Cleanth Brooks papers

The Cleanth Brooks Papers contain correspondence, manuscripts of books, textbooks, essays, lectures, and various other shorter works, classroom material, professional papers, writings of others, and personal papers which document aspects of the life and career of Cleanth Brooks, literary critic, scholar, educator, and lecturer. The material spans the years 1927 to 1986, with the bulk falling between 1960 and 1986.

The papers are housed in ninety-five boxes and are divided into six series. Writings is by far the largest series in the collection. Correspondence comprises the second largest series. Reserve lists, classroom lectures, examinations, gradebooks, cultural attaché material, conference material, subject files, interviews, writings of others, biographical material, photographs, student notebooks, and miscellaneous papers make up the rest of the collection. Oversize, and Restricted Fragile Papers are placed at the end.

Series I, Correspondence (Boxes 1-16), covers the period 1933-86 and reflects the close relationship between Brooks and many of the leading figures in twentieth-century American letters. Areas of particular interest are those dealing with literary criticism and with Southern literature and culture. Members of the Agrarian Movement represented are Donald Davidson, Andrew Nelson Lytle, John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, and Robert Penn Warren. Major Southern writers found in the collection are James Dickey, William Faulkner, Walker Percy, Katherine Anne Porter, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, and Eudora Welty. Although the papers contain relatively little concerning Brooks's editorship of The Southern Review, the journal is discussed in the correspondence of many Southern writers and there is a subject file on The Southern Review in Series IV (Box 87, folder 1809).

Leading poets include W. H. Auden, T. S. Eliot, Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell, Marianne Moore, John Crowe Ransom, Robert Penn Warren, and William Butler Yeats. Major literary critics represented are Kenneth Burke, Malcolm Cowley, William Empson, John Gould Fletcher, Norman Forester, Robert B. Heilman, R. W. B. Lewis, Marshall McLuhan, Moelwyn Merchant, James B. Meriwether, I. A. Richards, Louis D. Rubin, Jr., Lewis P. Simpson, Lionel Trilling, Eric Voegelin, René Wellek, and William K. Wimsatt. Correspondence of editors of literary journals includes that of George Core and John J. E. Palmer. The folders of correspondence of the Library of Congress are of considerable interest, particularly as they relate to the Bollingen Prize. The series also contains correspondence of several former students of Brooks, such as Reid Buckley, Robert Drake, and Judith Kroll. Of special note for their volume are the folders of Lee Anderson, Marshall McLuhan, James B. Meriwether, Katherine Anne Porter, John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, Eleanor Clark Warren, Robert Penn Warren, and the Library of Congress.

Although Series I constitutes the bulk of such material, correspondence also occurs in other series. Aside from Series I, there are two other alphabetical runs of correspondence, as well as single folders scattered throughout the collection. In the Percy Editorial Project subseries may be found a considerable amount of correspondence (Boxes 26 and 27). This material documents the communication between Brooks and other Percy scholars, institutions holding Percy manuscripts, and the publisher. Of particular interest are the exchanges of letters with David Nichol Smith and with A. F. Falconer. Box 83 of the Cultural Attaché Material subseries contains a sizeable portion of correspondence which reflects Brooks's activity as cultural attaché to the American Embassy in London from 1964 to 1966. In the Conferences subseries (Boxes 84-85) there is correspondence from the U. S. State Department, which sponsored Brooks in several overseas conferences and also from professors and students. In the Books subseries of Writings, correspondence is frequently found toward the end of the hierarchical arrangement of material pertaining to each individual work. In these folders, the exchange is primarily of co-authors, publishers, and the like.

Series II, Writings (Boxes 17-80), represents the creative output of Brooks the critic, author, and commentator. Box 17, folder 346 holds a bibliography compiled by Brooks of his writings from the 1940s through the 1970s. Although quite helpful, it is not definitive. The bibliography lists books, essays, and lectures. Many essays began as lectures, as is evidenced by the crossindexing system. The Percy Editorial Project subseries (Boxes 17-27) represents Brooks's involvement in the editing of the correspondence of Thomas Percy, who with his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry is often regarded as the father of modern-day historical editing. This involvement, which began at Oxford in the early 1930s, reflects Brooks's close association as coterminous general editor of the entire project, first with David Nichol Smith and later with A. F. Falconer. Brooks also served as individual editor of volumes II and VII. The material in this section consists of copies of Percy's correspondence, Brooks's research material and notes, drafts, and subject files, as well as correspondence generated by Brooks with various Percy scholars and repositories.

