Matthew Bruccoli Research Collection on John O'Hara
- Author:
- Bruccoli, Matthew J. (Matthew Joseph), 1931-2008
- Published:
- 1893-1984.
- Physical Description:
- 13.84 Cubic ft. (4 items)
- Restrictions on Access:
- Collection is open for research.
- Subject(s):
- Genre(s):
- Note:
- The Matthew Bruccoli Research Collection on John O'Hara dates from 1893 to 1984 and measures 13.81 cubic feet with an additional 4 audio CDs. The collection documents over twenty years of Bruccoli's research about John O'Hara in preparation for his biography, The O'Hara Concern (1975) and three related books, John O'Hara: A Checklist (1972), Selected Letters of John O'Hara, (1978) and a book of unpublished John O'Hara works, An Artist is His Own Fault (1977). This collection includes copies of O'Hara's unpublished letters and writings, his published articles, stories, and commentary, and reviews about them. Subject files document O'Hara's interests, works, places of residence, and business and social acquaintances. The collection also includes Bruccoli's correspondence and/or interviews with O'Hara, his family, and colleagues. These materials, accompanied by Bruccoli's manuscripts and galleys document the research, writing, and publication of a comprehensive biographical project on a major 20th century writer.
- Preferred Citation:
- Matthew Bruccoli Research Collection on John O'Hara, #09128, Special Collections Library, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
- Terms of Use and Reproduction:
- Copyright is retained by the creators of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
- Source of Acquisition:
- Gift of Matthew Bruccoli.
- Administrative History:
- Matthew Bruccoli (1931-2008) was born in New York City and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1949. In 1953, he received a bachelor's degree from Yale where he majored in literature, studying F. Scott Fitzgerald. He continued his research about Fitzgerald through his graduate work at the University of Virginia where his thesis project on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Basic Duke Stories and dissertation on the composition of Tender Is the Night contributed to his master's degree (1956) and doctorate (1961). During these years, he initiated and edited a scholarly forum for Fitzgerald readers published from 1958 to 1968 as the "Fitzgerald Newsletter." Bruccoli began his teaching career at Ohio State University in 1961 as an assistant professor, becoming an associate professor (1963) and full professor (1965) within four years. He remained in Ohio until 1969 when he joined the University of South Carolina faculty as a professor in the English Department. There, in 1976, he was named the "Emily Brown Jefferies Distinguished Professor of English," a chair he held until his retirement in 2005. In addition to his works on F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bruccoli also researched and authored books on other authors such as Ernest Hemingway and John O'Hara. He tried to kindle scholarly interest in John O'Hara by publishing four book about him, and sought to remove what he considered misconceptions about him and his works. The O'Hara Concern was considered a judicial and analytical, if somewhat overly favorable, account of an author/writer who was considered extremely controversial during his career. The book resulted from more than 20 years of research on John O'Hara's personal and professional life. From Bruccoli's numerous correspondence and interviews with many of O'Hara's family members, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, Bruccoli crafted an informative account of O'Hara's conflicting personality--his alcoholism and womanizing, as well as his unforgiving and vindictive traits. At the same time, the biography presents a portrait of a gentle, devoted, and kind father and husband. While exposing O' Hara's overriding desire to receive similar awards and recognitions offered to his contemporaries like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemmingway, this biography is an honest, if friendly account of O' Hara as an individual. Bruccoli's biography received mixed reviews from leading newspapers and magazines. Time and the New York Times criticized Bruccoli's account as overly positive, even protective of O'Hara's reputation. The Philadelphia Inquirer, on the other hand, praised Bruccoli's account, and called it the "first good biography" on Pennsylvania's native son, John O'Hara. Brucolli set a formidable record of writing, editing, and publishing during his career. He authored more than fifty books on F. Scott Fitzgerald and other literary personalities including John O'Hara, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe. In addition to writing, he served at various times as a general editor for the Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Crosscurrents Modern Critiques New Series, the Lost American Fiction Series, the Screenplay Library Series, the Understanding Contemporary American Literature series, and the Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography for which he also authored eleven of the thirty-six volumes in the series.
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