Steve Katz Papers: A Preliminary Inventory of His Papers in the Manuscript Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Steve Katz Papers:

A Preliminary Inventory of His Papers in the Manuscript Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center



	Creator:	Katz, Steve, 1935-
	Title:	Steve Katz Papers
	Dates:	1935-2007
	Abstract:	The materials in the Steve Katz papers span his career as a writer from the 1950s to the 2000s and contain drafts of his novels and short stories, as well as personal and professional correspondence and a small amount of material associated with his college and teaching years.
	Extent:	42 boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 oversize folder, 2 galley folders (19.36 linear feet)
	Language:	English
	Repository:	The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Scope and Contents

The materials in the Steve Katz Papers span his career as a writer from the 1950s to the 2000s and contain drafts of his novels and short stories, as well as personal and professional correspondence and a small amount of material associated with his college and teaching years. The collection is organized into four series: I. Works, 1940s-2007; II. Correspondence, 1942-2005; III. Personal and Career-Related, 1935-2006; IV. Works by Others, 1940s-1991.

Series I. Works comprises the bulk of the collection. It is divided into three subseries: A. Novels and Short Story Collections; B. Short Works; and C. Journals and Notepads. Subseries A. contains drafts of all of Katz's published works, as well as many unpublished works, including his first novel, The Steps of the Sun, and a travel book about China called Jade Pork. The drafts are primarily typescripts, although there are some handwritten sections and corrections included. There are often multiple copies and versions of individual stories and novel sections. The works are arranged alphabetically by title.

Subseries B., Short Works, contains drafts and tearsheets of short stories, poetry, and short non-fiction pieces.

The journals and notepads in Subseries C. represent the early drafts and include notes for many of Katz's works. The notebooks contain story ideas, draft sections, and journal entries and are arranged in rough chronological order, although there are a number of undated journals. Along with the undated notebooks the collection contains the yellow legal pads Katz used while writing early longhand drafts of his works. These notepads do not have titles or dates, and are arranged in the order in which they were received.

Series II. Correspondence is divided into two subseries: A. Family Letters; and B. Personal and Professional. Subseries A. includes many letters sent by Katz and his wife Pat to his mother during the late 1950s when he was working on his first (unpublished) novels, and the early 1960s while the family lived in Italy and Katz taught at various universities and army bases. Also present are letters sent by his father to his mother.

Subseries B. Personal and Professional contains correspondence from his agents, including Lurton Blassingame and Georges Borchardt, as well as correspondence from other writers, artists, and personal friends. Of note is a letter written by Véra Nabokov for Vladimir Nabokov, who was a professor at Cornell during Katz's time as a student. Some of the authors and artists represented are A. R. Ammons, Peter Dean, B. H. Friedman, Jerome Klinkowitz, Harold Schimmel, Primarosa Cesarini Sforza, Ron Sukenick, and Richard tum Suden. These files are filed alphabetically by last name. Katz also kept a large amount of miscellaneous correspondence, some of which was labeled with titles such as "Friendly fire," and "Friendly fun." These files were placed at the end of the alphabetical files and are arranged roughly by date. The correspondence in these files is primarily from friends and acquaintances, some of whom may be represented in the alphabetical files; there are some career-related materials present as well.

The materials in Series III. Personal and Career-Related contain professional awards, reviews of Katz's works, and photographs. The photographs include several folders of pictures taken for an "aborted car photograph piece," Katz in his Boy Scout uniform, and slides taken on family vacations to Spirit Lake at Mt. St. Helens, and Ashland, Oregon, in the late 1950s. Also included are Katz's diploma from Cornell University, and reading announcements.

Series IV. Works of Others includes works by friends, colleagues, and students, such as Mark Leyner, as well as interviews with and works about Katz. Also present are notebooks containing an apparent autobiography written by his father, Alexander Katz, and one folder with drawings by Katz's youngest son, Rafael.

Restrictions

Access:

Open for research

Separated Material


	Books and audio recordings received with the collection have been transferred to the appropriate departments within the Ransom Center.

