Scope and Contents
This addition to the original acquisition of Julian Barnes Papers contains material
related to his literary activity since 2002, 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, and career-related
material. This accretion is divided into two series: I. Works, 1996-2006; and II.
Correspondence and Other Papers, 1960-2006.
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. The papers contain the uncorrected proofs for this work.
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.