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2001 Acquisition |
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The papers of British writer Julian Barnes span a thirty-year career from his first
published fiction A Self-Possessed Woman (1975) to his novel Love, etc., published in 2000. Represented in the collection are
Barnes's novels Metroland (1980), Before She Met Me (1982), Flaubert's Parrot (1984), Staring at the Sun (1986), A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters (1989), Talking It Over (1991), The Porcupine (1992), Cross-Channel (1996), England, England (1998), and Love, etc. (2000). Also included are crime novels Barnes wrote under
the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh, Going to the Dogs (1987), Duffy (1980), Fiddle City (1981), and Putting the Boot In (1985). Articles by and about Barnes,
journalism, correspondence, clippings, photographs, and posters are also present. |
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This acquisition is organized in four series: Series I. Works, Series II. Articles,
Series
III. Correspondence, 1971-1998, and Series IV. Career-related. |
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The Works Series begins with two holograph notebooks containing early material relating
to
most of Barnes's books. In his description of his writing methods, Barnes indicated
that
"There might be an occasion when the germ--or rather the pre-germ--of a novel makes
an
earlier appearance in a travel diary or a personal journal…." The series continues
in an
alphabetical arrangement of works by title. In addition to the novels, the collection
contains Barnes's unpublished non-fiction work A Literary Guide to Oxford, production material for Letters from London (1995) and Evermore (1996), and screenplays Growing Up in the Gorbals, and The Private Wound. Screenplay adaptations, written by others, for
Love, etc., and Metroland are also present. |
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Describing his papers, Barnes wrote "everything I do from the moment I am faced by
what I
recognize as the possibility--or pre-possibility--of a novel is contained within the
Archive. I have never thrown away more than the occasional (more or less duplicate)
page of
typescript. My Archive therefore contains 98 or 99% of all the marks I make on paper
as a
novelist." For most of these works, the creative process includes early typescript
drafts
through printer's copies, proofs, production material, and reviews. Occasionally,
holograph
notes and "scheme cards" are also present. |
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Series II. Articles includes articles and book reviews, Letter from London, tear sheets from The New Yorker (1990-1994), and typescripts of Barnes's TV criticism
published in the Observer (1982-1986). |
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The Correspondence in Series III dates from 1971-1998 and includes fan mail, publisher's
correspondence, and letters from acquaintances and writers including Eric Ambler,
Kingsley
Amis, Dirk Bogarde, Anthony Burgess, Graham Greene, Elizabeth Hardwick, Michael Horovitz,
Arthur Koestler, Philip Larkin, Frances Partridge, Myfanwy Piper, V. S. Pritchett,
Dodie
Smith, and Auberon Waugh. |
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The career-related material in Series IV includes articles about Barnes, publicity
clippings from 1980-1991, ephemera, and a rather large collection of photographs,
mostly
taken for publicity purposes. |
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Numerous editions of Barnes's works received with the collection, mostly foreign imprints,
were transferred to the HRC Library, along with his commercially recorded books on
tape and
tapes of interviews and readings. Included with the books is a special limited edition
of
Cross-Channel issued on the occasion of Barnes's fiftieth birthday
which he inscribed to the HRC. |
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2006 Acquisition |
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This addition to the original acquisition of Julian Barnes Papers contains material
related
to his literary activity between 2002 and 2006, as well as older journalistic writings
and
correspondence primarily from the 1990s. Contents include his 2006 novel Arthur & George, three works of collected essays and short
stories, articles, book reviews, other writings, photographs, and career-related material.
This accretion is divided into two series: I. Works, 1996-2006; and II. Correspondence
and
Other Papers, 1960-2006. |
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The works in Series I. include research, notes, typescript drafts, proofs, and production
material for the novel Arthur & George. For the short story collection,
The Lemon Table, there are typescripts, as well as proofs and tear
sheets for the short stories originally published in The New Yorker and Granta. Also present are
typescripts and proofs for two essay collections, The Pedant in the Kitchen, originally a food column by the same name
appearing in the Guardian, and for Something to Declare, comprising essays originally appearing in
New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, London Review of Books, New York Times Book Review, Times Literary Supplement, and as prefaces in various works.
Barnes's "journalism" files contain typescripts of articles, essays, introductions,
book
reviews, and other writings. Considerable material is present for Alphonse Daudet's
In the Land of Pain, as translated, edited, and introduced by
Barnes. Similarly, Barnes wrote the introduction and selected stories for My Oedipus Complex and Other Stories by Frank O'Connor. Included are
the uncorrected proofs for this work. |
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Series II. Correspondence and Other Papers dates from 1960, but the bulk of the material
falls within the 1990s. The correspondence contains letters from friends Brian and
Jean
Moore; general correspondence, with letters from Penelope Fitzgerald and Evelyn Waugh;
and
invitations to Barnes and his wife, Pat Kavanagh, for a wide variety of literary,
artistic,
and other events. The remainder of the series contains articles about Barnes, book
production and publicity material, interviews, a bibliography of Barnes's longer works
by
Richard Layman, and a French play adaptation of Barnes's short story "The Fruit Cage" by Daniel Soulier. |
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2014 Acquisition |
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This addition contains digital photographs from international publicity appearances
that
Barnes made in 2006-2008. These files were transferred to the Ransom Center on five
optical
disks and include photographs from events attended in Argentina, Croatia, and Slovenia.
This
addition is arranged alphabetically by country. Events in Argentina include a talk
and book
signing at Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) and appearances at
a Buenos
Aires public library and restaurant on February 6, 2008. Photos from Croatia are of
various
talks and a book signing. The Slovenia segment is from a stage adaptation of Talking It Over put on by the Slovenian National Theatre Drama
Ljubljana that premiered on November 23, 2007. |