Scope and arrangement
The Vivian Gornick papers, dated 1965 to 2021, illustrate her writing process and wide-ranging literary output after leaving The Village Voice. Gornick's papers contain files related to her book projects and short works, which include annotated and emended typescript drafts, notes, research files, proofs, reviews, and both professional and personal correspondence. The collection also holds some interviews and reviews about Gornick and her work. The materials are arranged into four groups: Books, Short Works, Interviews, and Personal Correspondence. Each grouping is arranged chronologically.
The Books files include research notes, rough chapter outlines, interview profiles, reader reports, drafts, and reviews. Some of the titles represented in the collection include The Romance of American Communism (1977); Fierce Attachments: A Memoir (1987); and Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader (2020). Drafts related to the 2009 reissue of Women in Science and the 2020 reissue of The Romance of American Communism are also present.
Short Works include the research notes and annotated drafts of critical essays and book reviews. Gornick has written for a variety of publications, including The Los Angeles Times; Boston Review; The Nation; and The New York Review of Books. Essays of note include "Reawakened Rage" (2017), about the #MeToo movement; "Why Some of Us Thrive in a Crisis" (2020), about the COVID-19 pandemic; and a response to Down Girl by Kate Manne, entitled "The Logic of Misogyny" (2016). Also of note is the original typescript of Gornick's first published piece, "The Press of Freedom: An Ofay's Indirect Address to LeRoi Jones," published in The Village Voice in 1965. Reviews of books by Lawrence Friedman, James Salter, Mary Norris, and Susie Linfield are included, as are critical essays on the works of Willa Cather, Alfred Hayes, and Simone de Beauvoir.
The Interviews files focus on Gornick as the subject, and illuminate her thoughts on a variety of topics, including feminism, the craft of writing, and the process of self-discipline. The materials are comprised of transcripts; draft manuscripts with annotations and corrections by Gornick; final published pieces; and correspondence between Gornick and interviewers. The interviews appear in Paris Review, The Believer, and New Statesman.
Personal Correspondence consists of incoming social letters from friends and business associates. Some correspondents also discuss contemporary publications by Gornick.
Arrangement
The materials are arranged into four groupings: Books, Short Works, Interviews, and Personal Correspondence, and are presented in chronological order.