Administrative Information

Acquisition:

Purchase, 2006 (Reg. 15421)

Processed by:

Hope Donovan Rider, 2007

Container List



Series I. Works, 1940s-2007
		Subseries A. Novels and Short Story Collections, 1957-2007
			43 Fictions (short stories, 1991)
Box	Folder
1	1			"The Attack of the Conceptual Artists," typescript
	2			"Looped in Oaxaca" and "Taking the Cave Man Seriously," typescripts and published versions in Guest Editor, edited by SK, vol.1, no. 1, Winter 1984
	3			"Why I Left Emile," typescript with corrections
			Antonello's Lion (novel, 2006)
	4-6			Typescript
	7-10			Typescript with illustrations
	11		Bunkers (play), typescript
Box	Folder
2			Cheyenne River Wild Track (poetry, 1973)
	1			Typescript
	2			Typescript photocopy
	3			Agent's photocopy
	4			Proofs
	5		Chicago Needs Snow (screenplay), typescript
			Creamy & Delicious (short stories, 1970)
	6			Note cards
	7			"Blossoms," typescript and photocopies
	8-9			"In Our Thyme," typescripts, photostatic proofs
	10			"Kelly," typescript carbon and photocopy
	11-12			Mythologies, typescripts and photocopies
Box	Folder
3	1			"Nino," typescript carbon
	2			"3 Satisfying Stories," typescripts and photocopies
	3-6			Typescript sections
	7-8			"Setting copy," edited typescript
	*			Galleys (*removed to galley folders)
	9*			Photograph proofs (*oversize photographs removed to box 43)
			The Exagggerations of Peter Prince (novel, 1968)
	10			Partial typescript sections
Box	Folder
4	1			Typescript segment, with letter from Peter Schjeldahl, undated
	2			Partial typescript
	3-4			"Column cut" typescripts
	5-9			"Original ms with original graphics"
	10*			Graphics (*oversize photograph moved to box 43)
	11			Graphics and jacket copy typescript
	12			Book jacket mock-up
	13			"Some Exaggerations of Peter Prince," offprints from Chicago Review, vol. 18, no. 364
	14			Reviews
Box	Folder
5			Florry of Washington Heights: A Novel (novel, 1987)
	1			Typescript
	2-3			"Working ms," corrected typescript
			From the Childhood of Marcus Morocco (short stories)
	4-6			Typescript, undivided, 3 copies
	7			Typescript, divided into stories, "1 each"
	8			Story typescripts, multiple copies
	9			"From the Childhood of Marcus Morocco," story typescript, agent's copy
	10			"From the Childhood of Marcus Morocco,""The Immortality of Rita Moll," story typescripts
Box	Folder
6			Galoshes: A Novel by Stephanie Gatos Jr. as told to Steve Katz (novel)
	1-2			Early typescript
	3-4			Revised typescript with handwritten changes
	5-6			Revised typescript
	7			Typescript, revised 1997
	8			Illustrations by Rafael Katz
Box	Folder
7	1-2			Typescript with illustrations
	3-4			Typescript with illustrations, photocopy
	5		Hex (early title Grass Land, screenplay, 1973) revised first draft, May 1971
			In the House of the Whales (novel)
	6-7			Early draft, typescript
	8			Typescript with handwritten changes
Box	Folder
8	1			Typescript
			Jade Pork (travel essays)
	2-3			Typescript photocopy
	4			"Choo choo China," typescript photocopy
	5			"Getting to the Greatness of the Wall," typescript
	6			"Imagining Guilin," typescript
	7			"Introduction," and "Jade Pork," typescripts
	8			"Postscript: Marrying the Barbarian," typescript
	9*			"Processing Pooches," typescript photocopy; "China Women," typescript photocopy, published version in Rolling Stock, nos. 12 and 14, 1987 (*removed to oversize box 43)
	10		Journalism (poetry, 1990), typescript
			Kelly's Thumb/Lough in Muckland (novel)
	11			Kelly's Thumb, proposal
	12-13			Kelly's Thumb, typescript carbon
Box	Folder
9	1-3			Typescript carbon, cont'd
	4-8			Lough in Muckland, "complete" typescript
	9			Typescript fragment
	10			"Lough in Muckland," story offprint from Northwest Review, Summer 1959
Box	Folder
10			Kissssss: A Miscellany (short stories, 2007)
	1			"Hollywood Novelette/Agnes," typescript
	2			"Nowadays and Hereafter," typescript fragments "some rewrites"
	3-4			Typescript, "edits and rejects"
			Kulik in Puglia (novel)
	5			Typescript carbon
	6			Partial typescript
	7			Typescript, agent's copy
	8			"The Sweet Salento, with Edmond Kulik, and Peter Stern Among the Woptimists," tearsheet from Paris Review, undated
			Mendoza the Jew
	9			Novel fragment, agent's copy
Box	Folder
11	1-2			Screenplay, typescript, 2 copies
			Moving Parts (short stories, 1977)
				"43"
	3				Note cards
	4				Typescript photocopies
	5				Corrected typescript
	6				Partial typescript
	7			"Female Skin,""A Parcel of Wrists," typescripts
	8			"A Parcel of Wrists," typescript
	9			Typescript, agent's copy
Box	Folder
12	1			Typescript, cont'd
	2			Typescript photocopy
	3-7			Blue line proofs
