Collection View
Series 1: Correspondence, 1943-2013
This series, which comprises the majority of the collection, consists of Joseph Frank's personal and professional correspondence with various writers, academics, poets, friends, and family members from the 1940s through the early 2000s but primarily from the 1950s through the 1980s. Most correspondence is incoming, though occasional files also contain outgoing correspondence from Joseph Frank and his wife, Marguerite Straus Frank. A small group of family correspondence between members of Frank's family is also included following the alphabetical correspondence, including condolence letters addressed to Marguerite Straus Frank following Joseph Frank's death. Of note is a significant group of letters to Joseph Frank from poet Elizabeth Bishop from the 1950s and early 1960s describing her writing and her experiences while living in Brazil with her partner Lota de Macedo Soares. Correspondence files from poets Yves Bonnefoy and Allen Tate are also sizable. While most of Frank's correspondence is in English, a significant amount is also in French, with smaller quantities in German and Russian.
Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent, followed by correspondence from unidentified senders and a small file group of family correspondence. Additional correspondence received after 2017 is arranged by accession at the end of the series.
A, 1967-2004
Abel, Lionel, 1976-1986
Abse, Daniel, 1977 May 13
Alexandrov, Vladimir E., 1991-1992
Alvarez, Al, 1956-1964
Assar, Nasser, 1994-2004
B, 1955-2002
Backus, Fred, 1996-2002
Barnes, Djuna, 1972 March 27-May 16
Barzun, Jacques, 1957 October 28
Bat-Josef, Myriam, 1965 June 28
Bate, W. J., 1968 January 17
Baumgardt, David, and Rose, 1947-1968
Becker, William, 1951 June 13
Belknap, Robert, 1963-1974
Bellow, Saul, 1982 July 23
Belov, S. V., 1980-1984
Benjamin, H., 1951 March 8
Berberova, Nina, undated
Berlin, Isaiah, 1962-1975
Biala, Janice, 1955-1969
Billington, James H., 1974-1985
Bishop, Elizabeth, 1950-1964
Blackmur, R. P., 1956-1960
Bloom, Allan, 1959-1969
Bonnefoy, Yves, 1964-2007
Booth, Wayne C., 1979-1988
Borger, Freda, 1950-1952
Boring, Mollie, 1951 June 30
Bowen, William G., 1974-1980
Bowman, Frank Paul, 1952 February 13
Boyers, Robert, 1977-1982
Brokaw, Miriam, 1968-1974
Bromberg, Rachel, 1943
Bromberg, Rachel, 1950
Bromberg, Rachel, 1951
Bromberg, Rachel, 1952-1954
Bromberg, Rachel, 1956
Bromberg, Rachel, 1963
Bromberg, Rachel, 1964 January-April
Bromberg, Rachel, 1964 May-December
Bromberg, Rachel, 1965
Bromberg, Rachel, 1970s
Bromberg, Rachel, 1980s
Brombert, Victor, 1964-2008
Brombert, Victor, 1964-1984
Brombert, Victor, 2002-2008
Brombert, Victor, 1970
Bromwich, David, July 24
Brown, Edward J., 1966-1984
Brubeck, Marcia, 1974-1976
Burke, Kenneth, 1967-1975
C, 1954-2004
Cambon, Glauco, 1964 January 19
Cape, Jonathan, 1968 January 15
Carver, Catharine, 1951-1955
Cassedy, Steven, 1992
Cate, Curtis, 1952-2003
Catteau, Jacques, 1980-1991
Caws, Mary Ann, 1978 May 4
Chace, William M., 1984-2009
