Guide to the Papers of Dennis Haskell
MS 9397
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Haskell, Dennis, 1948-
- Title
- Papers of Dennis Haskell
- Date Range
- 1977-1997
- Collection Number
- MS 9397
- Extent
- 2.31 metres (17 boxes)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- NLA
Introduction
Scope and Content
The collection includes correspondence, diaries, drafts and reworkings of poems, journal articles, book reviews, cuttings, review articles, research notes, background source material and conference papers. The papers document Haskell's work as a poet, editor, literary critic, academic and organiser of literary events in Western Australia. In this role he has brought to prominence the work of Western Australian poets and writers.
Haskell has developed a wide circle of correspondents both in Australia and overseas. They include Bruce Bennett, Delys Bird, Alec Bolton, Ray Coffey, Geoffrey Dutton, Elizabeth Jolley, Richard Harland, Jan Kemp, John Kinsella, Les Murray, Satendra Nandan, Simon Petch, Ian Templeman, and John Tranter.
Access
Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1117462).
Copying and Publishing
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Dennis Haskell, National Library of Australia, MS 9397, [series and/or file number]'.
Provenance
The papers were purchased by the Library from Dennis Haskell in three instalments in 1994, 1996 and 1997.
Related Material
A talk given by Haskell while a Harold White Fellow, on the poetry of Kenneth Slessor, is held in the Oral History Section at ORAL TRC 2558. There is also a recording of a seminar titled 'Kenneth Slessor remembered' at ORAL TRC 2688. Haskell was one of the four speakers who participated in the seminar.
Arrangement
The three instalments have been amalgamated and arranged into seven series. Where possible, the original arrangement of the papers and file titles have been preserved by the Library.
Biographical Note
Dennis Haskell is a poet, editor, academic and literary critic. He was born in Sydney in 1948. His professional qualifications include: B. Com, University of New South Wales (1969); BA (Hons), University of Sydney (1977) and PhD, University of Sydney (1982).
Although he had a background in accountancy, Haskell began teaching English at Sydney University in 1973. In 1984 he moved to Perth where he is now Professor in the Department of English at the University of Western Australia. Haskell is a past poetry reviewer for the ABC's 'Books and Writing' program and has been co-editor of the literary magazine Westerly since 1985. He has published in a wide range of areas, including American literature, Australian literature, Asian literature, modernism and romanticism.
Haskell was a Harold White Fellow at the National Library in 1990.
Item Descriptions
Series 1. Correspondence, 1987-1997
This series consists of personal and business correspondence including letters, faxes, greeting cards, invitations, leaflets, and postcards The letters discuss publishing news, academic gossip, news of appointments, literary events, book launches, conferences and seminars. There is correspondence with publishers and editors and also several overseas correspondents, usually university academics. Some correspondents have sent Haskell poems and articles for comment, or comment on his poetry. There are also a few articles, drafts of reviews and notes for talks.
Haskell has developed a large circle of correspondents both in Australia and overseas. They include Bruce Bennett, Delys Bird, Alec Bolton, Geoffrey Dutton, Elizabeth Jolley, Richard Harland, Paul Hetherington, Jan Kemp, John Kinsella, Les Murray, Satendra Nandan, Simon Petch, Ian Templeman, John Tranter and Ray Coffey and other staff of the Fremantle Arts Press.
The papers have been arranged in two sequences. The first instalment was contained in an expanding concertina file and arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent. The papers have been removed from the concertina file and placed in files in the original alphabetical sequence. A further instalment was arranged in files by date. This original order has been maintained. Haskell has annotated many of the incoming letters with the full names of the signatories.
Series 2. Diaries, 1984-1990
This series consists of seven diaries kept from 1984 to 1990. They record appointments, meetings, functions, lecture sessions, special events, expenses and also contain general notes and reminders.
Series 3. Published works, 1984-1997
This series consists of works written by Haskell and those that he has co-edited with other authors. They include drafts with re-workings, typescripts, final manuscripts, notes and source material, correspondence with publishers and galley proofs. They have been arranged chronologically by date of publication.