Box	Folder
13	1			Blue line proofs, cont'd
	2			Wrist photographs
	3*			Illustrations, photographs, and book jacket layout (*oversize materials removed to box 43)
	4-5			Nashville photographs
	6			Review in American Book Review, 1978
	7			Critical essays by others about Moving Parts
	8-9		Posh (novel, published 1971 under pseudonym Stephanie Gatos), typescripts
			Private Entrance (play)
	10			Typescripts, notes
Box	Folder
14	1			Typescript photocopy
			Saw (novel, 1972)
	2			Typescript
	3			Typescript carbon with corrections
	4*			Author photographs for book jacket (*oversize photograph removed to box 43)
	5		Shining Sea (poetry), typescript
	6		The Steps of the Sun (novel), typescript, circa 1957
			Stolen Stories (short stories, 1984)
	7-8			Typescript
	9			Typescript carbon
Box	Folder
15	1			Typescript photocopy
	2			Stories, various, typescripts
			Swanny's Ways (novel, 1995)
	3-6			"Original" typescript with handwritten changes
				Typescripts by chapter
	7				"Tin," two copies
	8				"Comment 1"
	9				"Ouida"
	10				"Wine"
	11				"Comment 3"
	12				"Red Shift"
	13				"Comment 4"
Box	Folder
16	1				"Scraps"
	2				"Comment 5"
	3				"Justice"
	4				"Comment 6"
	5				"Or (a)"
	6				"Or (b)"
	7				"My Postscript"
	8				"Now"
	9		Try a Little Tenderness (Otis Redding biography film treatment), first draft typescript and photocopy, 1978
	10		The Weight of Antony (poetry, 1964), typescript
			Wier and Pouce (novel, 1984)
	11			"Babebies," typescript photocopy
	12			"Bounce," typescript photocopy
	13			"College Days," handwritten and typescript drafts
	14			"The Death of Bobby Kennedy," typescript photocopy
				"Keeper"
	15				Early typescript fragments
	16				Short story version typescript
	17-18				Typescripts
Box	Folder
17	1				Partial typescript, carbon
	2			"Keeper,""The Message," typescripts
	3			"The Messages," typescript photocopy
	4-5			"Early with revisions," typescript
	6			Book jacket design, reviews
		Subseries B. Short Works, 1940s-2005
	7		"Adjective," typescripts
	8		"Boulder Women," typescripts
	9		"Contributor's Note or How I Lead My Life or Things to do While Working for Notre Dame," typescript, 3 March 1977
	*		"Explanations," for an exhibitions of paintings by Richard tum Suden (*poster removed to oversize folder)
	10		Juvenilia and "youthful poems," circa 1940s-1950s
	11		"Knowing Henry Crow Dog," typescript
	12		"The Lestriad," tearsheet from Chicago Review, Spring 1965
	13		"My Boulder Loves," typescript photocopy
	14		"A Note on Richard tum Suden," typescript
	15		"The Perfect Life," tearsheet from Fiction vol. 2, no. 1, with handwritten corrections
	16		Poetry
Box	Folder
18	1-2		"Poem variations revisions," typescripts, circa 2005
	3		"Prism behavior in Indiana," typescript, photocopies
	4		Reviews by SK
	5		"Shaughnessy O'Diddly Dewdrop" (children's story), handwritten draft
	6		"The Song of the Man in the Next Apartment Who is Crazy and Lives Alone," tearsheet from Epoch VIII, 1957
	7		"A Story of Infidelity," offprint from Epoch, Winter 1963
	8		"Testimony for [Charles] Ross,""Prism book," typescripts
	9		"Total Recall," poetry typescript
	10		"Zippo Jerky," typescript
	11-12		Untitled stories, handwritten and typed drafts
	13		[Untitled] collaboration with Elaine McCartney, typescript
		Subseries C. Journals and Notepads, 1961-2001, undated
	14		1961
	15-17		February - June 1962, Kulik in Puglia
Box	Folder
19	1		Kulik, cont'd
	2-6		2 December 1962 - 4 March 1966, The Exagggerations of Peter Prince
	7		9 February 1967, Creamy & Delicious
Box	Folder
20	1		June 1967-May 1968, "Turkey Journal"
	2		22 December 1967, "Jerusalem notebook (Creamy & Delicious)"
	3		1968
	4		14 April 1969, Saw
	5		22 September 1970, Saw and Moving Parts
Box	Folder
21	1		[1971], Posh
	2		1971-1973
	3		July-August 1971, 1973, 1974
	4		1974-1976
	5		June 1975
Box	Folder
22	1		1976-1977, Indiana, Peru, Bolivia
	2		1977-1978
	3		1978-[1979]
	4		[circa 1978-1979]
	5		[1970s], Mendoza the Jew, novelization
	6		23 February 1980
Box	Folder
23	1		July 1980
	2		1981-1982
	3		1982
	4		[circa 1982], China trip
	5		1983
	6		1983-1985
	7		26 October 1984, Swanny's Ways
Box	Folder
24	1		27 May 1985-[1987]
	2		1987
	3		1988
	4		1989-1992
	5-7		[1980s, Florry]
Box	Folder
25	1		[1990, Journalism]
	2		1992
	3		March-April 1993, "Bali Book"
	4		1993-1994
	5		1994-[1995]
	6		March 1994, 1997-1998
Box	Folder
26	1		June-August 1996
	2		1999
	3		2001, "Antonello Trip"
	4-7		Undated
Box	Folder
27	1		Undated
	2		Undated, [India]
	3		Note cards
	4-10		Yellow notepads
Box	Folder
28	1-9		Yellow notepads, cont'd
Box	Folder
29	1-3		Yellow notepads, cont'd



