Search Results
Box 9, Folder 20
This subseries contains materials related to Fagles's translations of Sophocles's Three Theban Plays, including Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus, which were published in 1982. Early drafts of each play in multiple versions, drafts with meticulous notes and revisions by Fagles's collaborator Bernard Knox, and page proofs are present, as are preliminary versions of the book's introduction, notes, glossary, and bibliography. Other related materials include contracts and financial papers with publisher Viking Penguin, correspondence and responses from other writers regarding the book, promotional materials, files on radio productions and journal publications, fellowship proposals, corrections to later editions, and permissions files regarding the use of Fagles's translations in anthologies and theatrical performances.
Fagles began working on his translation of Homer's Iliad in 1982 and completed it in 1990. This subseries includes early and later typescript drafts with manuscript revisions by both Fagles and Bernard Knox, notes on spelling and pronunciation of the Greek, as well as preliminary versions of the book's notes, introduction, and glossary, and correspondence regarding early drafts of the epic. Following its publication, the book sold many copies and won the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets, an award from the Translation Center of Columbia University, and the New Jersey Humanities Book Award; files that Fagles kept on these awards are included alongside his working files. Also represented in this subseries are publishing correspondence, contracts, financial papers regarding sales and royalties, and files on book design, promotion, audiobook versions, and reprints, as are materials regarding theatrical performances and stage readings, radio broadcasts, publicity, reviews, lectures, and other public appearances Fagles made in conjunction with his work on the Iliad. Several books of the Iliad were published prior to the completion of the epic in the literary magazines Grand Street and TriQuarterly, which versions are also contained in these files.
Odyssey: Introduction, 1995 1 folder
Box 16, Folder 12
Includes an edited draft of the introduction and a group of correspondence between Robert Fagles and Bernard Knox.
Fagles began translating Homer's Odyssey in 1990, immediately following his completion of the Iliad. His translation was published in 1996 to widespread critical acclaim and popularity. This subseries includes correspondence with Bernard Knox and others regarding Fagles's plans and progress with regards to the translation, as well as early and revised drafts, including those with extensive comments by Knox, and a later complete copy-edited version. Jacket design materials, preliminary versions of source maps, genealogies, glossaries, and notes, correspondence regarding publishing and promotion, sales and royalties records, and contracts with Viking Penguin are also present, along with reposes, reviews, and interviews related to the book. During and immediately following his work on the Odyssey, Fagles made frequent appearances at translation symposia, public readings, festivals, Princeton events, lecture series at universities, and high school classes to discuss and read from his work. He kept files documenting each of these appearances, which can be found in this subseries. Fagles also kept track of mentions of his translation in various publications and television programs, which are also present. Since Fagles's public appearances in the late 1990s often regarded his translations of both of Homer's epics, researchers should note that this subseries also contains some materials that relate to the Iliad as well as the Odyssey.
This subseries includes materials related to Fagles's last major work, an English translation from the Latin of Virgil's Aeneid, which was published in 2006. It includes typescript drafts, arranged by book within the epic, usually six to seven drafts per book. These drafts contain exhaustive notes and suggestions for editing by Bernard Knox, as well as notes by Lynne Fagles. Drafts are also sometimes accompanied by letters from Knox providing his general commentary on the book as a whole. The subseries also contains some files regarding promotion, responses, reviews, publishing correspondence, sales and royalties records, permissions, and book jacket design, although these tangential materials are present in a lesser quantity for the Aeneid than for the Iliad and the Odyssey. In 2006, Fagles was awarded a National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is also represented by a file in this subseries.
Series 1: Writings, 1959-2007 23 boxes
This series includes Robert Fagles's working files for all of his major translations of the works of Homer, Virgil, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Pindar, and Bacchylides, as well as for his book of original poetry, I, Vincent. Materials document his writings over the complete span of his professional career as a translator and poet from the early 1960s until the late 2000s. Fagles kept thorough documentation of his own creative process, as well as of the life of his works following their publication, as reflected in his extensive collection of reviews, productions, permissions files, and mentions of his work in the press. Accordingly, files in this series largely follow the original arrangement imposed on them by their creator in that they are grouped by major work rather than by format, reflecting Fagles's own work habits.
Weiss, Theodore, and Rene, 1978-2003 1 folder
Box 25, Folder 6
Includes Quarterly Review of Literature writings
This series includes Robert Fagles's correspondence with a variety of friends, colleagues, former students, and poets, as well as a small amount of family correspondence. As a whole, much of the correspondence is of a mixed nature, covering both professional and personal topics, and reflects Fagles's close working relationships with his colleagues and fellow classicists and his willingness to serve as a mentor to many former students and younger scholars interested in ancient Greek and Latin literature. Notable correspondents include Louise Glück, Anne Carson, Robert Fitzgerald, Harold Shapiro, James Dickey, Joyce Carol Oates, William Meredith, Francine du Plessix Gray, Rachel Hadas, Robert Hollander, Francis Fergusson, George Steiner, Robert Goheen, and Charles Tomlinson. Letters often regard Fagles's responses to various translations and poems sent to him for comments, as well as recommendations he provided for colleagues and students for various positions and grants; accordingly, some files also contain writings, clippings, and other print materials regarding works of others. Letters from Fagles often contain lengthy discussions of his ideas about the art of translation and his readings of Greek texts. Of particular interest is a large group of detailed and intimate letters that Fagles wrote to his mother Vera Fagles during his undergraduate years at Amherst and graduate study at Yale in the 1950s, which provide insights into his early encounters with translation studies and ancient literature.
This subseries includes materials related to publishing and permissions, including printed materials, revised typescripts for later reissues of Fagles's translations, and correspondence reflecting Fagles's relationships with his publisher, literary agent, and collaborators. Correspondence with Bernard Knox and Georges Borchardt is accompanied by a significant group of permissions inquiries and replies pertaining to the reuse of Fagles's work in publications and performances by others. A group of materials related to Fagles's revisions of his translations from the Greek for the Penguin Classics series in the early 2000s is also present. Researchers should note that Fagles kept all materials regarding the initial publication of each of his translations along with his complete files on those works; therefore, those searching for publication files regarding specific works should consult the corresponding subseries in Series 1.