Subseries 3_1. Listening at night. Sydney : Angus Robertson, 1984
Subseries 3_2. Wordhord: a critical selection of contemporary Western Australian poetry / edited by Dennis Haskell and Hilary Fraser. Fremantle : Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1989
Subseries 3_4. A touch of ginger: poems / Fay Zwicky and Dennis Haskell. Applecross : Folio Press, 1991
Subseries 3_5. Poetry, essays, war despatches, war diaries, journalism, autobiographical material and letters of Kenneth Slessor / edited by Dennis Haskell. St Lucia : University of Queensland Press, 1991
Subseries 3_6. Whose place?: a study of Sally Morgan's 'My place' / edited by Dennis Haskell and Delys Bird. Pymble : Angus Robertson, 1992
Subseries 3_7. Abracadabra. South Fremantle : Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1993
Subseries 3_8. Tilting at Matilda: literature, aborigines, women and the church in contemporary Australia / edited by Dennis Haskell. South Fremantle : Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1994
Series 4. Other writings, 1977-1993
This series consists of other works by Haskell including journal articles, book reviews, critical writings, manuscripts and material for radio programs. Included are handwritten and word-processed drafts, final copies, correspondence with publishers and galley proofs. Many of the articles and reviews do not contain the date when they were written.
Subseries 4_1. Articles
Drafts with corrections of an article 'The modern American poetry of deep image' published in Southerly Review, July 1979. There is also a copy of the published version. The article was adapted from Haskell's honours thesis of the same title (File 1)
Drafts, galley proofs and correspondence with publishers for an article titled 'Landscape at the edge of a promise; Australian romanticism and John Shaw Neilson'. The article was based on a paper 'Romanticism in Australian poetry' which was presented at a conference with the theme 'Romanticism and the imagination' held at the University of Melbourne, July 1989. The article was also published in Meridian: the La Trobe University English Review in October, 1990 and as a chapter in Imagining romanticism, West Cornwall : Locust Hill Press, 1991 (File 2)
Subseries 4_2. Critical writings
Subseries 4_3. Manuscripts : 'Irrefutable songs of sixpence; the poetry of W. B. Yeats' (n.d.)
Revised manuscript consisting of handwritten and typescript pages. Extracts cut from the thesis found in File 15 have been used to construct part of the text in the new version. (File 12)
Correspondence with Sydney University Press, 1983-1987, relating to the publication of Haskell's manuscript on Yeats. The file also contains various articles on Yeats. (File 14)
'The poetic theory and practice of W. B. Yeats', 1981. Copy of thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of English, Sydney University, 1981. This copy has been annotated and edited with various extracts cut from its pages and used to produce a revised version for publication (File 15)
Series 5. Conferences, festivals, lectures and seminars, 1985-1997
This series consists mainly of papers presented by Haskell at literary conferences in Australia, Asia and India and documents relating to his role as organiser of literary events. He was a member of the organising committees for the literary section of the Festival of Perth for many years as well as presenting papers and readings at this annual event. He was also an active member of the W.B Yeats Society of Western Australia. Included are drafts and final versions of papers, correspondence and administrative material relating to his participation in conferences and organisation of festival activities and special events.
Festival of Perth. Poets' Lunch, February, 1987. Correspondence relating to the organisation of the lunch, 1986-1987, list of entrants in the Poetry Competition and questions for the Poets' Lunch quiz (File 1)
'Perceiving other worlds': 1989 Symposium on Literature in the Asia-Pacific Region held at the National University of Singapore, 31 October - 3 November 1989. Drafts and final version of a paper presented by Haskell titled 'People, traffic and concrete: perceptions of the city in modern Singaporean poetry' and later published in Perceiving other worlds, Singapore : Times Academic Press, 1991. The file also contains a list of conference participants, information and travel arrangements and some journal articles on poetry in Singapore and Malaysia (File 2)
'Future directions in poetry publishing - is poetry redundant?': paper presented to a Future Directions in Print Seminar, held by the Fremantle Arts Centre, 1989. The file includes responses from publishers of a survey which was conducted in conjunction with preparing the above paper and some small poetry booklets. There is also a copy of OzMuze (July 1991) which contains an abridged version of the paper by Haskell (File 3_4)
