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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 65.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 44,600 items) |
| Abstract | Papers of Louis D. Rubin Jr. (1923-2013) of Chapel Hill, N.C., educator, literary critic, scholar, novelist, journalist, editor, and publisher. Rubin was professor of English at Hollins College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and founder of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. Included is correspondence with poets, novelists, critics, colleagues, friends, family, and students, including John Barth (1930- ), Cleanth Brooks (1906-1994), Allen Tate (1899-1979), Howard Nemerov (1920-1991), Lee Smith (1944- ), and C. Vann Woodward (1908-1999); correspondence with or about various publishers, universities, books, boats, and periodicals; material concerning Rubin's involvement with the American Studies Association, the Modern Language Association, and the Society for the Study of Southern Literature; items relating to A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Southern Literature and A History of Southern Literature; drafts of Rubin's writings, including The Golden Weather, Thomas Wolfe: The Weather of His Youth, Surfaces of a Diamond, The Edge of the Swamp, and copies of poetic, journalistic, and essay productions; material concerning Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; items relating to youth and college baseball; drafts of writings by others, including Clyde Edgerton (1944- ), Howard Nemerov, Sylvia Wilkinson (1940- ), and Lee Smith; and miscellaneous material. There is also material relating to the 1956 Fugitives Reunion in Nashville. The Addition of 1998 consists of correspondence, writings, and related materials, circa 1985-1996, of Louis D. Rubin. Writings include drafts of Heat of the Sun and A Writer's Companion. There is also correspondence relating to Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and its predecessor Bright Leaf Books, as well as and records of incorporation, sale, and dissolution. |
| Creator | Rubin, Louis D., Jr. (Louis Decimus), 1923-2013. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English. |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
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.
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Biographical Information
Louis D. Rubin Jr. was born 19 November 1923 in Charleston, S.C. He attended the College of Charleston, 1940-1942, received a B.A. from the University of Richmond in 1946, and a Ph.D. in Aesthetics of Literature from Johns Hopkins in 1954. He was an instructor at Johns Hopkins and editor of the Hopkins Review, 1950-1954; assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, 1954-1956; associate editor of the News-Leader of Richmond, Va., 1956-1957; associate professor and, later, professor and chairman of the English Department at Hollins College, 1957-1967; and professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1967-1989. Rubin founded Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in 1982.
Rubin is the author or editor of almost forty books. His novels include The Golden Weather (1961) and Surfaces of a Diamond (1981), but it is as a scholar and critic that he is best known. His works of literary criticism include Thomas Wolfe: The Weather of His Youth (1955), The Faraway Country (1963), The Curious Death of the Novel: Essays in American Literature (1967), The Comic Imagination in American Literature (1973), and The Edge of the Swamp: A Study in the Literature and Society of the Old South (1989). Books for which he was editor include Southern Renascence (1953), A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Southern Literature (1969) and A History of Southern Literature (1985). Rubin's non-fiction books include Virginia: A Bicentennial History (1977) and Small Craft Advisory: A Book About the Building of a Boat (1991).
Rubin was married to Eva Redfield Rubin, and he was the father of two sons, Robert and William.
Rubin died in Pittsboro, N.C., 16 November 2013.
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Scope and Content
Correspondence, literary manuscripts, and other material from Rubin's careers as critic, scholar, teacher, journalist, and publisher, as well as material from his involvement with youth-league and college baseball. Included is correspondence with major literary figures in Southern and American literary history, chiefly since 1950, as well as correspondence with lesser-known writers, critics, and scholars and with family members, friends, and students. Some manuscripts from Rubin's literary output are included, especially from his fiction, unpublished as well as published. Also included is material from Rubin's associations with professional organizations and his work on grants and seminars. Other manuscripts include typescripts of novels written by friends and colleagues of Rubin, as well as poetry by his students. Most series (the exceptions are 3 and 6) contain some correspondence related to their contents, although the vast majority of letters are filed in Series 1. There are also transcriptions of the proceedings at the 1956 Fugitive Reunion in Nashville and tapes of "The American South," a Voice of America program in which Rubin participated.
The Addition of 1998 consists of correspondence, writings, and related materials, circa 1985-1996, of Louis D. Rubin. The addition includes correspondence with authors, family, friends, colleagues, universities and other educational institutions, public libraries, journals, and publishing companies. Writings include manuscripts, offprints, reprints, and magazines by Rubin and others, drafts of Heat of the Sun and A Writer's Companion, articles and reviews about Rubin, and manuscripts by other writers. There is also correspondence relating to Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and its predecessor Bright Leaf Books, as well as and records of incorporation, sale, and dissolution.
The collection (especially Series 1) has remained largely in the same order as received. As there is considerable overlap among series, researchers are advised to check all possible locations for materials of interest. Authors included in Series 1.1.1. were selected by Rubin.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Correspondence and Related Material, ca. 1945-1992.