Chayes, Irene, 1952-1955
Cheney, Brainard, 1966 November 28
Chenon, René, 1974-1987
Cheuse, Alan, 1973-1977
Chiaromonte, Miriam, 1952-1980
Cioran, E. M., 1986 February 16
Clément, Alain, 1970-1983
Cloutier, Eugène, 1966 March-June
Coakley, J. F., 1961-1964
Cody, Richard J., 1962-1975
Cohen, Keith, 1971-1980
Cohn, Robert, 1952-1997
Cohn, Werner, 1963 October 24
Cole-Hones, D., 1976 May 22
Cone, Edward T., 1967-1974
Core, George, 1975-1980
Corngold, Stanley, 1977
Cote, Victor, 1952 May 12
Cowley, Malcolm, 1958-1973
Culler, Jonathan, 1966-1968
D, 1965-2007
Davidson, B. B., 1965 March 2
Davis, Herbert, 1961 October 23
Demetz, Peter, 1964 February 4
Dimou, Nikos, 1983 October 9
Dolinin, A. S., 1964
Donoghue, Denis, undated
Dumont, Louis, 1965-1993
Dussat, H., 1962-1963
Duvivier, Georgine, 1984 July 23
Dyer, Lisa, 1952 February 21
E, 1971-1990
Eckelt, Frank, 1965 December 26
Edwards, Maurice, 1952-2009
Ellmann, Richard, 1974-1975
Epstein, Jason, 1953 June 4
Erlich, Victor, 1960-1971
Evett, Robert, 1953-1956
F, 1958-2011
Fagles, Robert, 1967-1968
Fanger, Donald, 1964-1989
Fergusson, Francis, 1951-1977
Fersen, Nicolas, 1979 June 6
Fitzsimmons, Thomas, 1954
Fleischmann, Eugène, 1970-1977
Florovsky, Georges, 1966-1971
Foldi, Janos, 1988 March 2
Ford, Harry, 1951 July-December
Foster, Charles, 1964-1984
Foust, Ronald, 1977
Frandenburg, Jean, 1966 October 26
Frank, Walter S., 1950-2008
Frank, Walter S., 1950-1951
Frank, Walter S., 1952-1953
Frank, Walter S., 1954-1979
Frank, Walter S., 2008
Freedman, Ralph, 1966-1975
Friedburg, Maurice, 1984 August 22
Frohock, W. M., 1967 August 4
Fuentes, Carlos, 1978-1984
Furst, Lillian, 2003-2004
Fussell, Paul, and Betty, 1964-1980
G, 1956-2004
Gautier, Blaise, 1979 January
Glass, Laurence, 1964-1981
Goldberg, Rita, 1984 April 3
Goldstein, David I., 1963-1983
Good, Graham, 1996-1997
Goodheart, Eugene, 1961-1991
Goodman, William B., 1966-1978
Gross, John, 1975-1976
Gourevitch, Victor, 1950-1994
Grene, David, 1950-1964
Gross, John, 1975
Guinnebault, Edmond, 1951-1952
H, 1953-2010
Haviland, Beverly, 1988-1997
Hélion, Jean, 1965-1984
Hemley, Cecil, 1955 February 28
Herman, June L., 1957-1963
Hirsch, Jean, 1950
Hitchcock, Joanna, 1974 July 29
Hoffman, Ted, 1957
Honig, Edwin, 1966-1973
Howe, Irving, 1968-1986
Hyman, Malcolm, 1963-1993
Illouz, Gabriel, 1974
Ivask, Ivar, 1976-1979
J, 1951-1979
Jackson, Robert, 1966-1981
Jenks, Anne, 1951
K, 1951-2006
Kahler, Erich, 1959-1968
Kaplan, Celia, 1951-1974
Kaplan, Roger, 1973-1978
Kauffman, Walter, 1972-1976
Kazin, Alfred, 1951-1965
Keeley, Edmund, 1956-1993
Kennan, George F., 1982-1986
Kermode, Frank, 1965-1966
Kirke, Irene, 1965-1967
Koch, Sigmund, 1966-1969
Kostelanetz, Richard, 1964-1974
Koyré, Alexandre, 1956-1965
Kramer, Hilton, 1954-1996
Krieger, Murray, 1954-1960
L, 1969-1992
Lafaye, Jacques, 1981 September 19
Lansner, Kermit, 1951-1956
Larson, Richard, 2003 March 27
Lauer, Quentin, 1951-1952
Laughlin, James, 1951-1952
Lemaréchal, Claude, 1981 February 3
Lescure, Pierre de, 1951 March-April
Levin, Georges, 1960 May 26
