Note: This brief collection description is an accession record. The collection is not fully processed or cataloged; no
biographical sketch, descriptions of series, or indexes are available.
Acquisition: Purchases, 1989-1997 (R11751, R12773, R13947)
Access: Open for research
Processed by: Jonathan Reynolds, 2007
RLIN Record ID: None
The Works Series is divided into four subseries: A. Major Works, B. Short Stories, C. Introductions and Prefaces, and D. Articles and Reviews, with items within the subseries arranged alphabetically by title. Included are manuscripts and typescripts in various stages of editing and revising, such as Desai's award-winning novels Baumgartner's Bombay and Fire on the Mountain, which won the Booker Prize in 1980, as well as In Custody, which was made into a film by Merchant Ivory Productions in 1993. The short stories include works published as early as 1958, preceding her first novel by several years. A scholar as well as a writer, her work on introductions for books by authors from Anne Brontë to Salman Rushdie, and several articles addressing the treatment of women and children around the world is also present. Correspondence directly related to her works has been maintained with the respective work throughout the series and subsequently arranged alphabetically by author.
The Career Related Material is also divided into four subseries: A. Speeches, Interviews, Lectures, and Radio, B. Honors and Public Appearances, C. Articles and Reviews of Desai, and D. Correspondence, Finances, and Other Papers. Included are materials from the PEN International Writer's Day conference and the Flair symposium, both from 1994. Present as well are her honorary degrees in addition to publicity materials from her awards, including the Royal Society of Literature Award in 1977, and clippings on her works and career from around the world. Correspondence in this series is more general and does not address any single work, including letters between Desai and her first English publisher, Peter Owen. Her royalty statements and tax information are also present along with subsequent correspondence.
The collection does not contain materials related to Desai's personal life or her career as a professor. Additional Desai materials at the Ransom Center are present in the Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Records and the Peter Owen, Ltd. Records
Box Folder Description
1 1 Baumgartner's Bombay (1988) 1-2 Handwritten drafts 3-4 Typescript with author's revisions 5-6 Typescripts * Page proofs with corrections (*removed to oversize box 21) 2 1 Notes 2 Dust jacket proof 3 Screenplay by Gary Dvorkin 4 Correspondence Bye-Bye, Blackbird (1968; a.k.a. "O England's Green and Grisly Land," a.k.a. "Indians in London") 5 1st handwritten draft 6 Handwritten draft with notes 7 Typescript 8 Typescript with notes 9 Dust jacket proof 10 Correspondence 11 Cat on a Houseboat (1976), handwritten draft, typescript, and correspondence Clear Light of Day (1980) (a.k.a. "Summer Noon Sun") 12 Handwritten draft in 5 notebooks 3 1 Handwritten draft 2 Typescript 3 Dust jacket proof 4-5 Correspondence Cry, the Peacock (1963) 6 Handwritten draft 7 Dust jacket proof 8 Correspondence Fire on the Mountain (1977) 9 Notes 10 Handwritten draft 4 1 Handwritten draft in a notebook; also contains "2nd drafts of poems" 2 2 typescripts 3 Page proofs with revisions 4 Dust jacket proofs (1 for Swedish edition) 5-6 Correspondence Games at Twilight and Other Stories (1978) 7 "Games at Twilight," handwritten draft and 3 typescripts "Private Tuition by Mr. Bose," handwritten draft, 4 typescripts, published pages from Indian Literature, and clipping from The Telegraph, 11 July 1992 "Studies in the Park," 2 handwritten drafts and 5 typescripts "Surface Textures," handwritten draft, 6 typescripts, and a screenplay "Sale," 5 typescripts "Pineapple Cake," 2 handwritten drafts and 3 typescripts 8 "The Accompanist," 2 handwritten drafts 5, typescripts, and French version in Le Serpent a Plumes, Autumn 1991 "A Devoted Son," 2 handwritten drafts and 6 typescripts 4 8 "The Farewell Party," 2 handwritten drafts and 5 typescripts "Pigeons at Daybreak," 2 handwritten drafts and 4 typescripts "Scholar and Gypsy," 3 handwritten drafts and 2 typescripts 9 Notes and dust jacket proofs 10 Correspondence In Custody (1984) 5 1 Handwritten draft with notes 2-3 2 typescripts with revisions 4 Notes for revisions 5 Typescript 6 Audio-book version 7 Dust jacket proofs Screenplay (1993) Film treatment 8 Handwritten and typescript draft 9 Typescript with notes 6 1 Edited typescript, combination of