The Works Series
documents
Burgess's literary and musical activities with manuscripts and small
amounts of
correspondence. There are few examples of holograph manuscripts, one
exception
being a desk calendar containing a draft of Byrne in Burgess's
hand. The
majority of materials are fair copy typescripts and photocopies containing
relatively little emendation or correction.
Materials are
divided into
four subseries reflecting Burgess's own organization: A. Extended, B.
Articles
and Reviews, C. Introductions, and D. Music. Some works, such as
1789, Blooms
of Dublin, Oberon, and The Eve of St. Venus, have
materials
located in both Subseries A. and Subseries D., as well as in Series IV.
Subject Files.
This subseries
consists of
various manuscript forms of novels, academic works, short stories,
biographies,
children's books, translations, and radio, television and film scripts.
Arrangement is alphabetical by title, and includes over ninety separate
works,
some unfinished or unpublished. Materials for foreign, alternate, or working
titles are included under the main title and several short stories are
listed
together under the heading "Short Stories."
There is little
manuscript
material for works before 1970--the earliest item is original artwork
for the
dust jacket of the 1956 novel Time for a Tiger. Large numbers of
Italian
translation typescripts are present for A Dead Man in Deptford,
Earthly
Powers, End of the World News, Kingdom of the Wicked,
The
Long Day Wanes, and Man of Nazareth, as well as for several
folders
of unidentified works. Small amounts of Italian, French, Spanish,
German, and
Swedish typescripts are found throughout the subseries.
Among the motion picture
scripts are an unused submission Burgess wrote for the James Bond film
The
Spy Who Loved Me and correspondence, production information, and
typescript
drafts of the Neanderthal "Ulam" language
that Burgess helped develop for the film Quest for Fire.
Incomplete manuscript
fragments for Oberon, Kingdom of the Wicked and Homage to
QWERT YUIOP are located in Series III. Contracts and
Royalty Statements.
Voluminous files of
articles and reviews in Subseries B. give evidence to Burgess's prolific
writing during the later part of his life. Burgess stated that as a
novelist he
had to produce book reviews and newspaper and magazine articles to
supplement
his meager income. The London Observer , The Independent, The
New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, The Irish
Press,
and Svenska Dagbladet
all solicited Burgess heavily from the late 1970s to the early
1990s. Some
articles appear in more than one publication, and many were reproduced in
French, German, Italian, and other non-English publications. The majority of
manuscripts in this series are fair copy typescripts. Many are present
in multiple
formats and include clippings of the printed works and photocopies. The
small
amount of correspondence present is primarily incoming letters from
publishers.
These journalistic
writings
are arranged in three groups reflecting Burgess's filing systems. First
there
is a group filed in alphabetical order by the publication title, with major
publications followed by another alphabetical grouping of smaller
publications.
These date roughly from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. This is followed by
materials stored in binders and labeled I-IV and VII-XI. These are in rough
chronological order and date mostly from the early to late 1980s. Finally,
there are several boxes of articles that are indexed. These date from
the mid
1980s to the early 1990s. There is much overlap and duplication between
these
three arrangements and further duplication found in the files for Burgess's
published compilation of articles, Homage to QWERT YUIOP, located in
Subseries A., and in the "Magazines" section of the Subject Files.
This is the smallest
of the
subseries contained in the Works series and consists largely of typed drafts
and photocopies of printed introductions that Burgess wrote for works by
other
authors. Also included are introductions for television and radio
programs, and
comments made at conferences and other engagements.
The first five
introductions are arranged alphabetically by title and include
correspondence
to and from authors or publishers of the works. The remaining
introductions are
in rough chronological order and are listed in an index located in the
front of
Box 66, Folder 8.
The Music subseries
includes manuscripts for approximately 120 musical works dating from 1970 to
1994, along with sketches, drafts and fragments. There are songs, piano
pieces,
string quartets, guitar quartets, sonatas and other chamber works, choral
works, concertos, scores for plays and films, overtures and other symphonic
works. Vocal pieces include settings of texts by James Joyce, D. H.
Lawrence,
Gerard Manley Hopkins and T. S. Eliot. Also included are published
editions of
Weber's Oberon and Berlioz's Enfance
du Christ containing Burgess's working notes for his English
translations
of the texts. And several works by Burgess's son Andrew Burgess Wilson
are also
present.
The music material is
organized primarily by musical genre. Multiple copies of a work or materials
which all relate to a single work are have been
housed
together. Works represented by large amounts of related materials have been
housed in separate boxes (e.g., Mr. Burgess's Almanack
and several of the dramatic works).