Levin, Harry, 1957-1981
Li, Stephanie, 2013 March 5
Linden, Fabian, 1951 September 30
Linnér, Sven, 1972-1974
Lodge, David, 1984 April 2
Lowell, Elizabeth, 1952 April 12
Lust, Geraldine, 1950-1967
Lytle, Andrew Nelson, 1961-1969
M, 1951-2008
MacIntyre, Alisdair, 1974-1975
Mannheim, Ralph, and Mary, 1952-1982
Marchetti, Monique, undated
Marks, Charles, 1960-1967
Marshall, John, 1967-1975
Marshall, Margaret, 1957-1978
Mathews, Jackson, 1958-1981
Mathewson, Rufus W., 1958-1975
Matlaw, Ralph, undated
Matthews, John P. C., 1968 June 27
McCarthy, Mary, 1975-1985
McCormick, John O., 1961-2003
McGuire, William, 1970-1989
Meyer, Sophie, 1954 March 6
Milano, Paolo, 1953 May 6
Miller, Jane, 1968 November 7
Mills, Annice L., 1953 September 6
Mohrt, Michel, 1964 May 20
Moore, Harry T., 1962 March 30
Morgan, Frederick, 1950-1966
Morson, Gary Saul, 1991-1995
N, 1969-2002
Najder, Zdzisław, 1966-1967
Nef, John, 1954-1967
Nelson, Robert, 1953 March 23
O, 1967-1978
Oates, Joyce Carol, 1981-1984
Opolicky, Michael, 1990-1991
P, 1967-2003
Packer, Hazel, 1971-1979
Paine, Sally, 1951
Painter, Mary, 1951 February 28
Palmer, Phoebe, 1971 March 29
Paris, Philip, undated
Parkes, Michael, 1951-1965
Paul, Frank, 1951
Paul, Sherman, 1964 September 9
Peyre, Henri M., 1968 April 7
Picon, Geneviève, 1983-1987
Piel, Jean, 1958-1961
Poirier, Richard, 1964-1965
Polster, Tanny, and Iris, 1951-1953
Ponorska, K., 1984 April 30
Q, 1991
R, 1966-2006
Rahv, Philip, 1951-1962
Ralston, William, 1966-1969
Ransom, John Crowe, 1958-1959
Reeve, Franklin, 1965 June 15
Rehder, Robert, 1966-1967
Rice, James L., 2010
Richman, Robert, undated
Rieff, Philip, 1956-1981
Roazen, Paul, 1975 September 26
Roberson, Patt Foster, 1968-1969
Robson, Jeremy, 1993-1994
Roof, Michael, 1951 May 10
Rorty, Richard, 1980
Rosen, Nathan, 1966 February 23
Rosenberg, Harold, 1969 March 27
Rosenblum, Robert, 1950 November 20
Rosenfield, Leonora C., 1968 July 24
Rosenmeier, Henrik, 1968
Ross, Ralph, 1959-1964
Rousset, Jean, 1965 June 15
Rovit, Bud, 1977-1984
Rudduck, Angela, 1991-1994
Rudenstine, Neil L., 1975-1978
Rudikoff, Sonya, 1993
Ryan, Lawrence V., 1968 July 8
Ryckmans, P., 1982-1983
S, 1969-2005
Sacks, Sheldon, 1977 June 9
Schaefer, William D., 1977 June 15
Schapiro, Meyer, 1957-1983
Schorske, Carl E., 1979-1991
Scott, W. B., 1978 October 23
Segal, Erich, 1975 January 20
Seigel, Jerry, June 16
Shapiro, Karl, 1950 September 23
Shattuck, Roger, 1968 October 14
Shaw, Elizabeth, 1960-1968
Shils, Edward A., 1951-1959
Shubik, Martin, 1967 December 5
Sibon, Marcelle, 1950 September 30
Siegelman, Paul, 1961-1968
Silvers, Robert B., 1963
Simpson, Lewis P., 1968-1978
Simson, Otto, 1955 April 19
Singleton, Charles, 1967 May 22
Sloane, William, 1958-1974
Sőtér, István, 1968 February 23
Spackman, Peter, 1964 March 23
Spilka, Mark, 1968 June-July
Stanford, Donald E., 1969
Steiner, George, 1977 September 25
Stevens, Roger L., 1968 July 24
Stewart, Helen, 1965-1975
Stipicevic, Jean, 1980 July 11
Straight, Michael, 1954 October 8
Strelsky, Katharine, 1964-1968
Strom, Ron, 1981-1987
