MS 8075
Papers of David Brooks (1953- )
Summary
| Creator: |
Brooks, David, 1953- |
| Title: |
Papers of David Brooks |
| Date Range: |
1969-96 |
| Reference Number: |
MS 8075 |
| Extent: |
5.46 metres (39 boxes) plus 5 folio items |
Access
|
Series 1 |
The bulk of the series is available for reference, with some
parts restricted until David Brooksdeath and a small number of letters
closed until 5 years his death. |
|
Series 2-7 |
Available for reference |
|
Series 8 |
Folders 1-4 available for reference
Folders 5-18 restricted until 2013 |
|
Series 9-13 |
Available for reference |
Provenance
The papers were acquired from David Brooks in two instalments. The
first, in 1989, was acquired under the Taxation Incentive for the Arts Scheme,
while the second was purchased from Brooks in 1998.
Scope and Content
Correspondence and manuscripts of Brooks own work, including some
of his notebooks and diaries, comprise the bulk of the papers. The development
of Brooks work, from initial ideas and thoughts to a published work, can
be traced in these papers. There are also manuscripts of his selections of the
poetry of A.D. Hope and of R.F. Brissenden, as well as the work of other
writers.
Among the correspondents are Robert and Cheryl Adamson, Silvana Gardner,
Alan Gould, Paul Balnaves, R.F. Brissenden, J.P. Hardy, Rosemary Dobson, A.D.
Hope, Galway Kinnell, Susan Jeffery, Robert White, Geoffrey Dutton, David King,
Ruth Morse, Craig Powell and Eric Domville.
Brooks own arrangement of the papers has been maintained by the
Library.
Related Material
The Library also holds the papers of Harland Gordon Brooks
(MS 8128) and Nicolette Stasko (MS 9406).
Biographical Note
David Brooks was born in Canberra in 1953. As a very young child he
lived in Greece and in Yugoslavia, where his father was posted, before
returning to Canberra, where he attended school. He attended the Cleveland
Heights High School in 1969-70, on an American Field Service Scholarship.
In 1971-74, while studying at the Australian National University, he was
involved in the Canberra poetry magazine, both as a poet and as a
photographer, and with poetry readings and handpress printing. He also founded
Open Door Press with Alan Gould and others. Early friends among Canberra
writers included Alan Gould, Philip Mead, Kevin Hart, R.F. Brissenden, Rosemary
Dobson, A.D. Hope, David Campbell and Judith Wright. He has since continued to
develop many friendships and contacts with other writers, both in Australia and
overseas.
In 1975 Brooks was a part time tutor in the Department of English at the
Australian National University before beginning study for an MA and a PhD at
the University of Toronto. He was an Overseas Contributing Editor to New
poetry and Poetry Australia and an agent for the Australian
National University and the Literature Board in arranging
poet/writers-in-residence. Some of his early poetry was published in the United
States and in Canada and he made extensive contacts with poets in both those
countries, some of them becoming close friends. Brooks also continued to
publish handpress material as well as instructing on, and operating, a
handpress at Massey College, University of Toronto.
Brooks returned to Australia, where he had a one-year contract at the
Royal Military College at Duntroon, in 1981. At this time he completed his PhD thesis (on
the early Cantos of Ezra Pound), became associate editor of New poetry and
reviewed poetry for The Canberra Times.
In 1982-85 Brooks was a Senior Tutor in the Department of English at the
University of Western Australia. He undertook editorial work for Westerly.
His first collection of poetry, The cold front (1983), launched
by A.D. Hope, was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premiers Prize and
won the Anne Elder Award. His first short fiction appeared in
State of the art (1984) and Transgressions (1986). His first collection of short fiction, The book
of Sei, was published in 1985, when he also commenced editing
Helix.
From 1986 to 1991 Brooks was a lecturer in the Department of English,
Australian National University. He continued, with Nicolette Stasko, to edit
Helix, which changed its name to Phoenix review, and he
reviewed poetry for The Australian and other publications. He was a
reader for the Fremantle Arts Centre Press, for Hale & Iremonger and for
other publishers, and he wrote regularly for The Age monthly review.