Printed editions of
several
smaller published pieces are located with the original manuscript
material for
those works. Works published posthumously are housed together at the end
of the
subseries.
Articles, reviews,
photos,
envelopes and letters included with the scores have been retained with the
associated materials. Alphabetical and chronological indexes to the musical
works are located at the end of the finding aid.
Series
II. contains Burgess's personal and professional
correspondence
from 1968 to 1995 with the bulk dating from the 1970s through the 1980s. The
original filing schemes have been maintained as have the original file
headings. Arrangement is either chronological or alphabetical. There is much
overlap in Burgess's organization within this series. Correspondence
from individuals
or on specific topics can often be found in more than one location. This is
likely due to the period of time that the correspondence covers. Between the
late 1960s and the early 1990s, Burgess moved from England to Malta to Italy
and then Monaco, with extended stays in the United States. The manner in
which
he maintained and used his correspondence changed over the years and between
locations. His wife Liana also handled a great deal of his
correspondence for
him, and did not always maintain the letters in the same arrangement as her
husband.
The majority of the
correspondence is incoming with a large amounts of third party
correspondence,
especially between Liana and Burgess's literary agents, Gabriele Pantucci and Deborah Rogers. Outgoing letters are
usually
filed with related incoming correspondence. Requests for autographs and
commentary on his works make up the bulk of the "Fans and Colleagues"
file. Files titled "Friends and Writers" and "Publishers"
contain the most overlap, and along with the "Deborah Rogers" file
contain the most correspondence directly related to Burgess's creative
activities.
Correspondence with
other
authors, such as Erica Jong and Graham Greene,
frequently provides insight into their own works as well as Burgess's.
Authors
often wrote Burgess in response to his published reviews of their works
or to
comment on his latest novel.
Material found under the
headings "Volume I" - "Volume VI" is likely retired
correspondence separated from active files. At the front of each of these
volumes is a typed index prepared by Liana Burgess.
Additional
correspondence
can be found throughout the Burgess papers, particularly in the
Contracts and
Royalty Statements series. Incoming correspondence is included in the index
located at the end of this finding aid. Outgoing, third party, and
general fan
mail is not included in the index.
Series
III. consists of legal and business documents relating to the
publication and translation of Burgess's works throughout the world.
Materials
are arranged alphabetically by title of work or by general headings, such as
"Children's Books." The bulk of the materials are photocopies of
contracts and financial statements from publishers. There is also a 1964
contract between Burgess and his first wife Llewela.
There is some
overlap with
material found in other series. Contracts for Carmen, The
Childhood
of Christ, Dawn Chorus, The Dirty Tricks of Bartoldo,
and Flame Into Being are found in Series
IV. Subject Files. The "Publishers and Producers" and
"Deborah Rogers" files in the Correspondence series also contain
similar materials.
Series
IV.
contains the
most varied materials in the collection, including clippings,
correspondence,
serial publications, publishers catalogs, photographs, works by others,
bibliographies, biographical information, appointment and address books,
notes
and notebooks, scrapbooks, newsletters, and pamphlets. Materials are
arranged
alphabetically by topical heading. There is sometimes overlap between files,
such as related correspondence and clippings located under "Royal
Shakespeare Company" and also " Reviews-Cyrano."
Burgess's works are
represented in this series largely by clippings of reviews, with small and
scattered amounts of correspondence and manuscript fragments. These
files are
arranged alphabetically by the title of each work, under the main heading
"Reviews." Some works, such as Carmen and A Mouthful of Air,
have files within the "Reviews" heading and also have a separate
subject file in the series.
Most files contain
general
research material, including notes, clippings, and correspondence. The
file for
"A Clockwork Orange" does not contain material related to the
original novel, but instead documents the 1972 Stanley Kubrick film, a
lawsuit
brought by Burgess against the film's production company, and later
theatrical
productions. The "Personal" file consists of financial, travel and
real estate correspondence; notes and letters between Burgess, his son
and his
wife; and a copy of a Burgess will. Of note in the "Scrapbook" file
is an autograph poem by Burgess titled "Apres
Charles d' Orleans." Another autograph poem, "Letter to
Scotland" is located in the "Reviews" file for Honey for the
Bears.
"Magazines" and
"Publisher's Catalogs" each consist of several boxes of unfoldered publications in alphabetical order.
Address and
appointment books are also unfoldered and located
together in Boxes 96-98 in rough chronological order. "Works by Others," located at the end of the series, are arranged
alphabetically by author. These works are predominantly manuscripts of
academic
papers, interviews, or fictional works sent to or collected by Burgess.
Harry Ransom
Center. Thomas F. Staley
(Dir.).
8 June 2004.
< http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/burgess.series.html
>