Guide to the Papers of Sue Woolfe

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MS 9812

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
Woolfe, Sue
Title
Papers of Sue Woolfe
Date Range
1990-2000
Collection Number
MS 9812
Extent
1.65 metres (11 ms boxes + 8 sound/av carriers)
Language of Materials
English
English
Repository
Special Collections (Manuscripts)

Introduction

Scope and Contents

The collection contains papers relating to Woolfe's novel Leaning towards infinity: how my mother's apron unfolds into my life which was published by Vintage Australia in 1996. The book was later published in the United States, the United Kingdom and Holland. Leaning towards infinity was written over a period of several years and the papers comprise correspondence with publishers, editors and colleagues; research notes; early ideas, edited drafts and proofs.

The novel evolved from a play of the same name, written by Woolfe and first performed in the United States in 1995. There are papers relating to the development of the script and to productions of the play in the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

Conditions Governing Access

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn679886).

Conditions Governing Use

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 Sue Woolfe, National Library of Australia, MS 9812, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The papers were purchased from Sue Woolfe in 2000.

Arrangement

Woolfe has organised the papers into titled Files and the order of the contents of the Files had been retained by the Library. The papers have been listed by box and File number, using Woolfe's File titles for the description.

Biographical Note

Sue Woolfe was born in Sydney and spent her childhood in Springwood in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. She was educated at Sydney University and the University of New England. Woolfe's writing career began when she wrote the textbook Language and literature. The money she earned from this allowed her to set up a film business, which produced some forty documentaries for television. Woolfe moved on to writing film scripts and eventually novels, including Painted woman and Leaning towards infinity: how my mother's apron unfolds into my life, which won the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction in 1996. Her latest book, The secret cure was published in 2003.

Sue Woolfe lives in Sydney where she is a lecturer in the Department of English at Sydney University.

Item Descriptions

Class MS 9812. Original Consignment

Personal letters relating to Leaning towards infinity…, together with letters from readers, 1991-1999. Correspondents include Robert Dessaix and Peter Goldsworthy. (File 1) - Box 1

Correspondence while in Greece, 1992. Correspondents include Kate Llewellyn and Kate Grenville. (not sighted February 2010) (File 2) - Box 1

Correspondence with Random House, 1995-1997. Correspondents include Amanda Loughrey. (File 3) - Box 1

Articles, interviews, flyers and newsletters relating to the book, 1992-1997 (File 4) - Box 1

Reviews of the book – Australia, Singapore, United States and United Kingdom, 1996-1997 (File 5) - Box 1

Correspondence with United States publishers Faber & Faber and Farrar, Straus & Giroux relating to Woolfe's promotional tour, 1997-1998 (File 6-7) - Box 1

Correspondence with Alison Summers (US) and Claire Keegan (Ireland), 1997-1998 (File 6-7) - Box 1

Correspondence with writing colleagues. Correspondents include Roger McDonald and Jack Dann, 1997-1998 (File 6-7) - Box 1

Article by Woolfe entitled 'The grand tour', nd (File 6-7) - Box 1

Correspondence regarding the Women's Press (UK) publication, 1997-1999. Includes the transcript of a conversation between Woolfe and Michele Field, nd (File 8-9) - Box 2

Correspondence with Vassallucci Publishers regarding the Netherlands edition, 1998-1999 (File 10) - Box 2

Film industry correspondence regarding the book, 1999-2000 (File 11) - Box 2

Seven audio cassettes (c1998) relating to the book, c1998 (File 12) - Box 2

Including radio interviews of Woolfe on WSUI Public Radio, Iowa City, Iowa (27 Apr 1998) and WAMU America University Radio, Washington (27 Aug 1998)

Leaning Towards Infinity, Radio Interviews, 1998? (Item NLA.MS-SAV004992) - Cassette-Box 285
1 item, Sony HF 90, Compact cassette tape
Leaning Towards Infinity, Radio Interviews, Public Interest 8/27/98 HR 2, 28/08/1998 (Item NLA.MS-SAV004993) - Cassette-Box 285
1 item, Compact cassette tape

WAMU 88.5FM

Leaning Towards Infinity, Radio Interviews, UK Radio Forum P. Nazareth w. M. Roper of Ireland & S. Woolf of Australia, 1998? (Item NLA.MS-SAV004994) - Cassette-Box 285
1 item, Compact cassette tape

Broadcast 1023/94 27:46, WSUI Public Radio, Iowa City, IA.