Series II. Correspondence, 1942-2005
		Subseries A. Family Letters, 1942-2005
Box	Folder
29	4		Katz, Patricia Bell, from publishers re children's book, 1964-1965
			Katz, Sally, incoming letters
	5-7			Katz, Alexander, 1942, 1948, 1950
	8-10			Katz, Steve and Patricia "Jingle" Bell, 1953-1983
Box	Folder
30	1-5			Katz, Steve and Patricia, cont'd
			Katz, Steve
	6-9			Family letters, to and from SK "while away," 1958-2003
Box	Folder
31	1			70th birthday cards and letters, 2005
		Subseries B. Personal and Professional, 1957-2004
	2		Ammons, A. R., 1966-1968
	3		Bamberger, Bill, 1987-2000, 2003
	4		Banks, Russell, 1993
	5		Berryman, John, 1964
	6		Besman, Inger, 1986-1994
	7		Blassingame, Lurton (agent), 1964-1968
	8-9		Boucher, Crisi, 1988-2004
	10		Busey, Gary, undated
	11		Clark, Tom, 1967
	12		Cowley, Malcolm, 1964
	13		Crow-Dog, Henry, 1971-1972
	14		Dean, Peter and Lori, 1961-2001
	15		Dine, Jim, 1968
Box	Folder
32	1		Dorn, Ed, 1982, 1997-1998
	2		Federman, Raymond, undated, includes some typescripts
	3		Foreman, Deborah, 1996-1997, 2000
	4		Friedlander, Lee, 1967-1968
	5		Friedman, B. H., 1969, 1981-2004
	6		Georges Borchardt, Inc., 1968-1974, 1995-1996
	7		Golden, Sean, 1981-1982
	8		Green, John (agent, Hughes Massie Ltd. agent), 1964-1965
	9-10		Guillot, Lindsay (Linne), 1979-1982
	11		Hart, Carolyn, 1983, 1993
	12		Hathaway, Baxter, 1958-1959
	13		Hauser, Marianne, 1981
	14		Heaton, Sammy and William (Bill), 1958-1959
	15		Hollo, Anselm, 1974, 1995, 2000
	16		Howe, Fanny, 1992-1996
	17		Janssen, Virginia (Gini), 1986-1987, 1994-2000
	18		Jensen, Jane, 1982-1983
	19		Johnson, Ray, 1969
	20		Kantor, Robert, 1960-1964, undated
Box	Folder
33	1		Klinkowitz, Jerome, 1972-2003
	2		Leyner, Mark, 1983, 1986
	3		Lynn, Lorna, 1981-1985
	4		Malanga, Gerard, 1965-1966
	5		Marshall, Jack, 1970-1974
	6		McCaffery, Larry, 1994-2000
	7		Miller, Judy, 1965-1966
	8		Nabokov, Véra (for Vladimir), 1968
	9		Paul, Robert, 1959-1964, 1995-1996
	10-11		Publishers and rejections, 1957-1968
	12		Publishers "contracts, hassles, etc.," 1968-1972
	13		Ray, David, 1958-1968
	14		Ross, Charles, undated
	15-17		Schimmel, Harold, 1957-2001
Box	Folder
34	1-3		Schimmel, Harold, cont'd
	4		Schjeldahl, Peter, 1965
	5		Schneeman, George, 1963-2004
	6		Schumann, Peter, undated
	7-8		Sforza, Primarosa Cesarini, 1969, 1991-2004
	9		Shulman, Martha Rose, 1983
	10		Stephens, Michael, 1994-1995
	11		Stout, Rex (for the Author's Guild, Inc.), 1972
	12		Sterling Lord Agency, 1960, 1962
Box	Folder
35	1		Stork, Sibyl, 1981-1983
	2		Sukenick, Ron, 1964-2000
	3		Sward, Robert, 1964-1969
	4		tum Suden, Richard, 1965-1967
	5		Violi, Paul
	6		Weatherly, Florence Lazrus, 1958-1963, undated
			Miscellaneous
	7-9			"Official," 1994-2004
	10			"Friendly fire," 1997-2000
	11-12			"More friendly fire"
Box	Folder
36	1-2			"Friendly fun"
	3-4			"Friendly stuff"
	5-9			Unlabeled, 1957-2004
Box	Folder
37	1-2			Unlabeled, cont'd



