Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Cid Corman Letters, #12008-z, Rare Book Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchase 1979

Additional Descriptive Resources

A more complete finding aid for this collection is available at the Wilson Library.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Rare Book Literary and Historical Papers Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Americans--Japan--History--20th century.
• Corman, Cid.
• Education--Philosophy.
• Enslin, Theodore.
• Poets, American--20th century.
• Poets, American--Economic conditions.
• United States--Civilization--1970-

Cid Corman (1924- ) is a poet, editor of the journal, "Origin," owner of the Origin Press, editor and translator of the work of several other poets, and literary critic. Corman, who has lived mostly in Japan since 1954, received the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize in 1974.

The collection consists of 17 letters, 2 July 1971-11 April 1972, from Cid Corman, Utano, Kyoto, Japan, to poet Ted Enslin, Temple, Maine. Each letter is typed and covers two pages of an aerogramme. The letters are conversational and reflective. Common friends are often discussed as are, usually briefly, fellow poets and their work. The most fully treated topics are educational theory and experience. Corman also commented in several letters on how the cultural atmosphere in the United States affected creative potential. Other topics are Corman's financial situation, his prospects for publishing his recent work, elements of his philosophy of living, and aspects of the natural world.