Leaning Towards Infinity, Radio Interviews, Live from Prairie Lights, 27/04/198 (Item NLA.MS-SAV004995) - Cassette-Box 285
1 item, Compact cassette tape

Brdcast 4/27/1998. WSUI Public Radio, Iowa City, Iowa

Leaning Towards Infinity, Radio Interviews. Maths I/V Paula, 1998? (Item NLA.MS-SAV004996) - Cassette-Box 285
1 item, Compact cassette tape
Leaning Towards Infinity, Radio Interviews. Maths Conference 1, 1998? (Item NLA.MS-SAV004997) - Cassette-Box 285
1 item, Compact cassette tape
Leaning Towards Infinity, Radio Interviews, [untitled], 1998? (Item NLA.MS-SAV004998) - Cassette-Box 285
1 item, Supertape Gold C60, Compact cassette tape

Early research material: maths, philosophy, convents – notes, nd (File 13) - Box 2

First early notes, 1987-1989 (File 14) - Box 2

Fragments of draft, begun 15 May 1989, 1989 (File 15) - Box 2

Short story taken from draft entitled 'Knowing', 1990 (File) - Box 2

Draft, c1990 (File 16) - Box 3

Early notes, c1991 (File 17) - Box 3

Early notes, when some of the story had been worked through, 1992 (File 18) - Box 3

Typescript notes, made while in Greece, colour coded to denote proposed sections of the book, 1992 (File 19-21) - Box 3

Typescript draft of 'baby diary' section, 1992 (File 22) - Box 4

First major draft, 1992 (File 23-25) - Box 4

Draft 2, submitted to the Literature Board of the Australia Council, 1992 (File 26) - Box 4

Draft submitted with grant application to the Literature Board, August 1993 (File 27-29) - Box 4

Draft, late 1993 (File 30-32) - Box 5

Draft edited by Lyn Tranter, 1993 (File 33) - Box 5

Draft, first half of 1994, 1994 (File 34) - Box 5

Draft with edits suggested by Mike Woolfe and Kate Grenville, April 1994 (File 35-36) - Box 6

Edited draft with numerous revisions by Woolfe and editorial comments by others, mid 1994, 1994 (File 37-39) - Box 6

Edits suggestions by friends, mathematicians and Random House., nd (File 40) - Box 6

Editors include Kate Grenville, Patti Miller, Martin Roper (USA), Adrian Nelson (Australian mathematician), Julia Styles (Random House) and Lyn Segal.

Draft accepted by Random House, 1994 (File 41) - Box 6

Draft accepted by Random House, 1994 (cont) (File 42-43) - Box 7

Draft returned by Random House with editorial annotations throughout, 1996 (File 44-46) - Box 7

Further Random House edits, including a family tree of characters, nd (File 47-48) - Box 8

Page proofs with Woolfe's amendments, nd (File 49) - Box 8

Late page proofs, nd (File 50) - Box 9

Two bound copies of unedited page proofs, nd (File 51) - Box 9

Early drafts of the script for the play, c1995 (File 52-53) - Box 9

Two copies of draft 4 of script, one with notes, nd (File 54) - Box 10

First produced script, nd (File 55) - Box 10

Correspondence relating to the New York workshop production, 1995-1996 (File 56) - Box 10

Script from New York workshop production, 1995 (File 57) - Box 10

Directed by Alison Summers.

Ephemera relating to the New York workshop production, nd (File 58) - Box 10

Includes programs, newsletters, articles and photographs of the production

Stage contracts and correspondence relating to the Australian and New Zealand productions of the play., nd (File 59) - Box 10

It was performed in Christchurch, NZ, in 1998 and directed by Cameron Mattox. It was performed in Sydney in 1999 and directed by Moira Blumenthal.

Reviews of the New Zealand and Sydney productions, 1998-1999 (File 60) - Box 10

Ephemeral relating to the Sydney productions, nd (File 61) - Box 10

Includes reviews, publicity material and programs, 1999

A video of the Georgia State University production (USA), 1997 (File 62) - Box 10

Video of Georgia State University (US) production, Nov-97 (Item NLA.MS-VID001025) - Shelf-Tall OH1-18-016
1 item, Sony, Consumer formats - VHS, S-VHS etc.

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