Summary

Creator:	Claire, William F.
Date(s):	1969
Call Number:	MSS 0099, F0935
Language:	Materials entirely in English.
Abstract:	American writer and educator Edgar M. Branch wrote to the editor of the literary magazine Voyages William Claire to request a recent issue, in which the first chapter of James T. Farrell's unpublished novel The Vast Present appeared.
Physical Description:	2 items
Source:	Gift of William Claire, October 2012.
Processing:	Processed and encoded by Anita Wellner, April 2013. Further encoded by George Apodaca, October 2015. Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Biographical and Historical Notes

James T. Farrell (1904-1979)

American novelist James T. Farrell, born February 27, 1904, in Chicago, Illinois, was best known for his Studs Lonigan trilogy.

Much of Farrell's fiction is set in his hometown of Chicago and addresses issues of the city's working class. Farrell published more than twenty-five novels during his lifetime, as well as numerous collections of stories and works of criticism. In addition to the Studs Lonigan trilogy, he wrote a series of five novels centered around the character Danny O'Neill.

Farrell was also active in contemporary politics and is generally associated with writers of the American left who emerged during the 1930s and 1940s. In his later years, Farrell devoted much of his writing to a cycle of novels titled A Universe of Time, which he began writing in the early 1960s and which he projected to include approximately thirty titles.

James T. Farrell died on August 22, 1979, in New York City.

Sources

"James T(homas) Farrell." Contemporary Authors Online (reproduced in Gale Biography In Context). http://ic.galegroup.com (accessed April 29, 2013).

William F. Claire (1935- )

American writer and editor William F. Claire was born October 4, 1935, in Northampton, Massachusetts.

William Claire was founding editor and publisher of Voyages, a national literary magazine published in Washington, D.C., during the 1960s and 1970s. Additionally, he has edited and published books relating to Alan Swallow, Mark Van Doren, the poetry of Michelangelo, and physicians as writers. He is also the author of several books of poetry, From a Southern France Notebook (1974), The Strange Coherence of Our Dreams: Poems (1973) and Poems: a Selection (2004).

Sources

"William Francis Claire." Contemporary Authors Online. Gale Biography In Context. http://ic.galegroup.com (accessed April 29, 2013).

Edgar M. Branch (1913-2006)

American writer and educator Edgar M. Branch wrote A Bibliography of James T. Farrell's Writings, 1921-1957.

Born on March 21, 1913, in Chicago, Illinois, Edgar Marquess Branch also wrote several biographical works on Farrell, as well as works on Mark Twain. Branch, who was the literary executor of the James T. Farrell estate, died on August 14, 2006.

Sources

"Edgar Marquess Branch." Contemporary Authors Online (reproduced in Gale Biography In Context). http://ic.galegroup.com (accessed April 29, 2013).

Scope and Content Note

American writer and educator Edgar M. Branch wrote to the editor of the literary magazine Voyages William Claire to request a recent issue, in which the first chapter of James T. Farrell's unpublished novel The Vast Present appeared.

Branch mentioned in the letter that James T. Farrell had written to him about the excerpt. William Claire, who donated Branch's letter, has included a copy of the Spring 1969 issue of Voyages.

Using these materials

Shelving Summary

Box 64, F0935: Shelved in SPEC MSS 0099 manuscript boxes.

Access Information

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

MSS 0099, F0935, William Claire collection related to James T. Farrell, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Related Materials in this Repository

This item forms part of MSS 0099 Miscellaneous Literary and Historical Manuscripts.

MSS 0214, James T. Farrell papers.

MSS 0368, Gene Phillips collection of James T. Farrell papers.

MSS 0548, Barry Wallenstein - James T. Farrell collection.

MSS 0099, F0925, James T. Farrell letters to William F. Claire.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, http://library.udel.edu/spec/askspec/

Names & Subjects

Names

• Branch, Edgar Marquess, 1913- --Correspondence
• Branch, Edgar Marquess, 1913-2006
• Claire, William F.
• Farrell, James T. (James Thomas), 1904-1979--Correspondence

Subjects

• Novelists
• Novelists, American--20th century--Correspondence

Formats

• Periodicals
• correspondence