^IMC ROBERT CREELEY: A WRITING BIOGRAPHY AND INVENTORY by GERALDINE MARY NOVIK B.A., University of British Columbia, 1966 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of English We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA February, 1973 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of ENGLISH The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada Date February 7, 1973 ABSTRACT Now, in 1973, it is possible to say that Robert Creeley is a major American poet. The Inventory of works by and about Creeley which comprises more than half of this dissertation documents the publication process that brought him to this stature. The companion Writing Biography establishes Creeley additionally as the key impulse in the new American writing movement that found its first outlet in Origin, Black Mountain Review, Divers Books, Jargon Books, and other alternative little magazines and presses in the fifties. After the second world war a new generation of writers began to define themselves in opposition to the New Criticism and academic poetry then prevalent and in support of Pound and Williams, and as these writers started to appear in tentative little magazines a further definition took place. Some, such as Robert Creeley and Charles Olson, worked toward a new poetic which required a stricter attention on the part of the writer to his content than either metered verse or the loose free verse that rebelled against it. Early in 1950 Creeley began to correspond with Pound, Williams, Olson, Cid Corman, Denise Levertov, Paul Blackburn and others regarding a magazine he wished to start. Out of his correspondence with Olson came the two foremost statements of the new writing, Olson's "Projective Verse" and Creeley's "Notes for a New Prose". Out of the pieces of the collapsed magazine came Origin (1951-1957) which, with iii Corman as editor and Creeley as informal agent, gave the Origin- Black Mountain- poets their first sympathetic publication. The Writing Biography demonstrates that since 1950 writing has been the primary content of Creeley's life and since 1952 his life the primary content of his writing. Using a biograph• ical order, this essay closely follows Creeley's poetry, prose, and writing theory as they develop coincidentally with an alternative writing and publishing system in the early fifties, and records the transition of his own interest from Origin and like magazines, through his Divers Press, to Black Mountain Review—the most significant little magazine of the decade — which Creeley edited from 1954 to 1957. Careful documentation is given for the maturing of his belief that the content (and thus the form) of the writing must be the specific issue of the life momently to hand, and attention is paid to the changes in his life which changed the circumstances of the writing. Above all, this is Creeley's story, and much is told in his own words by using unpublished letters and other works written at the time. The Inventory — a bibliographical catalog in type —records, assesses, interrelates, and otherwise takes stock of the mass of Creeley publications scattered world-wide. It is comprehensive for Creeley's works published from 1945 to 1970 and selective for writings about him. In addition, it lists audio-visual material and many unpublished works. The various editions of Creeley's own books, pamphlets, and broadsides are described in detail and the contents itemized. There is a valuable list of as-yet-uncollected publications and information on his editing, IV translating, and publishing activities. A separate section gives a publication history (with dates of composition when known) for each of Creeley'.s poems, stories, and critical notes in the order they appear in his collected works. The writings about Creeley were selected for their usefulness and chrono• logically arranged within critical groupings. A final section describes letters, manuscripts, and other unpublished works which have found their way into university libraries. Since the Inventory was compiled with the needs of the literary critic and student in mind, cross-references and relationships between publications (and between publications and manuscripts) have been given freely. There is a foreword by Robert Creeley, an introduction, and indexes to names, to poems, and to periodicals. CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENT vi A WRITING BIOGRAPHY TO 1957 Chronology 2 Writing Biography . 4 AN INVENTORY 1945-1970 Foreword by Robert Creeley 118 Detailed Table of Contents 120 Introduction 122 I Works by Robert Creeley ..... 128 II Selected Writings About Robert Creeley .... 165 III Publication History of Individual Writings by Robert Creeley 190 IV Manuscripts, Letters, Recordings, and Proofs . 