Alfred Kazin Papers (1938-1999) Summary: Creator: Kazin, Alfred, 1915-1998. Title: The Alfred Kazin Papers (1938-1999) Extent: 95 linear feet (191 manuscript boxes) Repository: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library Shelf location: Bryant Park Stack Extension Abstract: The archive comprises manuscripts and typescripts of drafts and publication-related materials of the author’s monographs, essays (most notably on American literature), book reviews, lectures and poetry; the author’s journals from 1938-1990; transcripts of photographs of the author, his family and friends; interviews with the author; datebooks and address books; awards and honors; and financial and medical records. Correspondents include Kazin’s wife, Judith Dunford, as well as many friends in writing, publishing and academia, including Louis Auchincloss, Paul Bowles, Anatole Broyard, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Malcolm Cowley, Francine du Plessix Gray, Louise Erdich, Richard Ford, Robert Giroux, Shirley Hazzard, Edward Hoagland, Stanley Kunitz, Gordon Lish, Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamund, James Merrill, Cynthia Ozick, Philip Roth, Arthur M. Schlesinger, William Styron, Truman Capote and John Updike. The archive also includes a selection of tributes to Kazin written by family and friends. Administrative Information: Provenance: Purchased through the Wylie Agency (NYC), acting for Judith Dunford, the widow of Alfred Kazin, in June 2002. In 2004, Judith Dunford donated ca. 30 letters from her to Kazin. Three additional groups of items, including an address book, were donated by her in August of 2009. Access: Apply in the General Research Division, Room 315, for a New York Public Library card and a Special Collections reader's card. Copyright Information: Judith Dunford (NYC) or her appointed agent. Alfred Kazin Papers (1938-1999). The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection. 2 The New York Public Library Preferred Citation: Alfred Kazin Papers; identification of item, including box and folder numbers; The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library. Related Materials: For additional archival material by and related to Alfred Kazin, consult the finding aid for the Alfred Kazin Collection of Papers, 1933- 1990 bulk (1933-1978) at http://www.nypl.org/research/manuscripts/berg/brgkazin.xml Processed by: Declan Kiely and Joan Sherman. The processing of the Alfred Kazin Papers was made possible, in part, through the generous assistance of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Biographical Note: Alfred Kazin (1915-1998) was an American literary critic, essayist and historian. He was one of the most influential of the prominent New York intellectuals in the second half of the twentieth century, and belonged to the school of writers and thinkers associated with the Partisan Review. Kazin was best-known for his seminal study of American prose literature written between the years 1890-1940, On Native Grounds (1942), as well as three memoirs, A Walker in the City (1951), Starting Out in the Thirties (1965), and New York Jew (1978). Optimistic about the future of American literature, On Native Grounds attempted to demonstrate that the literature of the period was a product of the times, and a reaction against modernism. The book was recognized as a major contribution to American literary criticism, and led to Kazin’s appointment to a variety of prestigious positions: literary editor of The New Republic, and lecturer at Harvard, Smith, Notre Dame, and other academic institutions, and, finally, at the City University of New York (Hunter College and the Graduate Center), where he remained for many years. Other notable works by Kazin include The Inmost Leaf (1955), Contemporaries (1960), An American Procession (1984), A Writer's America (1988), Our New York (1990), and God and the American Writer (1997). Philip Roth called Kazin “America’s best reader of American literature in this century.” In 1983, Kazin married the writer Judith (Schwartz) Dunford, his fourth wife, who would become the executor of his literary estate. Scope and Content Note: The archive contains typescripts of Kazin’s essays, books, unpublished biographical sketches, and lectures; more than 75 personal and literary journals; 13 leavesiterary notebooks; personal, literary and financial correspondence; two commonplace notebooks; extensive subject and biography research files (including substantial amounts on Herman Melville, the Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe, slavery, and African-American literature); Alfred Kazin Papers (1938-1999). The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection. 3 The New York Public Library examinations and reading lists for undergraduate courses taught by Kazin; research files on a large number of American literary figures; page proofs; and photographs. Arrangement Note: The Alfred Kazin Papers are organized in the following series: SERIES 1: WORKS BY ALFRED KAZIN SERIES 2: CORRESPONDENCE SERIES 3: PHOTOGRAPHS SERIES 4: PERSONAL DOCUMENTS SERIES 5: AWARDS & HONORS SERIES 6: FINANCIAL PAPERS SERIES 7: MEDICAL PAPERS SERIES 8: PRINTED MATERIALS BY ALFRED KAZIN SERIES 9: EPHEMERA SERIES 10: AUDIO CASSETTES SERIES 11: VIDEO CASSETTES SERIES 12: COMPUTER DISKS SERIES 13: OBITUARIES SERIES 14: MEMORIALS SERIES 15: WORKS BY OTHERS SERIES 16: REALIA SERIES 17: MISCELLANEOUS OVERSIZE (+++) Series Descriptions and Container Lists: SERIES 1: WORKS BY ALFRED KAZIN SUBSERIES 1.1: BOOKS 1.1 Alfred Kazin’s America: Critical and Personal Writings. Ed.Ted Solotaroff. NY: HarperCollins, 2003. Typescript draft, 94 leaves; page proofs, 29 leaves. 2.1 An American Procession. Holograph & typescript notes, 15 leaves. 2.2 An American Procession. Typescript drafts, corrected, 86 leaves. 2.3 An American Procession. Typescript drafts, corrected, 142 leaves. 2.4 An American Procession. Typescript drafts, corrected, 103 leaves. 3.1 An American Procession. Typescript drafts, corrected, 117 leaves. 3.2 An American Procession. Typescript drafts, corrected, 131 leaves. 3.3 An American Procession. Typescript drafts, corrected, 117 leaves. 4.1 An American Procession. Holograph & typescript drafts, corrected, 84 leaves; Alfred Kazin Papers (1938-1999). The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection. 4 The New York Public Library Print-outs of articles (re: Mark Twain & Stephen Crane). 4.2 An American Procession. Holograph & typescript drafts, corrected (re: Mark Twain), 157 leaves 5.1 An American Procession. Early & revised typescript drafts, 167 leaves. 5.2 An American Procession. Page proofs (12/1/1983); Letter from A. A. Knopf; miscellaneous notes, 245 leaves. 6.1 An American Procession. Early & revised typescript drafts, 218 leaves. 6.2 An American Procession. Early & revised typescript drafts, 149 leaves. 7.1 God and the American Writer. “Notes for Prelude,” typescript corrected, 161 leaves. 7.2 God and the American Writer. Research materials (printed & TS), holograph & typescript notes, 84 leaves. 7.3 God and the American Writer. Research materials (printed & TS), typescript notes, 80 leaves. 7.4 God and the American Writer. Research materials, typescript & holograph notes, 106 leaves; “Color proof” of book cover. 8.1 God and the American Writer,”Prelude.” Typescript, blue paper, 32 leaves. 8.2 God and the American Writer. Typescript notes, 45 leaves; folder “Emerson.” 8.3 God and the American Writer, Chapter I. Typescript, 22 leaves. 8.4 God and the American Writer, Chapter II. Typescript, 23 leaves. 8.5 God and the American Writer, Chapter III. Typescript, 39 leaves. 8.6 God and the American Writer, Chapter IV. Typescript, 28 leaves. 