Series III. Personal and Career-Related, 1935-2006
Box	Folder
37	3	Astrological chart
	4	The Author's Guild, membership packet
	5	Awards and certificates, 1948-1952
	6	Birth certificate
	*	Cape Breton house, architectural drawings (*removed to oversize folder)
	8	Dictionary of Literary Biography entry, circa 1983, photocopy
	*	Diploma, Cornell University, 1957 (*removed to oversize box 43)
	8	Fellowship applications, recommendations, tenure and credentials
	9	Guggenheim fellowship application
	10	Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century entry re Katz, photocopy
	11	Medical: Pupil's medical report, 25 February 1941; hospital card, 1947-1950
	12	Passport, issued 1960
		Photographs, by date
	13		Katz, Alexander and Sally Goldstein Katz, early undated
	14		Boy scout photos, with Pete Beck and George [Zograti], circa 1940s
	15		"Washington Heights kids," circa late 1940s or early 1950s
	16		Ashland, Spirit Lake, Eugene [Oregon slides], 1956-1959
	17		Cape Breton, 1971, 1972
	18		Cape Breton house, undated
Box	Folder
38	1		Nicaragua trip group photograph, 1988
	2-4		"Aborted car photo piece," undated
	5		"To Richard's with contaflex," photos from car
	6		"Clarence Schmidt, Kathy [Pomer], Katz," undated
	7		Unidentified, undated
	8	Reading announcements
	9-10	Receipts, 1970s
	11	Reviews and clippings
	12	Royalty statements, 1968-1973
Box	Folder
39	1	Teaching reviews, partial vita
	2	Tofu instructions
	3	University of Colorado Faculty Arts Award certificate, 1991
	4	Miscellaneous

