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1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
Kingsley Amis papers
- Description
This collection contains the papers of English author Kingsley Amis (1922-1995) and is arranged in four parts based on date of acquisition. In the contents list below, Parts II-IV (Boxes 38-77) are only listed at the box level.
Manuscripts: The bulk and the strength of the collection consist of drafts of novels, short stories, poems, essays and television and radio scripts by Kingsley Amis, many heavily corrected. Also included are individual manuscript pieces by Martin Amis, Sir John Betjeman, Elizabeth Jane Howard, and George Melly. Manuscripts by Amis of particular interest include:
Difficulties with Girls: unfinished novel (not the novel of the same title published in 1988): notes, corrected draft, additional draft pages, summary of unwritten ending, and statement of reasons for not publishing the novel. AMS 19-22. Notebook: contains random notes for characters, dialogue, etc., ca.1969-1981. AMS 76. Poems: the earliest literary manuscripts in the collection, 1941-1944. AMS 95. Who Else Is Rank: early, unpublished novel co-written with E. Frank Coles, 1944-1945. AMS 180-181. Also 3 letters from Amis to Coles discussing the novel, AMS 185-187.Correspondence: Letters deal with personal and literary matters, including Amis' reactions to the work of other authors and their reactions to his writings. Correspondence of special interest includes:
Amis, Kingsley. Letter to Andor Foldes, discussing his reference to Mozart in Lucky Jim, 1964, May 26, London. AMS 457. Betjeman, Sir John, 1906-. Letter to Kingsley Amis relating Betjeman's enthusiastic reaction to Lucky Jim, 1954. AMS 192. Conquest, Robert. 114 letters and notes to Kingsley Amis. A fine series of lively, witty letters which reveals the close friendship of the two authors. Personal and literary matters are discussed, and scores of limericks are exchanged between the two. 1976-1986. AMS 238-351. Dick, Philip K. Letter to Kingsley Amis discussing Dick's reasons for using the title The Man in the High Castle for his novel. 1979, September 10. AMS 201. Larkin, Philip. 76 letters to Kingsley Amis. A remarkable series of revealing, poignant letters. 1967-1985. AMS 353-428. Powell, Anthony, 1905-. Letter to Kingsley Amis, reacting to Amis' radio broadcast on Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time, 1980, January 30. AMS 213.