The Books subseries (Boxes 28-64) consists of research material, notes, manuscript drafts, galley proofs, page proofs, advertisements, publicity, book reviews, and additional related material. The majority of works are college textbooks on English literature and poetry, although some were written for a more general audience. The material does not always provide a complete picture of what went into the creation of a work. Some works are represented from their initial stages through to completion, such as American Literature: The Makers and the Making, Modern Rhetoric, Understanding Poetry, and William Faulkner: The Yoknapatawpha Country. Modern Poetry, for instance, appears under three draft titles, i.e. "An Apology for Intellectual Poetry," "The Poetry of Tiresias," and "The Anatomy of Modern Poetry." For others there are only fragmentary remnants of the creative process, such as An Anthology of Stories from the Southern Review, Fundamentals of Good Writing, Tragic Themes in Western Literature, and Understanding Drama. Three of Brooks's four works on Faulkner are represented here. An artificial unit entitled "William Faulkner: Related Material" was created to include all biographical, referential, and printed material, as well as correspondence concerning Faulkner.

The Shorter Works subseries (Boxes 64-80) is composed primarily of research material and notes, manuscript drafts, and occasional offprints. The "Essays and Lectures" section, which constitutes over ninety percent of this subseries, is broken down into three groups. In the first, short writings concerning authors in general or their works are arranged alphabetically by essay or lecture title under the author's name and then under the title of the individual work. In the second section, short writings are broken down into six subjects: "Culture," "Education," "Literary Criticism," "Literature, General," "Poetry," "Religion," and "Southern Literature and Culture." The third group, "Printed Material," contains lecture programs, schedules, flyers, and newspaper clippings. Other kinds of writings in this subseries are sermons, speeches, book reviews, radio scripts, radio program reviews, and letters to the editor.

Series III, Classroom Material (Boxes 81-82), documents Brooks's activities as a university professor. The material includes reserve lists, transcriptions of classroom lectures, examinations, and gradebooks. Materials relating to students; examinations and gradebooks, are restricted from use until 75 years after their creation. The specific dates for the opening of these materials are noted in the box and folder list.

Series IV, Professional Papers (Boxes 83-87), primarily concerns aspects of Brooks's professional life aside from writing, public lecturing, teaching, and other academic duties. Though still scholarly in nature, this series reflects his interests and activities outside of the university setting. The section entitled "Cultural Attaché Material" covers a particularly interesting period in Brooks's life, during which he served as a cultural attaché to the American Embassy in London (1964-66). Brooks was one of the first participants in an experimental program in which academicians were recruited to serve as overseas goodwill ambassadors. They gave talks and lectures in an effort to demonstrate America's interest and involvement in intellectual affairs. The Visiting Professorships and Conferences, Symposia, Seminars, Trips, etc. subseries contain evidence that Brooks was constantly on the move teaching and lecturing. The section entitled "Interviews" represents transcriptions of interviews between Brooks and various individuals from throughout his career, while the one entitled "Subject Files" serves as an information source primarily on writers and literary topics.

Series V, Writings of Others (Boxes 88-89), is divided into three subseries. The first consists of essays on Brooks, the second primarily contains poems that Robert Penn Warren sent to Brooks for his comment or amusement, and the third subseries is largely composed of essays by various authors on an assortment of literary topics. For related Warren material, see the Robert Penn Waren Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Series VI, Personal Papers (Boxes 90-93), reflects the personal life of Cleanth Brooks. Biographical material, including a sizeable collection of photographs of Brooks, his family, colleagues, and friends, evidence of Brooks's involvement in the Episcopal Church, student notebooks primarily from his days at Exeter College, Oxford, and miscellaneous papers are found in this series.

Series VII, Additions Since 1978 (Boxes 96-129), contains research material compiled by Brooks, correspondence, writings by Brooks and others, and personal papers.

Oversize (Box 94) contains material from Series II, IV, and VI. It includes copies of Percy correspondence, newspaper advertisements for Brooks's publications, subject files, posters announcing lectures by Brooks, miscellaneous material, and one large photograph.

Restricted Fragile Papers (Box 95) contains eleven sound recordings on magnetic tape in various sizes, which are restricted pending duplication. These primarily represent interviews between Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren relating to various literary collaborations.