Happy Birthday, Alexander Trocchi! Today–July 30th–marks the 1925 birthday of Scottish author, publisher, and activist Alexander Trocchi. He began writing poetry and prose in the late 1940’s, and by the early 1950’s was an established figure in the literary avant-garde. Trocchi...
William H. Gass Symposium: International Writing, scheduled for September 23, 2016 On September 23rd, Washington University Libraries will co-host a symposium to honor William H. Gass’s work in the fields of translation and international writing. The event is scheduled to take place ...
The Sam Book by Raymond Federman Today–July 1st–marks the 53rd publication anniversary of The Sam Book by Raymond Federman. The text is a creative essay and “bi-lingual” memoir based in Federman’s connection with Samuel Beckett. In keeping with Federman’...
Happy Birthday to MLC author David Wagoner! Today–June 5th–marks the 1926 birthday of celebrated poet, novelist, and playwright David Wagoner. Wagoner is the author of numerous poetry collections and novels, including Dry Sun, Dry Wind, In Broken Country, The Road to Many a Won...
Donald Finkel’s Answer Back June 1st marks the original publication date of Donald Finkel‘s poetry book Answer Back, which premiered in 1968. Finkel’s book was inspired by his explorations in Mammoth Cave National Park, and each of its sections–“Mummy Valley&#...
The Friendship of Stanley Elkin and Herb Yellin: Letters from the Lord John Press Collection The Modern Literature Collection recently acquired a treasure trove of papers from the Lord John Press archives, including personal correspondence and ephemera from Donald Barthleme, John Barth, Robert Co...
We are pleased to announce that we recently acquired the letters of T.S. Eliot and Valerie (Fletcher) Eliot to their mutual friends, Collin and Lillian Brooks. These letters have been added to the T.S. Eliot Collection and are available for research. During his prime, T.S. Eliot enjoyed unmatched...
The Films of Samuel Beckett Following the production of his full-length plays–Waiting for Godot (1949), Endgame (1957), Krapp’s Last Tape (1958) and Happy Days (1961)–and the publication of his sprawling novels–Molloy (1951), Malone Dies (1951), and The Unnameable (...
Stanley Elkin’s Boswell and Mrs. Ted Bliss On April 1st, Stanley Elkin published both his first novel–Boswell (Random House, 1964)–and his final novel–Mrs. Ted Bliss (Hyperion, 1995). Original typescripts of both these definitive texts can be found in the Modern Lit...
Robert Duncan’s Bending the Bow Today–March 1st–marks the original release date of Robert Duncan‘s poetry collection, Bending the Bow. The original text was published in 1968 by New Directions, which described the text as “a multiphasic projection of movements in a f...
