2007 Nobel Prize Winners Manuscripts in McFarlin Library

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Doris Lessing’s handwritten revisions included in TU’s prestigious collection

The University of Tulsa’s McFarlin Library now holds collections of two Nobel Prize winners, following the announcement of the 2007 Nobel Prize winner in literature.

The Swedish Academy announced in October that Doris Lessing received the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. TU’s Lessing collection was acquired in 1976 and includes typed drafts with handwritten revisions from her 1974 novel "Memoirs of a Survivor," her 1985 novel "The Good Terrorist" and the 1978 novella "The Temptation of Jack Orkney."

Additionally, TU owns correspondence between Lessing and the London PEN Club, an organization of writers, as well as correspondence between Lessing and Dame Rebecca West. TU also owns the Claire Sprague archive of the Doris Lessing Society, which includes Sprague’s research notes on Lessing, and publication materials relating to the "Doris Lessing Newsletter."

“The University’s holdings are an interesting look into the work of a passionate and socially relevant author, particularly in the context of the socialist evolution of Britain in the fifties through the eighties," said Marc Carlson, librarian of special collections and university archives.

McFarlin Library is one of the only libraries in the world that currently has Lessing archival collections. The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin holds the largest of her archived literary materials.

Lessing, whose British parents raised her in Iran and Zimbabwe, wrote about her African experiences, but also gained recognition for the wide-ranging themes in her fiction writing including racism, feminism, science fiction and nuclear war. Her most recent book, "The Cleft," was released in the United States in July 2007.

McFarlin Library also holds important documents of V.S. Naipaul, the 2001 Nobel Prize winner in literature. Currently, the Naipaul archive contains more than 50,000 pieces, including manuscripts, correspondence and family memorabilia.

Library officials report that hundreds of visitors a year travel from all over the world to Tulsa to gain the knowledge and understanding that can only come from the direct encounter with unique, original manuscripts in TU’s special collections.

"Having primary resources available for scholarly review is important for researchers because it allows them direct access to the materials and oftentimes provides unique insights into the author’s state of mind," said Adrian Alexander, dean of the McFarlin Library at TU.

The McFarlin Library Special Collections includes more than 121,000 printed volumes and 3,500 shelf feet of manuscripts, which is an unusually large collection for a university of TU’s size, Alexander said.

The collection’s internationally recognized areas of emphasis include American, British and Irish literary materials, national and international World War I artifacts, petroleum exploration and production documents, and Native American language and historical materials.

For more information about the McFarlin Library’s Special Collections at TU, visit www.lib.utulsa.edu/speccoll.