drafts 1 and 2 with notes 2 Draft 3 typescript Urdu version, typescript 3 Draft 1 4 Draft 2 5 2 subtitles typescripts 6 Subtitles typescript with notes 7 Subtitles typescript with handwritten Urdu translation 8 2 synopses 9 Correspondence Journey to Ithaca (1995) 7 1 Notes, articles, clippings, and draft fragments 2 Notes in calendar 7 3 Handwritten draft in 3 notebooks 4-5 Typescript with revisions 6 Revised typescript 8 1 Revised typescript (continued) 2 Notes for revisions 3* Dust jacket proofs (*oversize removed to box 19) 4 Correspondence The Peacock Garden (1974) 5 Handwritten draft 6 3 typescripts of earlier draft 7 Typescript of later draft 8* Illustrations and dust jacket proofs (*oversize removed to box 21) 9 Correspondence The Village by the Sea (1982) (a.k.a. "Coconut Days") 10 Notes and map 12 Handwritten draft 11 Typescript with notes 13 BBC broadcast read by Saeed Jaffrey 14 Excerpt for Provincial Reviews Exam 9 1 Dust jacket proof 2-3 Correspondence Screenplay Film treatment 4 1st handwritten draft 5 2nd handwritten draft and typescript 6 Notes on production 7 Original scripts of the 6 episodes 8 Correspondence Voices in the City (1965) 9 "Abandoned" handwritten draft 10 1st handwritten draft 11 2nd handwritten draft 9 12 Dust jacket proof 13 Correspondence Where Shall We Go This Summer? (1975) 10 1 1st handwritten draft 2 2nd handwritten draft 3 2 typescripts 4 Dust jacket proof 5 Correspondence
6 "After the Wedding," typescript "Bound Feet" (1968), 2 handwritten drafts "A Day in an Ashram," handwritten draft and research material "Descent from the Roof-top" (1970), handwritten draft and 2 typescripts "An Examination" (1960), 3 typescripts "Frozen in Froya" (1993), notes, 2 handwritten drafts,typescript, and published French version 7 "Ghost House" (1961), handwritten draft and 7 typescripts "Grandmother" (1960), handwritten draft "How Gentle is the Mist" (1958), 3 typescripts "Mr. Bose's Private Bliss" (1961), handwritten draft and 7 typescripts of 3 drafts "Mr. Bose's Private Prayer" (1969), handwritten draft and 6 typescripts "Poetry Reading in Bombay," typescript "The Prisoner" (1974), 2 handwritten drafts and 5 typescripts "The Red Cross Plane," 2 handwritten drafts and 3 typescripts "Rohan's Magic Pictures," 2 handwritten drafts, 2 typescripts, and correspondence 8 "The Sun, the River, and a _____ Night," handwritten draft "Threatened" (1974), 2 handwritten drafts and 3 typescripts "To Sell a Picture" (1961), 2 handwritten drafts Untitled, 4 handwritten drafts Notes and fragments; lists of stories and publishers; and correspondence
9* Agnes Grey, by Anne Brontë (1990), handwritten draft, typescript, and correspondence (*page proofs removed to oversize box 21) 10 Eye to Eye, edited by Vanessa Baird (1996), notes, handwritten draft, typescript with revisions, and typescript of final draft 11 The Home and the World, by Rabindranath Tagore (1985), notes, handwritten draft, and typescript 12 Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie (1995), notes, 2 handwritten drafts, 2 typescripts, and correspondence 13 Noon in Calcutta, edited by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson (1992), notes, handwritten draft, 3 typescripts, correspondence, and a dust jacket proof 11 1 The Post Office, by Rabindranath Tagore (1996), notes, 2 handwritten drafts, typescript, copy of play, and correspondence with illustrations for publication 2 The Quilt and Other Stories, by Ismat Chughtai (1994), notes, early and later handwritten drafts, typescript, and correspondence with a book catalog 3 Rabindranath Tagore: Selected Short Stories, translated by Krishna Dutta and Mary Lago (1991), 2 handwritten drafts, 3 typescripts, and a dust jacket proof 4 Sunlight on a Broken Column, by Attia Husain (1988), 2 handwritten drafts, typescript, and correspondence 5 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Brontë (1991), handwritten draft and typescript 6 The Turkish Embassy Letters, by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, edited by Malcolm Jack (1993), notes on notepad, 3 handwritten drafts, typescript, correspondence, and page proofs with revisions
