EDGERTON MSS.
The Edgerton mss., 1938-1959, consist primarily of correspondence between Indiana University Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature, William B. Edgerton, 1914- and German novelist, Oskar Maria Graf, 1894-1967. Edgerton and Graf met durin g the summer of 1938, on a small Dutch vessel traveling from Europe to the United States. Professor Edgerton was returning home after a year teaching in France, while Graf, who knew no English, was fleeing from the Nazi regime. Edgerton was among the fe w American passengers who was fluent in German, and he and Graf had long, literary conversations virtually every day of the ten-day voyage. Their correspondence, in many ways, continues those conversations and, with the exception of a short letter from G raf's wife, August 30, 1941, all is in German.
Also present in the collection are two clippings of reviews of Graf's novel The Life of My Mother (New York: Howell, Soskin & Co., 1940); a copy of Professor Edgerton's letter to Time Magazine criticizing their review; a correspo ndence exchange between Edgerton and two journals, the Modern Language Journal and The German Quarterly, concerning a short article he had written about Graf in late 1941 (it was turned down by both); and a short note dated June 28, 1943 to Prof. Edgerton from a young woman whom Graf had told to get in touch with him. A typed copy of a poem "Ein Deutscher Dichter im Exil" by Max Hermann-Niesse, a photograph of Graf with his wife Mirjam, a printed copy of Graf's "Ode an New York," and two ad vertisements for books by Graf complete the collection.
Gift. William Edgerton. Bloomington, IN 47401. 1997
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