8.7 God and the American Writer, Chapter IV. Typescript, 28 leaves. 8.8 God and the American Writer, Chapter V. Typescript, 17 leaves. 8.9 God and the American Writer, Chapter VII. Typescript, 23 leaves. 8.10 God and the American Writer, Chapter VIII. Typescript, 23 leaves. 8.11 God and the American Writer, Chapter IX. Typescript, 22 leaves. 8.12 God and the American Writer, Chapter X. Typescript, 24 leaves. 8.13 God and the American Writer, Chapter X. Typescript, corrected, 28 leaves. 8.14 God and the American Writer, Chapter X. Typescript, 28 leaves. Alfred Kazin Papers (1938-1999). The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection. 5 The New York Public Library 8.15 God and the American Writer, Chapter XI. Typescript, 24 leaves. 8.16 God and the American Writer, Chapter XI. Typescript, 24 leaves. 8.17 God and the American Writer, Chapter XII. Typescript, 29 leaves. 8.18 God and the American Writer, Chapter XII. Typescript, 27 leaves. 9.1 God and the American Writer, Chapters I-XII. MS, 275 leaves; yellow folder listing chapters. 9.2 God and the American Writer. Page proofs (4/11/97), 273 leaves. 10.1 God and the American Writer, Prelude, chapters 1-3. TS with minor corrections, 118 leaves. 10.2 God and the American Writer, Chapters 4-7. Typescript, 99 leaves. 10.3 God and the American Writer, Chapters 8-10 & Afterword. Typescript with minor corrections, 82 leaves. 10.4 God and the American Writer, Chapter 9 with minor corrections. Typescript, 22 leaves. 10.5 God and the American Writer, Chapter 10 with corrections. Typescript, 28 leaves. 10.6 God and the American Writer, Chapter 11 with corrections. Typescript, 24 leaves. 10.7 God and the American Writer, Chapter 12 with corrections. Typescript, 29 leaves. 10.8 God and the American Writer, Chapter 6 with minor corrections. Typescript, 31 leaves. 10.9 God and the American Writer, Afterword with corrections. Typescript, 17 leaves. 11.1 God and the American Writer, “Prelude.” Typescript corrected, 2 copies, 33 leaves each. 11.2 God and the American Writer, Chapter 1. Typescript corrected, 2 copies, 22 leaves each. 11.3 God and the American Writer, Chapter 2. Typescript corrected, 2 copies, 23 leaves each. 11.4 God and the American Writer, Chapter 3. Typescript corrected, 2 copies, 39 leaves each. 11.5 God and the American Writer, Chapter 4. Typescript corrected, 28 leaves. 11.6 God and the American Writer, Chapter 5. Typescript corrected, 2 copies, 17 leaves each. 11.7 God and the American Writer, Chapter 6. Typescript corrected, 2 copies, 31 leaves each. 11.8 God and the American Writer, Chapter 7. Typescript corrected, 2 copies, 23 leaves each. 11.9 God and the American Writer, Chapter 8. Typescript corrected, 2 copies, 23 leaves each. 11.10 God and the American Writer, Chapter 9. Typescript corrected, 22 leaves. Alfred Kazin Papers (1938-1999). The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection. 6 The New York Public Library 11.11 God and the American Write , Chapter 10. Typescript corrected, 28 leaves. 11.12 God and the American Writer, Chapter 11. Typescript corrected, 24 leaves. 11.13 God and the American Writer, Chapter 12. Typescript corrected, 29 leaves. 11.14 God and the American Writer, Afterword. Typescript corrected, 7 leaves. 12.1 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. Black notebook: holograph & typescript notes, 71 leaves. 13.1 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS draft “Grandpa,” 22 leaves. 13.2 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS “1982,” 40 leaves. 13.3 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS “1990,” 33 leaves. 13.4 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS “1-2-91” (fragments), 26 leaves. 13.5 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS 1994, 5 leaves; TS 1995, 23 leaves; TS chapter “V,” 36 leaves. 