The Frederick R. Karl Archive
Administrative Information

Brief Description of Collection:

Title: Frederick R. Karl Papers
Date range: 1961-1995
Creator: Karl, Frederick R., 1927-
Number of boxes: 63
Repository:
  Rare Books and Special Collections Dept.
  Thomas Cooper Library
  University of South Carolina
  Columbia, SC 29208
Location: Consult the Library’s online catalog

Provenance:
The Frederick R. Karl Papers (1961-1995) were acquired through purchase in 1999.

Use restrictions: The copyright interests in the Frederick R. Karl Papers are unknown.

Preferred Citation:
    [Identification of item], Frederick R. Karl Papers, Rare Books and Special Collections, Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina.

Processing:
Processing by Elizabeth Sudduth.

Scope and Content Note:
The distinguished literary biographer and critic Frederick R. Karl was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1927. After service in the US Navy, 1944-46, he attended Columbia University and Stanford. He taught at City College of CUNY from 1957-1982, and since 1982 has been Professor of English at New York University.

Mr. Karl's literary archive covers his biographies of four major writers - Joseph Conrad (1979), William Faulkner (1989), Franz Kafka (1991), and George Eliot (1995) - with a very full (and well organized) record of the stages through which he researched, drafted, developed, and edited each project. In addition, the archive includes similarly detailed material both for Mr. Karl's other books - his novel of world War II Italy, The Quest (1961) and two major critical works on modern American fiction - and also for a major long-term editorial project, the Joseph Conrad letters (1983-), for which he corresponded with over 2000 Conrad collectors, scholars and librarians. The archive includes letters from other leading bibliographers (Leon Edel, Joseph Blotner, Lionel Trilling), as well as from other significant correspondents (for instance, Bertrand Russell, John Barth).

The Frederick R. Karl Archive supports Thomas Cooper Library's project of building research collections (book and manuscript materials) to document the achievements of literary biography.

Local Catalog Headings:
Karl, Frederick Robert, |d 1927- |t Joseph Conrad, the three lives
Karl, Frederick Robert, |d 1927- |t William Faulkner, American writer
Karl, Frederick Robert, |d 1927- |t Franz Kafka, representative man
Karl, Frederick Robert, |d 1927- |t George Eliot, voice of a century
Karl, Frederick Robert, |d 1927- |t Quest
Karl, Frederick Robert, |d 1927- |t American fictions
Karl, Frederick, |d 1927- |t Modern and modernism
Conrad, Joseph, |d 1857-1924.
Faulkner, William,|d 1897-1962
Kafka, Franz, |d 1883-1924
Eliot, George, |d 1819-1880
American fiction |y 20th century |x History and criticism
Arts, Modern |y 19th century
Arts, Modern |y 20th century
Modernism (Art)

Updated July 30 2002 by the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
Prepared for the web by Eva Moore.
Copyright © 2000, the University of South Carolina.
URL: http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/amlit/karladmin.html