Summary Information
Abstract
The Lionel Trilling Papers document the life of author,
professor, and literary critic, Lionel Trilling. This collection contains his
writings, extensive correspondence with other New York intellectuals, personal
documents, and other records concerning his professional activities.
At a Glance
Call No.: | MS#1256 |
Bib ID: | 4079615 View CLIO record |
Creator(s): | Trilling, Lionel, 1905-1975. |
Title: | Lionel Trilling
Papers,
1899-1987
|
Physical description: | 27 linear feet (51 document boxes, 3 index card
boxes)
|
Language(s): | In English.
|
Access: |
This collection is located on-site.
There are two folders in Series IV: Professional Work that contain student grades and
reference letters. These items are
restricted until 2036
and 2040.
More information » |
Arrangement
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in six series and seven subseries.
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Description
Scope and Content
The Lionel Trilling Papers document the professional work and personal life of Lionel
Trilling (1905-1975), the prolific literary critic and Columbia University Professor
of English Literature. This collection was acquired upon his death in 1975.
The bulk of the records consist of his many writings in the form of articles, essays,
lectures, short stories, and book reviews. Correspondence with other prominent
writers and intellectuals of the 20th century, family members, editors and
publishers comprises the second largest series in the collection. Also contained are
records concerning Trilling's work as a professor at Columbia University, as well as
his involvement in various outside professional organizations. There is a small
amount of personal documents and articles about Trilling's life and writings,
including his detailed journals, comprised of his personal thoughts and intellectual
queries.
Some of the items in this collection were originally located in the archives of his
wife, Diana Trilling. Since their personal and professional lives intersected
constantly, records concerning him, such as photographs and correspondence with his
publishers, may be found in her collection as well.
Series I: Personal Papers, 1899-1975
Series I holds some of Lionel Trilling's personal items. This small series
has been arranged into two subseries: Documents and Journals. Academic
records, biographical information, certificates, and other general personal
documents are found in Subseries 1. Subseries 2 contains extensive personal
writings, ranging from the mid-1920s to the end of Trilling's life.
Subseries 1 is arranged by topic, while Subseries 2 is arranged
chronologically. Family and personal photographs are located in Series
V.
Subseries I.1: Documents, 1899-1975
This small subseries is composed of Lionel Trilling’s personal items.
Academic records, such as report cards from Columbia, the DeWitt Clinton
High School yearbook and other publications featuring Trilling as a
student, and essays written for his English classes at Columbia are
found here. Other personal documents include a representative sample of
his appointment books, a copy of the Trillings’ marriage license, early
poems written for family members, several passports, and birth and death
certificates. There are also a few items belonging to his mother, Fannie
Trilling.
Subseries I.2: Journals, 1926-1975
Trilling recalled his daily activities, including classes taught, events
observed, and conversations conducted with colleagues, friends and
family members. However, the journals are not limited to narrative.
Trilling also jotted down hypotheses concerning life, literature, and,
in particular, the relationship between men and women, as well as
potential stories and essays. These diatribes ranged from the merely
observant: "Is it a terrible struggle for a bird to fly? Has he always
the imminent panic of falling?" to the profoundly theoretical:
"There is one thing the world has immediate need of: I thought once it
was a new religion but it is not that: it is that someone should ask a
great thundering question-someone should ask it or the very earth should
shout it, and the attentions of all to be turned to answer. We could not
stand the certainty of a faith, I think. It is not at all necessary that
the question be answered or answerable; it is only necessary that it be
formulated and valid. But probably this is even more naively an
impossible desire than for a new faith. What if I had only one question
to answer?"
And, occasionally, to the very personal:
"Why do I so easily forget, and remember with so much surprise that one
of the most intense and most un[scribbled word]edly passionate
experiences I have had is the light of a scarlet leaved tree and that a
flower can delight me? Why am I a little embarrassed to record this for
myself?"
Some of the journal entries have annotations that appear to have been
added a later date by Diana Trilling. These notes clarify names or
provide context for some of the entries. Some of the journals are
clearly dated, albeit inconsistently, while others have approximated
dates.
Series II: Correspondence, 1900-1983
Series II holds Lionel Trilling's personal and professional correspondence.
These letters were sent between Trilling and family members, colleagues at
Columbia University and outside of the institution, contacts at publishing
houses, and friends. This series is the largest in the collection and along
with the writings, illuminates some of Trilling's opinions of other writers,
developing literary trends, and the changing political situation, in
particular World War II and the rise of social justice organizations in the
1960s. However, much of the correspondence consists of requests for Trilling
to lecture, review new literary texts and give recommendations to former
students and colleagues.