13.6 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. Dust jacket; blue folder. 13.7 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. Page proofs: part ONE, 1938-1945, 56 leaves. 13.8 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. Page proofs: part TWO, 1946-1950, 68 leaves. 13.9 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. Page proofs: part FIVE, 1993-1995, 28 leaves. 14.1 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS photocopy, part IV, 171 leaves. 14.2 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS part IV, 26 leaves. 14.3 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS part IV, 64 leaves. 14.4 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS “1979,” 39 leaves. 14.5 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS fragments, 103 leaves. 14.6 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS fragments, 96 leaves. 15.1 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS Part I (3 copies): 49 leaves, 15 leaves, corrected; 10 leaves, corrected. 15.2 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS 1939-1945, 58 leaves. 15.3 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS draft, part II: 1946-1950, 85 leaves; TS fragments, 23 leaves. Alfred Kazin Papers (1938-1999). The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection. 7 The New York Public Library 15.4 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS part II: 1946-1950, 88 leaves. 15.5 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS part III: 1950-1978, 10 leaves; blue folder. 16.1 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment, “Jews”—Page proofs Paris Review, 37 leaves; related TLS 8/9/94. 16.2 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment, “Jews”—Front matter TS, 3 leaves. 16.3 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS corrected, 1938-1945, 58 leaves; TS “1995,” 38 leaves. 16.4 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS 1946-1950, 88 leaves. 16.5 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS part III, 1950-1978, 72 leaves; manila folder. 16.6 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS corrected, part IV, 171 leaves. 16.7 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS fragments, 16 leaves; 2 folders. 17.1 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS “Abraham,” 29 leaves; TS “Nineteen . . . ,” 37 leaves; TS fragments, 9 leaves; folder. 17.2 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment, “Jews,” 72 leaves; folder: 1950-1978 “Old.” 17.3 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS draft: Part III: 1950-1978, 46 leaves. 17.4 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS draft: Part III: 1950-1978, 55 leaves. 17.5 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. Page proofs, Part III: 1950-1978, 62 leaves. 17.6 A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment. TS fragments in folder “IV-1995” “1979-1995,” 33 leaves; TS in folder “V 91-95,” 47 leaves, with doctor bill & diagnosis, 1 leaf; correspondence, printed review & article, 5 leaves; TS “90 1-2-90” 2 copies, 9 leaves/10 leaves; TS “1990,” 32 leaves; TS corrected “1996” in folder “Text,” 17 leaves. 18.1 On Native Grounds. “Preface 1955” 20 leaves; “Postscript 1955” 10 leaves; “Preface to Fortieth Anniversary Edition . . .” 7 leaves. All TS, corrected. 19.1 Our New York. TS corrected, several copies, 152 leaves. 19.2 Our New York. TS corrected, several copies, 137 leaves. 19.3 Our New York. TS corrected, several copies, 113 leaves. 20.1 Our New York. TS corrected, several copies & notes, 195 leaves. 20.2 Our New York. Drafts, TS corrected & holograph (mostly Whitman), 122 leaves. 20.3 Our New York. Related correspondence, 25 leaves, 7 cards. 21.1 A Walker in the City. TS draft, corrected: “Coming Home to World City” 14 leaves; Alfred Kazin Papers (1938-1999). The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection. 