Correspondence with individuals, institutions, and organizations. The series is arranged into subseries as it was received from Rubin. Correspondence from individuals not representing organizations is included in Series 1.1. Correspondence with publishing companies, journals, universities, and other organizations, as well as correspondence about Rubin's boats, cars, and houses, is included in Series 1.2.
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Subseries 1.1. Individual Correspondence, ca. 1945-1992.
Arrangement: alphabetical by correspondent.
The following subseries are organized according to the categories determined by Rubin. Selected literary and critical figures are included in Series 1.1.1. Other literary figures, Rubin's professional colleagues, and family members are included in Series 1.1.2. Miscellaneous letters and letters from former students are included in Series 1.1.3.
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Subseries 1.1.1. Selected Author Correspondence, ca. 1945-1992.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Correspondence with writers and critics of major import, as designated by Rubin (note that there are several major writers and critics whose correspondence is filed in Series 1.1.2). Material in each of these folders has been counted, dated (where possible), and arranged in chronological order. The majority of the letters are about professional and practical subjects, such as visits to Hollins College and the publishing of articles in critical journals.
Some of the more personal correspondence is found in the Barth, Styron, Tate (both Allen and Caroline Gordon), Nemerov, Percy, Davidson, Warren, and Smith files. These letters discuss works in progress, personal activities, and other individuals in some depth. Also included are a few manuscripts of stories and poems that came as enclosures in letters (e.g., poems by Julia Randall and stories by Kaye Gibbons and Sylvia Wilkinson).
Perhaps the longest and thickest thematic thread in this series is that of Southern literature, the Fugitive Poets and Agrarians in particular. Most of the members of these two groups are represented in the correspondence (e.g., John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, and Donald Davidson). There is much discussion in these letters of the group as a whole; Allen Tate discusses Ransom and Davidson extensively, Andrew Lytle agrarianism in general, Davidson the Fugitive reunion, etc. The work of Robert Penn Warren is a common topic, as is that of William Styron.
Ralph Ellison is a minor correspondent except for his emendations to the transcripts of "The Uses of History in Fiction" session at the annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association in November 1968. In this session, William Styron and Ellison (among others) discussed historical novels, especially Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turner, which was criticized as a racist novel. Ellison's remarks are heavily revised in this copy, with his handwriting in the margins. The edited copy of the transcript is included in The Southern Literary Journal (Spring 1969) in series 7.2, folder 1625. A reel-to-reel audiotape of the proceedings is listed as T-3899/3.
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Subseries 1.1.2. Other Correspondence, circa 1948-1992.
Arrangement: alphabetical by correspondent.
Correspondence with individuals not selected by Rubin for inclusion above. Writers, critics, and political figures are included, as are professional colleagues, family, and friends. Most of the correspondence with well-known people is slight. Included are a postcard from Anais Nin about a book, and a letter from R. W. B. Lewis about a trip to Europe. There is also a series of letters between Rubin and Leon Edel about Henry James's The Turn of the Screw.
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Subseries 1.1.3. Miscellaneous Correspondence, ca. 1950-1992.
Arrangement: alphabetical (by last initial only).
Miscellaneous correspondence organized into folders according to the first letter of the last name of the correspondents. Each letter is divided (where possible) into two folders to separate correspondence from Rubin's students. No students who have reached literary stature are included. There are at most only a few letters from each individual.
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Subseries 1.2. Organizational and Subject Correspondence, ca. 1944-1992.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Correspondence organized according to subject matter and organization. Included is correspondence with and about educational institutions, publishing houses, and journals. Subjects include the publishing of Rubin's articles, essays, stories, and novels; his participation in the academic community; the purchasing and selling of his private property; and some records of his involvement with professional organizations in which he was not a principal actor (see also Series 2.1. for materials related to the Modern Language Association and the Society for the Study of Southern Literature). Note that Rubin's folder labels have been retained.
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Series 2. Scholarly Activities, ca. 1950-1990.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Material relating to scholarly activities, publications, and professional organizations.
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Subseries 2.1. Scholarly Publications, ca. 1950-1990.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Rubin's critical and scholarly writings, as well as editing projects that culminated in publication. The latter consist mostly of correspondence and written material about the project.
An example of the latter is A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Southern Literature. This project was edited by Rubin and, because it is a bibliography, did not generate a traditional manuscript. The material in folders relating to this project is chiefly organizational material concerning the publication of the book. There is correspondence with contributors, publishers, and other editors, along with notes and lists of contributions. The Edge of the Swamp: A Study in the Literature and Society of the Old South is an example of a scholarly book written by Rubin for which manuscripts of the book are included. There are two series of folders under the title History of Southern Literature. The difference is that "The History of Southern Literature" is a project begun by Rubin in the early 1970s and never finished, although chapters of it are complete and have been published individually. A History of Southern Literature, on the other hand, is a collaborative project involving Rubin as editor and many of his colleagues. The essays are divided by subject determined by the quantity of material on a given subject. Thus, there is a folder dedicated to an essay entit