Stwertha, Eva Marie, 1951
Sullivan, Ed, 1974-1982
Summers, Joseph H., 1963 May 27
Suleiman, Susan, 1979
Symes, Richard, 2000-2002
Szathmary, Arthur, 1957-1961
Szeftel, Marc, 1981 December 29
T, 1960-1992
Theroux, Alexander, 2002 April 10
Tobin, Patricia, 1981 February 1
Todorov, Tzvetan, 1971-2002
di Tommaso, Phil, 1951-1953
Troy, William, 1951
U, 1974-1992
Uhlsen, Fred, 1955
V, 1966-1992
Vivas, Eliseo, 1954-1963
W, 1966-2010
Walker, Steven F., 1967 December 7
Walsh, Mary Alice, 1988
Ward, John William, 1975
Wasiolek, Edward, 1966-1975
Watt, Ian, and Ruth, 1984-1990
Webb, Dwight, 1960 March 14
Weber, Brom, 1964-1981
Weimer, David, 1963-1969
Weinstock, Herbert, 1955 May 5
Weintraub, Wiktor, 1966 October 26
Weiss, Shira Wolosky, 1980-1994
Weiss, Theodore, 1970-1990
Wellek, René, 1980-1989
Westerfield, Leigh, 1984
Westley, William A., 1954-1955
Williams, Alan D., 1966-1974
Wolfe, Phil, 1963-1984
Woolf, Harry, 1985 January 29
Yarmolinsky, Avrahm, 1967-1975
Yolton, John, 1958-1959
Wright, Jay, 1965
Z, 2006
Zelinsky, Daniel, 1963 April 29
Zweig, Paul, 1967-1977
Unidentified, 1951-2009
Family Correspondence, 1945-2013
Additional Correspondence, 1960s-2000s
Series 2: Writings, 1937-2005
This series contains several miscellaneous short writings by Joseph Frank that were kept separately from his correspondence, including a notebook on Russian literature, typescripts from a course on Dante at the University of Chicago, a response after receiving the 1995 Gauss Award, some typescripts and photocopies of reviews and articles, and other materials.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
This series contains additional personal documents and papers that were not originally filed with Frank's correspondence, including notices regarding his academic appointments, clippings, honors from literary societies, interviews, photographs, blank postcards, student and travel documents for Joseph Frank and his wife, Marguerite Straus Frank, and other materials.
Arranged alphabetically by document type.
Academic Appointments, 1951-1985
R. P. Blackmur Files, 1955-1974
Clippings, 1965-2006
CVs and Bibliographies, 1980s
Honors and Awards, 1935-2008
Photographs, circa 1960s-1978
Postcards, circa 1950s-1970s
Princeton Academic Files, 1966-1967
Publishing Contracts, 1980-1987
Reviews of Dostoevsky, 1977-1978
Travel Documents, 1950-1968
This series includes Frank's collection of reprints, offprints, and other copies of published writings by fellow academics, poets, and friends. Many are inscribed to Frank by the author. While most materials are scholarly and literary journal articles on French and Russian literature, sociology, and anthropology, also present are several chapbooks and poetry collections inscribed to Frank from poets Francis Ponge, John Berryman, and Theodore Weiss, as well as Yves Bonnefoy's translations of Y. B. Yeats. Printed material that was clearly an enclosure with letters sent to Frank was maintained alongside those letters in Series 1: Correspondence.
Arranged alphabetically by author name or subject.