An expanded version of Book of Sei was published in 1989 and he edited
and published Poetry and gender (1989) with Brenda Walker.
The necessary jungle (1990) and Sheep and the diva (1990)
followed and in 1990 he also commenced work on
The house of Balthus (1996) and Notebooks. During
this time he was also host, together with Nicolette Stasko, of joint ANU
residencies by Antigone Kefala, Jennifer Maiden, J.S. Harry and Vikki Viidikas
(1989) and with John Forbes, Nigel Roberts and Robert Adamson (1990).
In
1990, Brooks resigned from the Australian National University and took up an
appointment as a lecturer in Australian Literature at the University of Sydney
in 1991. He was Senior Lecturer in Australian Literature from 1992, and became Associate Professor in 2005.
A.D. Hopes Selected poems and Suddenly evening: the
selected poems of R.F. Brissenden, both edited by Brooks, were
published in 1992. Brooks was the Chair of the NSW Literature Awards in 1993,
and has served on the management committee of the NSW Writers Centre, on the Board of
Directors of the Eleanor Dark Foundation, and on other boards and committees,
for example, the Sydney Festival Writers Week. The House of Balthus
was published in 1995 and Black Sea in 1997. He was briefly an
Australian literature columnist on the Financial review in 1997 and
has been on the editorial board of Westerly and Southerly, which he has co-edited since 2000. Brooks travelled and
lectured in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and China in
1994-95, after a two month research visit to Oxford and to Paris in 1993. He has since spent periods living in France, 1998, and Slovenia, 2005. His poetry and fiction have been widely anthologised nationally and internationally, and translated into several languages.
Brooks married Alison Summers in 1975 and separated from her in 1982. In
1983 he met Nicolette Stasko, with whom he lived until early 2004. Their daughter, Jessica,
was born in 1985. Brooks married a Slovenian photographer and translator, Teja Pribac, in 2005.
Series List
Series 1 Correspondence, 1975-91
Series 2 The book of Sei & other stories (1985)
Series 3 Sheep and the diva (1990)
Series 4 The necessary jungle: literature and excess (1990)
Series 5 The House of Balthus, 1992-95
Series 6 Black sea, 1990-96
Series 7 Early poetry and essay manuscripts, 1969-94
Series 8 Drafts and fragments, 1978-96
Series 9 Notebooks and diaries, 1977-95
Series 10 A.D. Hope editions, 1992
Series 11 R.F. Brissenden Suddenly evening, 1992
Series 12 Manuscripts of other writers
Series 13 Thesis, 1974
Series Description
Series 1 Correspondence, 1975-91
The first instalment included correspondence for the period 1975-80 and
contains copies of letters written by Brooks, mostly while he was living in
Canada. The main correspondents are Robert and Cheryl Adamson, Silvana Gardner
and Alan Gould. Other correspondents include Paul Balnaves, R.F. Brissenden,
J.P. Hardy, Rosemary Dobson, A.D. Hope, Galway Kinnell, Susan Jeffery and
Robert Whyte.
A second instalment of correspondence mainly dates from the period
1980-91, with some miscellaneous correspondence for the period 1975-82. Brooks
has annotated the files with brief notes about the correspondents, who include
poets, academics, ex-students, colleagues, publishers and journal editors. Most
of the correspondents in the first instalment are again included, as are Eric
Domville, Geoffrey Dutton, David King, Ruth Morse, Craig Powell and others.
Correspondence with the following is restricted until the death of David
Brooks: Carmel Bird, Veronica Brady, Andrew Burke, Margaret Coombs, the
Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Silvana Gardner, Sonia Harford, A.D. and Penelope
Hope, Gail Jones, Cate Kennedy, Rebecca King, Galway Kinnell, John Kinsella,
Anne McCulloch, Jennifer Maiden, Jane Messer, Les Murray, Penelope Nelson,
Mary-Anne Paton, Fiona Place, Craig Powell, Mark Ramsay, Rachel Robertson, John
Scott, Pauline Simpson, Michael Stanier, Carolyn Van Langenberg, Brenda Walker,
Kaye Watts and Patricia Wilden.