Series IV. Works By Others, 1940s-1991

Box

Folder

Brownstein, Michael. "When Nobody's Looking," 1981

Carey, Joe. Stories and reviews

Emshwiller, Carol. "Four short stories," photocopy

Fiction Collective, author photos for book jackets (*removed to oversize box 43)

Gallup, Dick. "Life is not a sport," poetry typescript

Goldfarb, Sidney

"Orange Grove," script

"Rushes at Tulsa," typescript

Guillot, Lindsay (Linne). "The Eye in the Field," typescript photocopy, circa 1980

Hanna, Tom. "I make fallout too," poetry typescript photocopy

13*

Heaton, William. Photographs of paintings (*poster removed to oversize folder)

A Hundred Posters, issues 14, 19, 23-26, 38, unidentified

15-16

Inskeep, James H. "Unpainted Object from Mound Number One," Master's thesis, University of Colorado, two copies, 1980

Karfiol, Judith Rachel. "New American Fiction and the Aesthetics of Camus and Robbe-Grillet," PhD dissertation, University of Southern California, 1978

Chapter II, "Steve Katz: Imagination Dislocations"

Box

Folder

Complete dissertation

Katz, Alexander

2-7

Notebooks, circa 1940s

Box

Folder

1-8

Notebooks, cont'd

Box

Folder

Notebooks, cont'd

Typescripts

Katz, Avrum. Photographs

Katz, Pat. Homegrown newsletter, 1990-1991

Katz, Rafael. "The story of Yun Mi,""God's Seed,""Josh the Caucasoid," Taiwan strip and poems

Lieberman, Laurence. "Of Mind and World," review of Northfield Poems, by A. R. Ammons in The Hudson Review, vol. XX, no. 2, Summer 1967

Lewis, Harry. "The Candy Store: Nine Pieces of Spring Candy," poetry booklet, 1978

Leyner, Mark. Typescripts

McCaffery, Larry. "An Interview with Steve Katz," typescript, 1977

Molinaro, Ursula. "Positions with White Roses," uncorrected page proofs, 9 November 1982

Raworth, Tom. "Pleasant Butter," poetry typescript photocopy

Rocky Ledge, no. 7, February/March 1981

Rolling Stock, nos. 11 and 12, 1986, no. 15/16, 1989 (*oversize materials removed to box 43)

Ryan, Paul. "Relationships," in Talking Wood, vol. 1, no. 4, 1980

Schimmel, Harold. Poetry typescripts

Silk, Dennis. "Silence, and Stealth of Dayes," poem, 1976

Tarquini, Francesco. "Treni," typescript

Weatherly, Florence Lazrus. Two stories, typescripts

Wurlitzer, Rudolph. Excerpt from Slow Fade in Smoke Signals, 1983

Yanagi IV Broadsides, various artists, 1977 (*removed to oversize folder)

Zelevansky, Paul. The Case for the Burial of Ancestors, selections from "The Foreward," and "Book I," February 1979 (*removed to oversize box 43)

Unidentified poems dedicated to Katz

Box

Folder

Oversize