8 The New York Public Library page proofs, corrected: “A Walker in the City—Again,” New York (1/19/87) 24 leaves. 22.1 A Writer’s America. Notes; page proofs; correspondence; contract, etc. 74 leaves. 22.2 A Writer’s America. Notes; related correspondence, 22 leaves. 23.1 Writing Was Everything. “All Critics are Mortal” TS (2 copies), 16 leaves; related correspondence, 2 leaves. 23.2 Writing Was Everything. TS corrected, 93 leaves. 23.3 Writing Was Everything. TS corrected, Ch. 3, 44 leaves. SUBSERIES 1.2: ESSAYS & ARTICLES 24.1 Autobiographical material: “Alfred Kazin Memorandum . . .” TS copy, 2 leaves. 24.2 Autobiographical material: “All in the Family,” TS 40 leaves in folder; “At Seventy-Five” TS corrected 7 leaves;, “A Mother’s Journey” TS & holograph corrected, in folder “Berg first drafts,” 26 leaves; “Our Cousin Sophie,” 9 leaves; “Sonya,” 7 leaves; “Thanks Teachers All,”19 leaves; “Two Women,” 39 leaves. 24.3 Autobiographical material: TS & copies, corrected: “Citizens and Uncitizens”; “The Cry for Justice”; “Family Portrait: The Family I Wanted”; “Teachers-And One Particular Teacher”; “They Made It! From the Journals of a New Yorker”; Untitled (5); Untitled (re: California 1978), 120 leaves. 25.1 American Academy of Arts & Letters: “Foreward” 1993, 2 TS, 30 leaves; “The Academy Institute: The Years 1908-1917, Louis Auchincloss” TS copy, corrected, 27 leaves; folder “Academy.” 25.2 American Literature & Culture, TS drafts: “The End of the Century”; “Fear of the Age”; “Grandeur and Misery of Realism”; “Japan 1983, Sapporo U.”; “Literary Thought Versus Literary Theory: The Case of American Literature”; “These Bad Days,” 95 leaves. Untitled: re: past European literature vs. modern; modern literature; education & literature; miscellaneous notes, fragments, 41 leaves. 25.3 “The American Poet and the European Reader,” TS draft corrected & fragmentary notes, 23 leaves. 25.4 Biographical material: brief TS essays, drafts, notes re: Anatole; Commager, Steele; Cowley, Malcolm; Elton; Galbraith, J.K.; Hurt, James David; Lieberson, Jonathan; Matthews, Cornelius; Smith, Betty; Thomas, Lewis; Tresca, Carlos; [Wright, Sylvia], 44 leaves. 26.1 “Chicago 1890: The Gathering of the Forces” TS draft corrected; TS & holograph notes, 115 leaves; 2 folders. 26.2 “The Cold War Decoded: From Its Birth to Its Death to Its Transmutation” TS corrected, 43 leaves; TS notes, 4 leaves. Alfred Kazin Papers (1938-1999). The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection. 9 The New York Public Library 26.3 Criticism: TS drafts of essays & notes for addresses: “The Art of Criticism (for Philadelphia)”; “The Beauty of Learning”; “The Ideology of Experience”; “Literature as Experience”; “New Orthodoxy”; “Pure Criticism”; “Remarks on Criticism”; “Some Reflections on Criticism (I. ‘On the Importance of Criticism in Our Period’)”; “The Student as Critic,” 76 leaves. 26.4 Criticism: TS drafts corrected: “From the Modern to the Contemporary”; “Forward from Modern Literature”/ “I The End of the ‘Modern”/ “—Of Modern Times,” 15 leaves. 26.5 Cummings, E.E. TS “E. E. Cummings and the Paths of Righteousness” (1951); TS “The Mind of a Poet” (2 reviews): The Magic-Maker . . . by C. Norman & Ninety-Five Poems by Cummings, 25 leaves. 26.6 Dickinson, Emily: holograph notes; “The Haunted Chamber,” New Republic (June23, 1986); miscellaneous printed matter & correspondence, 17 leaves. 26.7 Dickinson, Emily and R. W. Emerson in folder “Supplement”: misc. holograph & TS notes; “Where Would Emerson Find His Scholar Now?” American Heritage (Dec. 87); printed copy of “Eliot as a Product of America” by Eric Sigg, 43 leaves. 