Douglas Dunn,Two decades of Irish writing

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 133 CPA/1/1/1/30
  • Former Reference
      GB 133 Sequence 1, Boxes 11-12
  • Dates of Creation
      [1973]-1975
  • Physical Description
      6 pieces; 1,184 sheets

Scope and Content

Book file relating to Douglas Dunn (ed.), Two decades of Irish writing: a critical survey (Cheadle: Carcanet Press, 1975), printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode. Dunn co-edited the book with Schmidt, but was named as sole editor in the published version (see correspondence at CPA/2/1/26). The book is an anthology of critical pieces on Irish poetry (principally) and fiction. Douglas Dunn wrote the introduction, and the volume contains essays by: Seamus Deane; Michael Allen; Donald Davie; Stan Smith; Terence Brown; Michael Longley; Seamus Heaney; Edna Longley; Michael Smith; C.E.S. Maxwell; James Atlas; Lorna Sage; Roger Garfitt; and Tom Paulin. The book file contains manuscripts, proofs and related papers.

Arrangement

The contents of this file were in a somewhat disordered state. This reflects the way the volume was brought together: writers were invited to contribute by both Dunn and Schmidt; manuscripts were submitted to both men; these were forwarded to Val Warner in London who sent them to Essex for typesetting; the manuscript was returned to Val Warner, who carried out the copy-editing, while the galleys went to Schmidt in Manchester who photocopied them to send out to the authors; and the index was created by Dunn using page proofs. Both submission and the sending out of typeset material was carried out on a piecemeal basis to expedite the whole process (see correspondence file at CPA/2/1/26 for details of the compilation process). The archivist has now reconciled the various different batches of manuscript and proof material, each of which reflect a different stage of the process.