The series has been arranged into two subseries: Alphabetical, by name or by
topic, and Chronological. This collection was processed according to earlier
manuscript processing standards followed; therefore letters of "significant"
individuals were removed from their place within a loose chronological order
and arranged alphabetically. Although this collection has been reprocessed
and newly donated material has been integrated, the two systems of
arrangement have been maintained since the original order is not clear.
Subseries II.1 Alphabetical, 1900-1983
Subseries 1 is comprised of letters received by Trilling from his
friends, family members, and business colleagues. Subjects covered
ranged a variety of issues. Often Trilling debated current events with
his colleagues, like an exchange concerning affirmative action with
Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Many prominent writers may be found here such
as Allen Ginsberg, who maintained a long correspondence with Trilling
and often included drafts and ideas for poems in his letters, E.M.
Forster, Robert Penn Warren (who Trilling affectionately referred to as
"Red"), Saul Bellow, and e.e. cummings. In addition, there are long
exchanges with John Crowe Ransom, with whom Trilling founded the School
of English at Kenyon College, Henry Rosenthal, one of Trilling's oldest
and closest friends, and Columbia History professor, Jacques Barzun who,
along with being a close friend of Lionel Trilling, co-taught
interdisciplinary courses with him. Letters from publishers, in
particular Oxford University Press, Harvard University Press, and Viking
Press illustrate the variety of professional literary relationships
Trilling cultivated.
Family correspondence is available with the following individuals: James
Trilling, Diana Trilling, Fannie Trilling (mother), David Trilling
(father), Harriet Schwartz (sister), and Hyman Trilling (uncle). In
general there is very little correspondence of this nature within the
collection.
Subseries II.2: Chronological, 1925-1976
Letters held in Subseries 2 are similar in nature to those in Subseries
1. Correspondents include colleagues, publishers, personal friends, and
students from Columbia University. Records concerning the Kenyon
Institute, in particular the founding, the initial proposal, annual
budget, and mission statement are found in January 1947. These letters
are between Trilling, and fellow founders F.O. Matthieson and John
Ransom. Many of the letters consist of requests to lecture at various
academic institutions or to offer opinions of unpublished manuscripts.
There are also letters from current and former students, many of whom
were soldiers serving in Europe during World War II.
Series III: Writings, 1925-1975
This series is the second largest in the collection and contains Lionel
Trilling's extensive writings. The texts span his entire career and cover a
variety of intellectual, cultural, and personal subjects. Many of the texts
have accompanying annotations written by Trilling. These notations
illustrate his creative process and provide insight in the way he crafted
his writing. The series has been arranged into three subseries based upon
the original order of the papers. The subseries are: Manuscripts and Papers,
Articles, and Reviews.
Subseries III.1: Manuscripts and Papers, 1931-1975
This subseries is composed of drafts of Lionel Trilling's longer
writings, in the form of manuscripts, academic papers, lectures, and
essays. In terms of manuscripts, there are drafts of
Beyond Culture, The Liberal Imagination,
and
Sincerity and Authenticity. The Middle of the
Journey
is present in many versions that are each
substantially unique. Other papers held in this subseries include
lectures given at numerous institutions such as the 92nd Street YMWHA
and the Aspen Film Conference, as well as acceptance speeches for
various honors received, afterwards and forewords to other individual's
writings, essays concerning literary and cultural events and selected
book reviews. These reviews have been maintained within the subseries
rather than separated into Subseries 3 in order to preserve the original
order. Some of the drafts have descriptive notes written by Diana
Trilling in which she compares the text in its draft form to a later
published or rewritten version.
Subseries III.2: Articles and Essays, 1925-1974
Subseries 2 is comprised of shorter pieces of texts, some of which have
been published in journals and magazines. Few of these exist in multiple
draft form. This subseries is arranged by topic and includes articles on
cultural and literary events, book reviews from journals such as
The New York Times Book Review, Partisan Review,
and
The Nation,
letters to the
editor, and published essays that are organized by journal title. Some
notable titles include
The Griffin,
a
journal that was published by The Readers' Subscription a group whose
board members were Trilling, W.H. Auden, and Jacques Barzun,
Commentary,
and
Menorah Journal.
Of interest is a small sample of
Trilling's writings that were translated into other languages or
published in other countries.
Subseries III.3: Notes, 1952-1974
Notes used for lectures at Columbia University and other institutions are
held in Subseries 3. These lecture notes are arranged by topic and cover
subjects such as Russian and American Literature, Jane Austen, Rudyard
Kiping, William Wordsworth and Keats. There are also a large number of
notes Trilling used for his Comparative Literature Course. In addition,
there are three card files holding topical notes on authors and literary
works that Trilling often wrote about.