Articles, 1969-1996 7 A-H 8 I-Z 9-10 "In Manggis," for UNICEF: State of the World's Children 1994, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd handwritten drafts, 4 typescripts, notes, correspondence, and support material 11 "In Quest of Delhi's Past," for The New York Times: Sophisticated Traveler (1989), 3 handwritten drafts, 2 typescripts, 2 computer printouts, and notes 12 1 "Raj Quartet," for The New Republic (1985), 3 handwritten drafts, correspondence, and research materials 2 "Rajiv Gandhi," for LIFE Magazine (1985), notes, 3 handwritten drafts, and a profile of Gandhi 3 "Women in Norway," for Women: A World Report (1985), 2 handwritten drafts, typescript, support material, and correspondence 4 Untitled, 6 handwritten drafts Reviews, 1960-1996 5 Notes for various reviews on a pad 6 A-E 7 F-I 8 J-R 13 1 S-Z 2 Women Writing in India, Vol 1. edited by Susie Thara and K. Lalita and Truth Tales edited by Kalie (1991), 3 handwritten drafts, 3 typescripts, 3 galley proofs, notes, and correspondence 3 Women Writing in India, Vol 2. edited by SusieThara and K. Lalita (1993), handwritten draft, 2 typescripts, galley proof, and correspondence
4 Acceptance speeches Hadassah Magazine Prize, 1988, handwritten draft University of North London Honorary Degree, 1995, handwritten draft, correspondence, and program 5 Interview by Feroza Jussawalla, October 1990, typescript and correspondence Lectures 6 Various, handwritten drafts and typescripts 7 Edinburgh Book Festival, 1983, 2 typescripts, correspondence, and clippings 8 Flair symposium, November 1994, handwritten draft, correspondence, and conference materials 9 International Parliament of Writers, September 1994, typescript, conference materials, invitation from Portuguese President Mario Soares, and clippings 10 Linea d'Ombra Associazione Italo-Britannica March 1990 "Freedom and Suppression," 2 handwritten drafts and typescript "Wealth and Poverty," typescript Correspondence and clippings in Italian 11 Neil Gunn International Fellowship, 1994, 3 handwritten drafts, 2 typescripts, correspondence, conference materials, photographs, and clippings 12 PEN International Writer's Day, March 1994, 2 handwritten drafts, typescript, notes, and conference materials 14 1 UNESCO Nordic Workshop, November 1982, typescript, correspondence and photographs, conference materials, and open letter to the President of Kenya about censorship 2 Version Française, October 1991, 2 handwritten drafts, conference material, and invitation from French President François Mitterand 3 Radio broadcasts, handwritten drafts, typescripts, and correspondence
Honors 4 Booker McConnell Prize, 1980, invitations, press releases, correspondence, and clippings 5 Harold U. Ribalow Prize, 1989, invitation Royal Society of Literature Award, 1977, correspondence 6 University of Sussex Honorary Degree, 1994, itinerary, program, correspondence, and photographs 7-8 Public appearances, 1985-1995 Conference materials, programs, itineraries, correspondence, and badges 9 Asian Short Story Competition Judging, 1982, notes, correspondence, and clippings 10 Commonwealth Institute Seminar, July 1982,program, correspondence, and clippings 11 Indo-U.S. Subcommission on Education and Culture Visitorship Program, 1984, itinerary, flier, and correspondence 12* International Festival of Authors, 1987 & 1995, itinerary, flier, and list of participants (*clippings removed to oversize box 20)
15 1 Autobiographical writings and publicity photographs, 9 handwritten drafts, 3 typescripts, and 12 photographs 2 Student theses, 5 typescripts 3 "Clear Light of Day," by Laura Omaggi, bound typescript in Italian and transcript of dissertation interview 4* Articles, clippings and photocopies (*oversize removed to box 20) 5-6 Articles in foreign languages, clippings and photocopies 7 Book catalogs, 1963-1995 Reviews Baumgartner's Bombay 16 1-3 Clippings and photocopies 4 Radio broadcasts, 2 typescripts 5 Bye-Bye Blackbird, clippings 6-7 Clear Light of Day, clippings and photocopies Cry, the Peacock 17 1 Typescript and clippings 2 Scrapbook of clippings 3 Fire on the Mountain, clippings and photocopies 4 Games at Twilight, clippings and photocopies In Custody 5 For novel, clippings and photocopies 6 For film, clippings and photocopies 7 Journey to Ithaca, clippings and photocopies 8 Peacock Garden, clippings and photocopies 18 1 Village by the Sea, clippings and photocopies 2 Voices in the City, clippings and photocopies 3 Where Shall We Go this Summer?, clippings and photocopies * Oversize reviews, clippings and photocopies (*removed to box 20)
Correspondence 4 Outgoing, 1964-1996 5 Incoming, 1971-1995 6 Erdman, Joan, 1992 7 Peter Owen Ltd., 1962-1974 8 Third-party, 1963-1996 9 Financial papers and correspondence, 1963-1986 Other papers 10* Book catalogs; clippings; oversize poster of Revolving Routes, by Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, 1981 (*removed to box 21) 19-21 Oversize materials
Reference queries to: reference@hrc.utexas.edu
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