|
Folder |
|
|
1 |
Correspondence A, 1975-80 |
|
2-4 |
Correspondence A, 1980-91 |
|
5 |
Correspondence B, 1975-80 |
|
6-11 |
Correspondence B, 1980-91 |
|
12 |
Correspondence C, 1975-80 |
|
13-15 |
Correspondence C, 1980-91 |
|
16 |
Correspondence D, 1975-80 |
|
17-19 |
Correspondence D, 1980-91 |
|
20 |
Correspondence E, 1980-91 |
|
21 |
Correspondence F, 1975-80 |
|
22-24 |
Correspondence F, 1980-91 |
|
25 |
Correspondence G, 1975-80 |
|
26-29 |
Correspondence G, 1980-91 |
|
30 |
Correspondence H-I, 1975-80 |
|
31-37 |
Correspondence H-I, 1980-91 (Folder 34: Closed) |
|
38 |
Correspondence J-K, 1975-80 |
|
39-41 |
Correspondence J, 1980-91 (Folder 39: Closed) |
|
42-46 |
Correspondence K, 1980-91 |
|
47 |
Correspondence L, 1975-80 |
|
48 |
Correspondence L, 1980-91 |
|
49 |
Correspondence M, 1975-80 |
|
50-56 |
Correspondence M, 1980-91 |
|
57 |
Correspondence N, 1975-80 |
|
58-60 |
Correspondence N-O, 1980-91 |
|
61 |
Correspondence P-Q, 1975-80 |
|
62-69 |
Correspondence P-Q, 1980-91 (Folder 64: Closed) |
|
70 |
Correspondence R, 1975-80 |
|
71-76 |
Correspondence R, 1980-91 (Folder 75: Closed) |
|
77 |
Correspondence S, 1975-80 |
|
78-84 |
Correspondence S, 1980-91 |
|
85 |
Correspondence T-U, 1975-80 |
|
86-87 |
Correspondence T-U, 1980-91 |
|
88 |
Correspondence V-W, 1975-80 |
|
89-96 |
Correspondence V-W, 1980-91 |
|
97 |
Correspondence X-Z, 1975-80 |
|
98 |
Correspondence X-Z, 1980-91 |
|
99-103 |
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1975-82 |
Series 2 The book of Sei & other stories
(1985)
This series contains a complete set of manuscripts and corrected
typescripts of 19 short stories entitled The book of Sei & other
stories (Sydney, Hale & Iremonger, 1985).
|
Folder |
|
|
1 |
The book of Sei' |
|
2 |
'The dolphin' |
|
3 |
'Red and black' |
|
4 |
'The white angel of Mantria' |
|
5 |
'The journal of Roberto de Castellan' |
|
6 |
'Blue' |
|
7 |
'The lost wedding' |
|
8 |
'John Gilbert's dog' |
|
9 |
Du |
|
10 |
'Black' |
|
11 |
'The misbehaviour of things' |
|
12 |
'The same room' |
|
13 |
'The line' |
|
14 |
'The poet' |
|
15 |
'Another chase story' |
|
16 |
'Depth of field' |
|
17 |
'Hands' |
|
18 |
'Striptease' |
|
19 |
'Roses' |
Series 3 Sheep and the diva (1990)
Manuscripts and corrected typescripts of short stories which were
published under the title Sheep and the diva (Melbourne, McPhee
Gribble, 1990). Some drafts and rejected stories were received in the
second instalment.
|
Folder |
|
|
1 |
'Letters from Tandelo' |
|
2 |
'The city of labyrinths' |
|
3 |
'Sheep' |
|
4 |
'Disease' |
|
5 |
'Nadia's lover' |
|
6 |
'Disappearing' |
|
7 |
'The city of arches' |
|
8 |
'The diva' |
|
9 |
'The wood' |
|
10 |
'The family of the minister' |
|
11 |
'The avenues of lost time' |
|
12 |
'The book' |
|
13 |
'The birds of paradise' |
|
14 |
'The garden' |
|
15 |
'The tape-recorder of dreams' |
|
16 |
'Dr. B. and the students' |
|
17 |
'L.' |
|
18 |
'The maze' |
|
19 |
'Pentecost' |
|
20 |
Drafts and rejected stories for/from Sheep and the
diva |
Series 4 Necessary jungle: literature and excess
(1990)
This series contains manuscripts and corrected typescripts of 13 essays,
originally planned for publication as Literature and excess, but
published by McPhee Gribble in 1990 under the title Necessary jungle:
literature and excess.