Series IV: Professional Work, 1926-1987
The records in Series IV document Trilling's professional career as a
professor of Literature, a literary critic, and a commentator on the
changing political and cultural landscape of the United States. Included in
this series are accolades, such as honorary degrees, awards, and grants
received as well as meeting minutes and notices from professional
organizations that Trilling was a member of. Columbia University records,
such as committee correspondence and reports, course syllabi and attendance
lists. This series is arranged by topic.
Series V: Photographs, 1905-1963
This small series holds photographs of Lionel Trilling, select friends, and
several family members. Identified individuals include Lionel Trilling as
both a youth and adult, his Uncle Hyman, his mother, Fannie Trilling, and
Jacques Barzun. The majority of the family photographs were bequeathed to
James Trilling and not included in the donation of this archive. For more
photographs, please see the Diana Trilling Papers housed at the RBML at
Columbia University.
Series VI: Realia, 1905-1971
Series VI contains personal memorabilia such as the baby shoes of Lionel
Trilling and his sister, Harriet Schwartz, as well as some academic medals
that he won while at High School and The Alexander Hamilton Award that he
was given from Columbia University
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Using the Collection
RBML
Access Restrictions
This collection is located on-site.
There are two folders in Series IV: Professional Work that contain student grades and
reference letters. These items are
restricted until 2036
and 2040.
Restrictions on Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material
from the collection must be requested from the Curator of Manuscripts/University
Archivist, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML). The RBML approves permission to
publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright
permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Lionel Trilling Papers, Box and
Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Related Material
Diana Trilling Papers, 1921-1996
Columbia University.Rare Book and Manuscript Library
MS#1421
http:www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_6259383/index.html
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About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries. Rare Book and
Manuscript Library; machine readable finding aid created by Columbia University
Libraries Digital Library Program Division
Processing Information
Collection reprocessed in July 2007 by Lea Osborne.
Machine readable finding aid generated from MARC-AMC source via XSLT
conversion December 2, 2008
Finding aid written in English.
2008-12-31
xml document instance created by Patrick Lawlor
2009-04-27
Revised by Lea Osborne
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Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Genre/Form
Subjects
Heading | CUL Archives: Portal | CUL Collections: CLIO | Nat'l / Int'l Archives: ArchiveGRID |
---|
American literature--20th century. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Authors, American--20th century. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Barzun, Jacques, 1907- | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
College teachers as authors--New York (State)--New York. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
College teachers. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Columbia University. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Criticism--United States. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Critics. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Ginsberg, Allen, 1926-1997. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Literary quarrels. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Ransom, John Crowe, 1888-1974. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Trilling, Diana. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
Van Doren, Mark, 1894-1972. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
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History / Biographical Note
Biographical Note
Lionel Trilling was an intellectual force in the New York
literary and political scene throughout much of the 20th Century. A prolific writer,
Trilling published literary criticism and cultural commentaries in journals such as
The Nation, Commentary, The New York Times, The New York
Times Book Review,
and
The Menorah Journal.
Some of these publications were created by Trilling's colleagues, a group of
left-leaning, Anti-Stalinist critics and theorists the New York Intellectuals like
Daniel Bell, Irving Howe, Alfred Kazin, and Sidney Hook. These individuals were
predominantly Jewish men who established themselves as a kind of “American
Bloomsbury” to quote Columbia University professor of journalism Nicholas Lemann.
Outside of his writing, Trilling was a popular and respected professor of English
Literature at Columbia University. Together, with historian Jacques Barzun, Trilling
helped to establish some of the core interdisciplinary classes that were vital to
the growth and development of Columbia as a competitive academic environment.
Lionel M. Trilling was born on July 4, 1905 in New York
City to businessman David W. Trilling and his wife Fannie (neé Cohen). As a child,
Trilling attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx where he was a colleague
of Countee Cullen. At school Trilling participated as a member of the Book Review
Squad, the Reporters Squad, and president of Papyrus. He also wrote for the school
publication,
Magpie
as well as co-authored a class
play. In 1921 Lionel Trilling entered Columbia University, an institution that was
to be his intellectual home for the rest of his life. Trilling graduated from
Columbia with his A.B. in 1925 and his M.A. in 1926. For the next eleven years
Trilling worked toward a doctorate in English Literature. However, this path was
interrupted by work. He did not complete the Ph.D. until 1938.