27.1 “Earthly Apocalypse: Lincoln, God, and the Civil War” TS drafts, 97 leaves in folder “Chapter 1 Holy War.” 27.2 Emerson, R. W. TS corrected in folder: “The American Gospel”; “The Divine Voice”; “The Uncreated Country” [Nature]; “Thoreau” [“The First Man”]; “Fate and Power”; “The Oracle”; “Pieces”; fragmentary pages; “Introduction” [Essays: First Series], 143 leaves. 27.3 “European Writers in Exile” 2 TS copies, 1 corrected, 39 leaves; “Uprooted Writers,” New Republic (April 12, 1980, pp. 25-29). 27.4 “Everyman His Own Revolution” TS drafts corrected, holograph & TS notes, 97 leaves, & printed copy in folder, “American Revolution.” 27.5 Farrell, J. T. “Remembering James T. Farrell” TS corrected, 5 leaves. 27.6 Faulkner, William. “William Faulkner and Religion: Determinism, Compassion and The God of Defeat” (conference paper, U Miss, August 1989) TS draft corrected, 29 leaves; untitled [re: Light in August] TS, 5 leaves. 27.7 “For Harold Proshansky”; “From Mencken to Reagan: The American Language at Election Time” TS drafts corrected, 23 leaves. 27.8 “From Father Abraham to Columbus” TS “Final,” 11 leaves. 28.1 Gale Research folder: “Desperate to Write” or “Obsessed with Writing” TS draft corrected, c.37 leaves & extra pages; letter from Adele Sarkissian (1987). 28.2 “Henry James and Italy” TS corrected, 21 leaves in folder. 28.3 “In the Absence of History” TS draft corrected, 22 leaves. 28.4 “Introduction to Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome” TS copy corrected, 11 leaves. Alfred Kazin Papers (1938-1999). The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection. 10 The New York Public Library 28.5 James, William. “William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience: Religion as Self- Therapy” TS (c. 5 copies) with various titles, 161 leaves in green folder, “Twice Born.” 28.6 James, William. Holograph notes in folder, “Wm. James chapter,” 9 leaves, with printed essays on James by others. 29.1 “Letter from America”; “Letter from New York” TS carbon drafts corrected, 19 leaves. 29.2 “Literary Thoughts and Literary Theory” folder: “The American Comedy of Manners”; “Literary Thought versus Literary Theory: The Case of American Literature”; “Report on Independent Study and Research Fellowship 1977-8”; “The Single Self” (2); “Thrilling to Thrillers”; untitled and miscellaneous. TS drafts corrected, 102 leaves. 29.3 Malamud, Bernard. Draft of untitled essay, 9 leaves. 29.4 Melville, Herman. Folder “Melville”: TS fragments (notes) re: Clarel & journals, 5 leaves; “Melville in the Holy Land” 1 TS “uncorrected,” 26 leaves, 2 TS corrected, 22 leaves each, & 2 TS uncorrected, 26 & 22 leaves. “The Lost Place” (“Melville and the Lost Place”) TS & holograph draft, heavily corrected, 25 leaves. 29.5 Melville—Hawthorne. “The Inmost Leaf” TS drafts corrected, many versions & miscellaneous fragments, 198 leaves. 30.1 “Paris” folder: “Paris on the Seine: A Lot of Look” 3 TS corrected and related letters, 40 leaves. 30.2 “Realism” folder: “The Big City” 2 TS drafts, heavily corrected, 14 & 25 leaves; “Diaries” [Dreiser] TS draft, 6 leaves; “The Realistic Novel” TS draft corrected, 19 leaves; TS & holograph notes, 5 leaves. 30.3 “Saving My Soul at the Plaza” in folder “Plaza”: TS, 36 leaves; miscellaneous printed matter; 1 leafetter. 30.4 “Shahn, Ben” folder [re: Sacco & Vanzetti]: “The Two Nations” TS, 5 leaves; notes, TS & holograph, 13 leaves; “Ben Shahn and the Immigrant Experience,” by Frances K. Pohl, TS annotated, 8 leaves; “We Are Two Nations,” TS, 5 leaves; related correspondence [Whitney Museum], 7 leaves. 30.5 “The Shape a Story Takes” TS draft, heavily corrected, 21 leaves. 30.6 “The Strange Death of Liberal America” TS draft, heavily corrected, in folder, 76 leaves. 31.1 “The Thirties: Starting Out” [“My early reviews”] TS, 38 leaves. 31.2 “Time in American Literature” TS draft corrected and notes, 31 leaves. 31.3 “Village” (“The City of Friends”) TS draft, heavily corrected, pp. 182-211.
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