232 Additions 257 Index to Names 261 Index to Poems 271 Index to Periodicals 284 ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to thank Robert Creeley, Warren Tallman, and Orest Novik for encouraging me in the preparation of this dissertation. Robert Creeley generously answered questions in letters and in person and provided a foreword for the Inventory. Warren Tallman first introduced me to Creeley's poems in his poetry class in 1965. His conversation and writing, above all his exceptional essays on Creeley, have been an influence and inspiration since that time. I am grateful for the assistance given by MacMillan Family Fellowships and a Canada Council Doctoral Fellowship. I have quoted from unpublished letters and manuscripts in the Writing Biography with the kind permission of Robert Creeley, Indiana University, Washington University, Simon Fraser University, Yale University, University of Texas at Austin, State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University of Connecticut. In order to verify entries and expand the Inventory I searched for elusive books, little magazines, and manuscripts at a number of Canadian, American, British, and German libraries. Without exception, the library staff was receptive and helpful. I owe most to those libraries acknowledged in the manuscript section of the Inventory for their help with books and periodicals as well as manuscripts. The large Creeley collection at Washington University, which includes many little magazines, most of Creeley's books, and a vast array of his vii manuscripts, was by far the most useful. Since 1967 I have been in almost continuous correspondence with Elsie Freivogel and her successor Holly Hall, Head•of the Manuscript Division. Their assistance has been invaluable, especially during my visit to the library in 1969. Locally, I have made good use of the fine contemporary literature collection at Simon Fraser University and the general collection at the University of British Columbia where the Inter-Library Loan staff patiently sought out publications when the locations were unknown to me. Kind answers to my letters were received from so many individuals that acknowledgment is unfortunately impractical. Small publishers and little magazine editors were especially helpful and large publishers were generous with dates and figures. Section II of the Inventory was published in an earlier version, with an introduction to Creeley criticism 1950-197D, in West Coast Review, WI, iii (January 1972). The Inventory will be published in 1973 by Kent State University Press in conjunction with McGi11-Queen's University Press, with the assistance of a publication grant from the Humanities Research Council of Canada--which I gratefully acknowledge. WRITING BIOGRAPHY TO 1957 This is the only way that occurs to me: myself, and the variations possible upon my experience.... I ask only this exactness... to have no hesitance between what the head is thinking and what the hand is putting down --Robert Creeley, 1950 CHRONOLOGY 1926 Robert White Creeley born May 21, lived in Massachusetts until 1940. 1940- Attended Holderness School, Plymouth, New Hampshire, and 1943 contributed stories and articles to two school magazines which he edited in his final year. 1943- Studies at Harvard, interrupted late 1944 to late 1945 1947 for service in the India-Burma theater, and association with the Harvard Wake. Married Ann in 1946 and mas- supported by her trust fund income (until 1955). Dropped out of Harvard short of a degree. David born. 1948- Lived on a sustenance farm near Littleton, New Hampshire. 1949 Read intensively. Poems in Wake and Accent, unpublished stories and critical prose. 1950- In December 1949 heard Cid Gorman's radio program and 1953 began to correspond. Attempted to start a magazine which was absorbed by Origin (1951-1957). Origin II, "featuring Robert Creeley", out Summer 1951. Corres• pondence with Williams, Pound, Ferrini, Olson, Blackburn, and Levertov. Moved to Aix-en-Provence, France, May 1951 and to Mallorca, Spain, October 1952. Tom and Charlotte born. Acted as informal agent for Origin, American Editor for Fragmente. Significant contributions to Golden Goose, New Directions XIII, Goad, Vou, Contact, CIW/n, New MexTco Quarterly. Wrote the stories in The Gold Diggers (1954) and poems in Le Fgu (1952), The Kind Of Act Of (1953), and The Immoral Proposition (1953). 1953- Difficulties with Ann as documented by the novel The 1955 Island (1963). Their Di vers Press published between Spring 1953 and Fall 1955 sixteen books by Creeley, Olson, Duncan, Blackburn, Eigner, Layton, etc. Edited' four issues of Black Mountain Review in 1954. Involved in interrelationship of Contact,CIV/n, Origin, BMR, and Contact, Divers, and Jargon Presses. Association with Merlin, contributions to Ferrini & Others, Nine American Poets.