts and related
materials: The Milton Hindus Collection of Louis-Ferdinand Céline and The Carlton
Lake Collection of French Manuscripts.