|
Folder |
|
|
1 |
'Introduction' |
|
2 |
'The fantastic as a language of the real' |
|
3 |
'Teaching with structuralism' |
|
4 |
'The blood of Jose Arcadio' |
|
5 |
'Cigarettes, advertising and religion' |
|
6 |
'Woman as compound sign' |
|
7 |
'Disintegration' |
|
8 |
'Literature and excess' |
|
9 |
'On risk' |
|
10 |
'Reading poetry' |
|
11 |
'Unnatural naturalism' |
|
12 |
'The male practice of feminist criticism: a second moment'
|
|
13 |
'Reality, etc. |
|
14 |
'Poetry and sexual difference' |
Series 5 The House of Balthus, 1992-95
Early notes, research material and both early and later drafts,
manuscript and proofs of the novel The House of Balthus
(Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1996) make up this series.
|
Folder/Item |
|
|
1-4 |
Early notes, research material, fragments and drafts |
|
5-6 |
Initial stories |
|
7 |
Revised stories |
|
8-10 |
Drafts of Balthus/paintings section revised December
1992 |
|
11-12 |
First full composition |
|
13 |
Manuscript, 1994 |
|
14-15 |
Edited manuscript, including authors
comments |
|
16-17 |
Revisions prior to Faber & Faber submission, 1993 |
|
18-19 |
Manuscript, revised and entered, 10 May 1993 |
|
20-21 |
Manuscript master, 23 July 1993 |
|
22 |
Final drafts and cullings, July 1994 |
|
23-24 |
Revisions after Faber & Faber rejection, 1994 |
|
25-27 |
Allen & Unwin returned edited manuscript and proofs,
1995 |
|
28 |
Floppy disk |
Series 6 Black sea, 1990-96
Received in the second instalment, this series contains drafts of
stories, some rejected parts of stories, edited manuscripts and an unedited
manuscript of the book entitled Black Sea (Allen & Unwin,
1997). The stories were written between 1990 and 1996.
|
Folder |
|
|
1 |
Drafts and rejected stories, 1990 |
|
2 |
Drafts of stories, 1994-96 |
|
3 |
The mooncalf |
|
4 |
St Cloud, 1995 |
|
5 |
The ratcatcher, 1996 |
|
6 |
The black sea, 1993-96 |
|
7 |
Gauguins dream |
|
8 |
Discarded stories, some of which later appeared in other
publications |
|
9 |
Black sea revisions, December 1996 |
|
10-13 |
Black sea manuscripts |
Series 7 Early poetry and essay manuscripts,
1969-94
A collection of early poetry manuscripts, including early drafts of
poems for The cold front (Sydney, Hale & Iremonger, 1983),
together with notes and drafts of early essays, are held in this series. Some
of the essays were published, while some were used by Brooks in his MA courses
at the University of Toronto.
|
Folder/Item |
|
|
1 |
Pomes: earliest extant poetry juvenilia, 1969-70
|
|
2 |
Copies of earliest essays, some published, some for MA courses
at the University of Toronto, 1976-77 |
|
3 |
Early poetry manuscripts, 1978-74 |
|
4 |
New South: Australian poetry of the late 1970s, a selection
(1980) manuscript and launch material. |
|
5 |
Early poetry manuscripts, 1970-82 |
|
6 |
'Shard light', poems by Brooks , c.1981 |
|
7 |
Completed poems, 1982 |
|
8 |
Sex and politics in Czechoslovakia: photocopies of articles,
newspaper clippings, and notes, 1985 |
|
9 |
'The sentence', 1986-89 |
|
10 |
Prisoners of gender, 1989 |
|
11 |
Essay essay; The wheel, the mirror and the
tower; Balthus essay. |
|
12 |
A.D. Hope/Australian poetry essay: notes, 1986-90
Codicils to the book of Enoch published in
Tilting Matilda (1994) |
|
13-14 |
Prose, 1989-94 |
|
15 |
Miscellaneous notes, drafts, articles, and essays |
Series 8 Drafts and fragments, 1978-96
Manuscripts and corrected typescripts of poems written between 1978-82
were received in the first instalment. In the second instalment there are
drafts and fragments of both poems and prose.