Trilling left New York to be an Instructor of English at
the University of Wisconsin from 1926 to 1927. Upon his return, Trilling began to
date a recent Radcliffe graduate named Diana Rubin. Rubin was also a New Yorker,
having been brought up in Manhattan. She briefly worked with her mother, Cecelia, as
an interior designer while she pursued a career as a classical singer. Illness
forced Rubin to abandon that goal. She and Lionel married on October 25, 1929.
A couple of years later, Trilling began teaching at
Columbia University. His initial position was as an instructor and in 1939 he was
made an assistant professor. From 1939 until 1944 he held this position and was
promoted in 1944 to associate professor. Trilling was the first Jewish professor in
the department to receive tenure. Throughout his career, Trilling was extremely
involved with his undergraduate students. Along with his colleague and close friend,
Jacques Barzun, Trilling reinstated a series of interdisciplinary or “general
education” courses. With Barzun, Trilling taught a portion of the course entitled,
Colloquium on Important Books, in which he covered cultural history and criticism of
the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1969, Trilling was given the title of University
Professor, a post he held until his retirement from teaching in 1975.
Although he was an active faculty member, Trilling
published quite regularly. His dissertation,
Matthew Arnold,
was published a year after he completed the degree. This was followed by
another study,
E.M. Forster
in 1943. Other
publications include a novel,
The Middle of the
Journey
(1949), several volumes of short stories; the most well-known of
these is
Of This Time, Of That Place
(1940). However,
Trilling is best known for his collections of critical essays, in particular
The Liberal Imagination
(1950),
The Opposing Self
(1955), and
Beyond Culture
(1965). Trilling was interested in Sigmund Freud as a cultural icon as well
as using Freudian psychology in the analysis of literature. Two books that focused
on these themes were
Freud and the Crisis of Our
Culture
(1955) and
The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud
(1962). Please note that Trilling's writings encompassed decades of work and
that countless bibliographies have been attempted and often abandoned due to the
sheer size of his oeuvre.
Trilling did not spend all of his time strictly at
Columbia. He was a founder, with John Crowe Ransom and F.O. Matthiessen, of the
Kenyon School of Letters, now referred to as The School of Letters, Indiana
University. Beginning in 1951 as a summer program, the school expanded to a
full-year program in 1961, with a focus on literary theory and criticism.
Information concerning The School of Letters may be found in the Indiana University
School of Letters Director's Records finding aid located in the Indiana University
Archives.
Throughout his life, Lionel Trilling maintained a high
level of professional achievement and this was reflected in the many academic
accolades he received. He served as the George Eastman Visiting Professor at Oxford
University from 1964-1965. There, Trilling lectured at the university and other
academic and intellectual institutions as well as taught classes. He was accompanied
by Diana Trilling who, by this time, had firmly established herself as a serious
literary and cultural critic and penned for a variety of journals, including
Partisan Review, The New York Times Book Review, Redbook, The
Nation, The New Leader,
and
McCall's.
She
had also recently published a book entitled,
Claremont
Essays.
They were joined by their son, James Lionel Trilling. He was
born in 1949 and at that point was a student at Exeter.
Four years later, Trilling was the Charles Eliot Norton
Visiting Professor at Harvard University. In addition to these two positions, he
held honorary doctorates from Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut (1955),
Harvard University (1962), Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio (1968),
Northwestern University (1963), Leicester University (1973), Brandeis University
(1974) and Yale University (1974). Trilling was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Medal
from Brandeis University in 1968 and gave the first annual Jefferson Lecture for the
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 1972. He was a Guggenheim Fellow from
1948 to 1949 and received a second grant that he was unable to use in 1975.
While he was active in his field, Trilling was a member of
the Modern Language Association, the American Committee for Cultural Freedom of
which both he and Diana Trilling resigned once the organization redirected its
mission, The National Institute of Arts and Letters, and The American Academy of
Arts and Sciences.
As the 1960s unfolded, student unrest grew on American
campuses, in particular Kent State and Columbia University. Although Trilling was
teaching at that time, he, like most members of the faculty, was unaware of the
growing dissatisfaction among the students and the community of Harlem. Always
considered a driving force behind New York intellectualism, he would later be
criticized for never publicly recognizing the importance of the social movements
that occurred during the decade as well as the racial components that were driving
the majority of them.
Upon his retirement from Columbia, Trilling was awarded the
title of Professor Emeritus. Shortly after, he was taken ill with a fast moving form
of cancer that had progressed undetected for too long. By November of that year, he
had died. Diana Trilling published a twelve-volume set of his writings from 1977 to
1979. She also wrote
The Beginning of the Journey: The
Marriage of Diana and Lionel Trilling,
a memoir of the first years of
their life together. Diana Trilling died of cancer in October of 1996.
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