Festival of Perth. W. B. Yeats Symposium, February 1989. Correspondence, 1988-1989, relating to the organisation of the symposium, minutes of meetings of the organising committee, 1988, program and notes (File 5_6)
Festival of Perth. Writers' Festival, Fremantle Arts Centre, 1991. Minutes of meetings of advisory committee, 1990-1991, program and synopsis of sessions, publicity schedule and cuttings of reviews (File 7)
'The heroism of comedy: Smith's Weekly in the 1930s': lecture notes and overhead transparencies for a symposium on 'Myths, heroes and anti-heroes in the literature and culture of the Asia-Pacific' held at the University of Western Australia in 1991. The papers were later published as Myths, heroes and anti-heroes: essays on the literature and culture of the Asia-Pacific region, and edited by Bruce Bennett and Dennis Haskell (1992) (File 8)
'The stuffed mopoke: light verse and good bad verse in Australia': paper presented at the Seventh New Norcia Humanities Symposium, 13-15 September, 1991. Also included is a symposium program and synopses of other papers (File 9)
Festival of Perth. Writers' Festival, Fremantle Arts Centre, 1993. Minutes of meetings of advisory committee, 1991-1993, invitations to writers seeking participation in the festival, biographical details of participants, publicity schedule, poster and general notes (File 10_12)
Papers delivered at the Colin Roderick lectures, 1994 and subsequently published in 1995. The lectures, sponsored by the Townsville Foundation for Australian Literary Studies, are delivered annually by a distinguished Australian writer or academic at James Cook University. The file includes drafts and final versions of papers, a letter of invitation to deliver the lectures (1994) and other correspondence with the University relating to the lectures (File 13)
Festival of Perth. Writers' Festival, Fremantle Arts Centre, 1995. Minutes of meetings of advisory committee, 1993-1994, program booklet for the 1993 festival and a letter by Haskell resigning from the advisory committee, March 1994 (File 14)
'Keats and the notion of truth': paper presented at the International Itinerant Conference on Keats, Bologne, Italy (1995). Handwritten and typescript copy of a paper which was later published in Imperfect apprehensions: essays in English literature in honour of G. A. Wilkes, Sydney : Challis Press, 1996 and The challenge of Keats: bicentenary essays, 1795-1995, Amsterdam : Rodopi, 2000 (File 15)
'Cultural crosses: Ee Tiang Hong's nearing a horizon': paper presented at a symposium in November, 1995 at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra. The paper was later published in Crossing cultures, London : Skoob Books, 1996 in association with the University College, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra and the Centre for Studies in Australian Literature , University of Western Australia (File 16)
Asia/Pacific PEN conference, Tokyo, 26-28 November 1996: draft and abstract of paper by Haskell, conference program, travel arrangements and a report on the conference (File 17)
Creative Configurations: the Expanding Australian Experience: Inaugural Conference of the Asian Association for the Study of Australia, Trivandum, Kerala, India, 16-18 January 1997. Conference program and information, travel arrangements and correspondence, 1996-1997 with the organising committee (File 18)
Series 6. Manuscripts by others
Series 7. Other papers, 1977-1996
This series consists of miscellaneous papers. They are mostly of an administrative nature and relate to Haskell's placement as a visiting scholar in Singapore and his involvement with the W. B. Yeats Society of Western Australia. There is also a draft copy of a poem written inside the back cover of a published work on a flight to Adelaide.
Correspondence, 1977-1978, with the International Development Program of Australian Universities and Colleges relating to Haskell's placement as a visiting scholar at the National University of Singapore, November 1987 - February 1988. The file also contains papers of an administrative and organisational nature relating to the visit (File 1)
Papers relating to the W. B. Yeats Society of Western Australia, 1987-1989, including correspondence, financial receipts, list of members, brochures and information on the Yeats Summer School Scholarship (File 2)
Copy of The gods of winter: poems by Dana Gioia, Calstock : Peterloo Poets, 1991. The back of this publication contains the draft of a poem 'Six years: Adelaide flights'. A note indicates that it was written on a flight to Adelaide some time after the publication of Abracadabra (File 3)
Container List
Series | File/Piece | Box |
---|---|---|
1 | 1-8 | 1 |
1 | 9-15 | 2 |
1 | 16-21 | 3 |
2 | 1-6 | 4 |
3 | 1-7 | 5 |
3 | 8-14 | 6 |
3 | 15-18 | 7 |
3 | 19-24 | 8 |
3 | 25-31 | 9 |
3 | 32-36 | 10 |
4 | 1-7 | 11 |
4 | 8-13 | 12 |
4 | 14-17 | 13 |
5 | 1-3 | 13 |
5 | 4-10 | 14 |
5 | 11-17 | 15 |
5 | 18-19 | 16 |
6 | 1-3 | 16 |
7 | 1-3 | 16 |
7 | 4-6 | 17 |