Folders 1-4 are available for reference; folders 5-18 are restricted
until the year 2013.
|
Folder |
|
|
1-9 |
Drafts and fragments, 1978-96 |
|
10-12 |
Poetry, 1983-85 |
|
13 |
Poems and stories (completed); miscellaneous drafts, 1983
|
|
14-15 |
Prose, 1983-86, including some very early drafts and fragments
of stories for The book of Sei and a very early House of Balthus
note. Some of the fragments are not identified. |
|
16-17 |
Essays, 1985-88 |
|
18 |
Notes for lecture on own poetry, 1984 |
Series 9 Notebooks and diaries, 1977-95
Notebooks and diaries used by Brooks in Australia, Canada and the United
States. They contain notes for his poems, drafts and fragments, accounts and
arrangements for New South: Australian poetry of the later 70s, a
selection (1980), research notes for his PhD thesis, drafts of
reviews, stories and teaching and lecture notes.
|
Folder/Item |
|
|
1-3 |
Pocket diaries, 1977, 1979, 1980 |
|
4 |
Desk diary, 1982-83 |
|
5-14 |
Notebooks, 1975-76, 1978, 1980-84, 1995 |
Series 10 A.D. Hope editions, 1992
Edited manuscripts of A.D. Hopes Selected poems, edited
and introduced by David
Brooks (Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1992) and Security of
allusion: essays in honour of A.D. Hope, edited by David Brooks
(Canberra, Phoenix Review/Bistro Editions with the Australian National
University Faculty of Arts, 1992) which was issued as a special issue of
The Phoenix Review and distributed to subscribers as issue # 9.
|
Folder/Item |
|
|
1-2 |
Edited manuscript of Selected poems |
|
3 |
Proof copy of manuscript of Selected poems |
|
4-5 |
Security of allusion edited manuscript |
|
6 |
Security of allusion
photocopy;
Security of allusion: essays in honour of A.D. Hope,
edited by David Brooks. |
Series 11 R.F. Brissenden Suddenly evening,
1992
A colleague at the Australian National University, Brooks was a close
friend of R.F. Brissenden and his wife, often visiting them at their house at
Depot Beach on the south coast of New South Wales.
Manuscripts and a small collection of other papers relating to
Suddenly evening: the selected poems of R. F. Brissenden, (Melbourne,
McPhee Gribble, 1993), edited and introduced by David Brooks after
Brissendens death in 1991, are contained in this series.
|
Folder/Item |
|
|
1-2 |
Manuscript |
|
3 |
Corrections, cover proofs, correspondence, 1992 |
|
4 |
Proof copy of manuscript |
|
5 |
Cover art work |
|
6 |
Auslit print: author enquiry on Brissenden, 11 December.
1992 |
Series 12 Manuscripts of other writers
A collection of other writers manuscripts, some of which were
received by Brooks in his capacity as a reader for publishers.
|
Folder/Item |
|
|
1 |
Carmel Bird
· Woodpecker point: a short story |
|
2 |
R.F. Brissenden
· Sacred sites: poems. Published as Phoenix
review no. 5
Jingling Johnny: a melodrama for different voices.
|
|
3 |
Andrew Burke
- Sitting still flying: poems (1986)
- The family album: poems
- Draft 1 of Mother waits for father late: a family
tale.
|
|
4 |
Richard Deutch
- A Christmas letter to my father
(1992)
- A poem for my father: Christmas, 1992
- The teenager talks to the Virgin
|
|
5-6 |
Five Islands Press Associates/Scarp Productions new poets
publishing program manuscripts sent to Brooks in his capacity as a reader for
the publishers.
