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Special Collections Department Jerome Klinkowitz papers relating to Kurt Vonnegut 1969 - 1978 Manuscript Collection Number: 300 Accessioned: Gift of Jerome Klinkowitz, December 1984. Extent: 2.3 linear ft. Content: Correspondence, notes, bibliographies, articles, photographs, indices, galley proofs, essays, addresses, and clippings. Access: The collection is open for research. Processed: July 1994, by Anita A. Wellner. for reference assistance email Special Collections or contact: Special Collections, University of Delaware Library Newark, Delaware 19717-5267 (302) 831-2229 Table of Contents Biographical Notes Scope and Contents Note Arrangement Note Series Outline Contents List Biographical Notes Jerome Klinkowitz English professor and writer Jerome Klinkowitz was born December 24, 1943, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Marquette University in 1966 and 1967, respectively. In 1969 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Klinkowitz has served on the English faculties of Northern Illinois University (1969-1972) and the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls (1972- ). Klinkowitz has written or co-authored numerous critical works and bibliographies: Innovative Fiction (1972), The Vonnegut Statement (1973), Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1974), Literary Disruptions (1975), The Life of Fiction (1977), Vonnegut in America (1977), Donald Barthelme (1977), Writing Under Fire: stories of the Vietnam War (1978), The Diaries of Willard Motley (1979), and Hawthorne's Day to the Present (1980), The New American Novel of Manners (1986), Kurt Vonnegut: a comprehensive bibliography (1987), and Structuring the Void (1992). In addition to these critical works, Klinkowitz has written a collection of stories, "Short Season" and Other Stories (1988); a book on jazz, Listen: Gerry Mulligan (1991); and a collection of baseball stories, Writing Baseball (1991). He has also contributed articles and reviews to Village Voice, Chicago Sun- Times Book Week, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Partisan Review, and other journals and periodicals. A noted authority on the work of Kurt Vonnegut, Klinkowitz has not only written widely on his subject, but has lectured at conferences and symposiums as well. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. American novelist Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born on November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Between 1940 and 1947, Vonnegut attended classes at several universities, including Cornell University (1940-1942), Carnegie Institute of Technology (1943), and the University of Chicago (1945-1947). He received a Master of Arts from the University of Chicago in 1971. During World War II, Vonnegut was an infantryman in the U.S. Army, who was subsequently captured and held as a prisoner of war in Dresden. He survived the February 13, 1945, firebombing of Dresden by the Allied forces, which took the lives of 135,000 German civilians. The story of Billy Pilgrim in Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, is based on Vonnegut's Dresden experience. Since his first novel, Player Piano, published by Scribner in 1952, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has written twelve novels, including The Sirens of Titan (1959), Mother Night (1962), Cat's Cradle (1963), God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965), Slaughterhouse Five (1969), Breakfast of Champions (1973), Slapstick (1976), Jailbird (1979), Dead-Eye Dick (1982), Galapagos (1985), Bluebeard (1987), and Hocus Pocus (1990). In addition to his novels, Vonnegut has written several plays, including Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1960) and Between Time and Timbuktu (1972); short fiction, collected in Canary in a Cathouse (1961) and Welcome to the Monkey House (1968); as well as essays, juvenile literature, and autobiographies. His two autobiographical "collages" (his subtitle for each) are titled Palm Sunday (1981) and Fates Worse than Death (1991). A number of Vonnegut's novels have been produced as plays or films; of these, the most widely known is Universal's 1972 film version of Slaughterhouse Five. In the 1990s Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. continues to write and to lecture at universities, churches, and national conferences. He is an outspoken opponent of censorship and war. Sources: Evory, Ann (ed.) Contemporary Authors. New Revision Series, Volume 1. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1981. pp. 342-343. May, Hal and Deborah A. Straub (eds.) Contemporary Authors. New Revision Series, Volume 25. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1989. pp. 464-474. Scope and Content Note The Jerome Klinkowitz Papers Relating to Kurt Vonnegut span the years 1969-1978 and consist of 2.3 linear feet of notes, correspondence, bibliographies, articles, photographs, indices, galley proofs, essays, drafts, an address, and clippings. These materials were used by Jerome Klinkowitz in writing several books and essays related to Kurt Vonnegut. The books represented in the papers are Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: a descriptive bibliography and annotated secondary checklist (co-edited with Asa Pieratt, 1974), Vonnegut in America (co-edited with Donald Lawler, 1977) and The Vonnegut Statement (co-edited with John Somers, 1973). "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and the Crime of His Times" and "A Note on Vonnegut in Europe" are the two essays. Klinkowitz's address, "The Road Not Taken: a Do-It-Yourself New Book by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.," is also available in the papers. The major components of the papers are drafts, working notes, and correspondence. The correspondence for Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Vonnegut in America (essays) and The Vonnegut Statement (essays), is extensive, providing information about the content and editing process for each of these books. The correspondence also outlines the search for a publisher for each publication. Seymour Lawrence, who was responsible for publishing Vonnegut's books during the 1970s and 1980s, published The Vonnegut Statement and Vonnegut in America. Archon Books, a division of Shoe String Press, published Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Klinkowitz's correspondence with Lawrence, Archon Books, his co-editors, and the contributors to the two volumes of essays frequently contains information on revisions to manuscripts or occasionally includes an essay. Drafts of Klinkowitz's 1976 MLA address, "The Road Not Taken: a Do-It-Yourself New Book by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." are found in Series IV. This address was later revised and included in Vonnegut in America. Klinkowitz's two essays, "A Note on Vonnegut in Europe" (Series III) and "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and the Crime of His Times" (Series II) are represented in the collection by galley proofs, notes, typescript drafts, and correspondence. Related collections: Ms 99 Screenplay for Kurt Vonnegut's Slapstick Ms 99 Photocopy of proofs for Vonnegut's Jailbird Ms 99 Photocopy of proofs for Vonnegut's Palm Sunday Ms 259 Seymour Lawrence Publishing Files Related to Kurt Vonnegut Ms 299 Asa Pieratt Papers Relating to Kurt Vonnegut: a comprehensive bibliography Ms 301 Asa Pieratt Collection of Kurt Vonnegut Ephemera Arrangement Note The collection is arranged in six series, each corresponding to the title of a book, address, or essay written by Klinkowitz. These series are arranged in alphabetical order. Within each series the arrangement is chronological. Series Outline . I. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: a descriptive bibliography and annotated secondary checklist, 1969-1974 II. "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and the Crime of His Times," 1970-1971 III. "A Note on Vonnegut in Europe," [n.d.] IV. "The Road Not Taken: a do-it-yourself new book by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.," [1976] V. Vonnegut in America, 1975-1978 VI. The Vonnegut Statement, 1971-1973 Contents List Box -- Folder -- Contents 1 Series I. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: a descriptive bibliography and annotated secondary checklist (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1974), 1969-1974 Written by Asa Pieratt and Jerome Klinkowitz. The series includes correspondence between Pieratt and Klinkowitz, with numerous enclosures of revised notes and bibliographic information, as well as correspondence with their editor at Archon Books, Frances T. Rutter, and with Seymour Lawrence. The series also includes substantial correspondence with Fred Higginson (Nether Press), with whom Klinkowitz had originally contracted to publish the bibliography. The 1974 contract with Archon Books, typescripts of portions of bibliography and the preliminary matter, student bibliographies on Vonnegut, notes and articles toward the bibliography, and a photograph of the cover of Utopia 14, complete the series. Series I.1. Correspondence, 1970-1974 See also the correspondence in Series VI. for mention of this bibliography. F1 1970 F2 1971 F3 1972 Jan-Feb F4 1972 Mar F5 1972 Apr F6 1972 May-Sep F7 1972 Oct F8 1972 Nov F9 1972 Dec 2 F10 1973 Jan-Apr F11 1973 Oct-Dec F12 1974 F13 [n.d.] Series I.2. Student bibliographies, 1970 Jun-Jul Bibliographies of Vonnegut's works as compiled by students in Jerome Klinkowitz's English 274 class. Possibly used as sources of bibliographic information for Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. F14 Eight bibliographies, 1970 Jun-Jul Series I.3. Notes, library requests, articles, 1969-1972 F15 Information gathered toward the bibliography, 1969-1972 2 Series I. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (cont'd) Series I.4. Typescripts of the bibliography, 1972-1973 F16 Typescript of sections B, E-F, K-N, [n.d.] Includes typescript sheets and autograph note cards for these sections, all of which bear extensive autograph corrections. F17 Preliminary matter, section A, and index, [1972] Includes autograph acknowledgments, preface, revised table of contents and index. 3 F18 Typescript sent to Nether Press, 1972 Apr 18 Includes complete manuscript and index,
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