Apostolidès, Jean-Marie, 1988
Arac, Jonathan, 1977
Berge, Claude, undated
Berryman, John, 1961
Berthoff, Ann E., 1998
Berthoff, Warner, 1970
Blum, Morgan, 1960
Bondy, François, 1967
Bonnefoy, Yves, 1974
Cassedy, Steven, 1981
Dampierre, Éric de, 1963
On Dostoyevsky, 1961-2002
Evans, Arthur, 1973
Fagles, Robert, undated
Fanger, Donald, 1972
Florovsky, Georges, 1966
French Literature, 1930-1967
Groethuysen, Bernard, 1939
Kenyon Review, 1948-1950
Koyré, Alexandre, 1948-1955
Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 1944
Lilla, Mark, 1985
Magny, Claude-Edmonde, 1945
McClain, Jeoraldean, 1985
McKeon, Richard, 1947
Miller, Robin Feuer, 2004 October
Ponge, Francis, 1942-1970
Ransom, John Crowe, 1935-1950
Rice, Philip Blair, 1945-1949
Rorty, Richard, 1972
Salinas, Pedro, undated
Schuetz, Alfred, 1945
Storr, Anthony, 1985
Todd, Albert, 1967-1968
Todorov, Tzvetan, undated
Tournier, Michel, 1984
Vuillemin, J., 1951
Weiss, Theodore, undated
Yovel, Yirmiyahu, 1998-1999
Unsorted Printed Material, 1956-1991
- Scope and Contents
The collection consists Joseph Frank's personal and professional correspondence with various academics, artists, poets, and writers, including Lionel Abel, Hannah Arendt, Janice Biala, Djuna Barnes, Robert Belknap, Saul Bellow, Elizabeth Bishop, R. P. Blackmur, Yves Bonnefoy, Pierre Bourdieu, Kenneth Burke, Alain Clément, Edward Cone, Malcolm Cowley, Louis Dumont, Ralph Ellison, Maurice English, Robert Fagles, Francis Fergusson, Georges Florovsky, Carlos Fuentes, Edwin Honig, Irving Howe, Erich Kahler, Walter Kaufmann, Alfred Kazin, Edmund Keeley, Richard Kostelanetz, James Laughlin, Richard W. B. Lewis, Elizabeth Lowell, Jean Malaquais, Mary McCarthy, Frederick Morgan, Julian Lane Moynahan, Joyce Carol Oates, Jean Piel, John Crowe Ransom, Richard Rorty, Karl Shapiro, Carl E. Schorske, Katharine Strelsky, Arthur Szathmary, Allen Tate, Tzvetan Todorov, Ian Watt, Paul Zweig, and others, as well as some family correspondence. Other materials include annotated offprints and reprints of writings by others, a notebook with Frank's reading notes on Russian literature, a small amount of writings by Frank, personal documents, and a few photographs. Much of Frank's correspondence regards relationships he developed with scholars associated with the Gauss Seminars in Criticism.
- Arrangement
The collection is organized into the following four series:
- Collection Creator Biography:
Frank
Joseph Frank (1918-2013) was an American literary scholar best known for his five-volume biography of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky, which he began in the early 1970s and completed in 2002. Born in New York City as Joseph Nathaniel Glassman, Frank adopted his stepfather's surname when his mother, Jennifer Garlick, remarried following his father's early death. Although he never formally earned a bachelor's degree, Frank studied briefly at New York University and the University of Wisconsin. Prior to beginning his Dostoyevsky project, he published essays and criticism in literary journals, including "Spatial Form in Modern Literature," which appeared in The Sewanee Review in 1945 and set the stage for his career as a critic and lecturer on 20th century literature. After working at the Bureau of National Affairs in Washington, D.C., in the 1940s, Frank left for Paris on a Fulbright scholarship in 1950, where he met his wife, the mathematician Marguerite Straus Frank, with whom he later had two daughters, Isabelle and Claudine. Frank earned his PhD from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago in 1960 and taught at the University of Wisconsin and Rutgers University. He was named the Class of 1926 Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University, where he taught from 1966 until 1985, teaching afterward at Stanford University until his retirement. At Princeton, Frank also served as the Director of the Gauss Seminars in Criticism, which brought many international critics, artists, poets, and scholars to the university for lectures and discussions exploring the theory and practice of criticism in the humanities and sciences. He died at age 94 in Palo Alto, California.
- Acquisition:
Gift of Isabelle Frank in 2015 (AM 2016-47). Additions from Isabelle Frank were added to the collection in 2016 (AM 2016-80), 2017 (AM 2017-137), and 2019 (AM 2019-116).
- Appraisal
Nothing was removed from the collection during 2015-2019 processing.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by Kelly Bolding in December 2015-January 2016. Finding aid written by Kelly Bolding in January 2016 and updated in April 2016, May 2017, and May 2019.
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
- Credit this material:
Joseph Frank Correspondence; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/jq085n61v
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Boxes B-000090 to B-000105, B-000638, B-000899 to B-000902, B-001317
- Subject Terms:
- American literature. -- Correspondence -- 20th century
American poetry. -- Correspondence -- 20th century
Authors, American -- 20th century. -- Correspondence
Authors, French. -- Correspondence -- 20th century
French literature. -- Correspondence -- 20th century
Poets, American. -- Correspondence -- 20th century - Genre Terms:
- Correspondence -- 20th century
- Names:
- Bishop, Elizabeth (1911-1979)
Bonnefoy, Yves
Bourdieu, Pierre (1930-2002)
Ellison, Ralph
Frank, Joseph (1918-2013)
Tate, Allen (1899-1979)