- Peter Boyle, Coming home from the world
(1994)
- James Bradley, Paper nautilus (1994)
- Paul Cliff, The wolf problem in Australia
(1994)
- Peta Spear, My sweet sex (1994)
- Beth Spencer, Things in a glass box
(1994)
- Adrian Wiggins, The beggars codex (1994).
|
|
7 |
Philip Hammial
· With one skin less, published by Hale &
Iremonger in 1994. This manuscript was sent to Brooks as he was a reader for
the publisher. |
|
8 |
Poems of Lynn Hard, c.1990;
Kate Llewellyn
· Dear you |
|
9-11 |
Craig Powell
· Rehearsal for dancers: poems 1972-76
· A face in your hands: selected poems
1963-1981
· Selected poems 1964-1988 |
|
12-13 |
Bert Pribac
· Photocopies of Bert Pribacs poems, annotated by
Pribac and Brooks, and papers relating to a proposed anthology of
Australia;
· The beautiful vida and other poems from two
homelands (Canberra, Lapwing Private Press, 1987) |
|
14-16 |
John A. Scott
- Brief early draft and later extended draft of The
apology;
- Zone: a novella (Part 1 of The Lot
Trilogy)
- What I have written
|
|
17 |
Dane Thwaites
· South China: new poems 1989-91 (1991),
received by Brooks in his capacity as a reader for publisher |
|
18 |
Poems by R.F. Brissenden, Alan Gould, Kevin Hart, Philip Mead,
Carolyn van Lagenberg and others. |
Series 13 Thesis, 1974
|
Item |
|
|
1 |
David Brooks, The poetry of Galway Kinnell: a reading of
the first three volumes. Honours thesis, 1974. Kinnell is a Pulitzer
Prize winning poet. |
Box List
|
Box |
Series |
Folder |
|
1 |
1 |
1-6, 8 |
|
2 |
1 |
10, 12-13, 15-16 |
|
3 |
1 |
17-22, 24 |
|
4 |
1 |
25-26, 28-31 |
|
5 |
1 |
33, 35, 37-38 |
|
6 |
1 |
41-42, 44, 46-48 |
|
7 |
1 |
49,51,53,55 |
|
8 |
1 |
57-58,60-62 |
|
9 |
1 |
65, 67, 69-70,72 |
|
10 |
1 |
74,76-78,80 |
|
11 |
1 |
82, 84-88 |
|
12 |
1 |
90, 92, 94, 96 |
|
13 |
1 |
97-103 |
|
14 |
2 |
1-9 |
|
15 |
2 |
10-19 |
|
16 |
3 |
1-10 |
|
17 |
3 |
11-20 |
|
18 |
4 |
1-9 |
|
19 |
4 |
10-14 |
| |
5 |
1-3 |
|
20 |
5 |
5-11 |
|
21 |
5 |
12-18 |
|
22 |
5 |
19-26 |
|
23 |
5 |
27-28 |
| |
6 |
1-8 |
|
24 |
6 |
9-13 |
| |
7 |
1-3 |
|
25 |
7 |
4-12 |
|
26 |
7 |
13-15 |
| |
8 |
1-2 |
|
27 |
8 |
3-4 |
|
28 |
8 |
5-10 |
|
29 |
8 |
11-18 |
|
30 |
9 |
1-10 |
|
31 |
9 |
11-14 |
| |
10 |
1-2,4-6 |
|
32 |
11 |
1-3 |
| |
12 |
1-5 |
|
33 |
12 |
6-12 |
|
34 |
12 |
13-18 |
| |
13 |
1 |
|
35 |
1 |
7,9,11,14,23,27,32,36 |
|
36 |
1 |
40,43,45,50,52,54,56,59 |
|
37 |
1 |
63,66,68,71,73,79,81,83 |
|
38 |
1 |
89,91,93,95 |
|
39 |
1 |
34,39,64,75 |
|
Folio |
5 |
4 |
| |
10 |
3 |
| |
11 |
4-6 |
September 1990
Updated March 2000
Revised December 2005
|