Letter from Douglas March 1983

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"Oklahoma Baptist University ABU March 15, 1983 Dear Jim, I am beginning to believe in some sort of mental telepathy regarding our communication. I have spent the past two days working on our department's new word processor, writing a paper entitled ""James Emanuel: Negro Poet to Earth—Citizen” for the Popular Culture Association conference in April in Wichita KS. This afternoon I finished the piece in its draft form, typed in the command to print it out on a line printer in the library, then walked by the campus post office on my way to the library to pick up the copy. What should I find in my box but your note of the 10th. You have been on my mind much lately, and not just because of the paper. I have been intending to write, to find out if your plans to be back at City College for this year and next had materialized, My interim class in January (a course in Black literature focused primarily on Richard Wright) read your book A Chisel in the Dark, Also, I have had inquiry within the week about the copy of the manuscript which the Hubbell Center had sent me as I prepared to do the DLB essay. What I told the people at Duke is what I must tell you: the work on the DLB volume has been very slow; apparently the editors have had delays (of choice or of necessity, I do not know) in preparing final copy, I had a promise of a proof text of the essay a month ago, but have not yet received it. Neither have I had much luck in getting them to respond to my. inquiries So, I am waiting, and I hope that the book is done soon. I receive with sorrow the news of your son’s death. Your poetic record of his childhood and adolescence will stand as a tribute to him, but cannot, alas, bring him back or undo the wrongs committed against him and thousands of other young black men and women. I look forward to seeing A Poet’s Mind. I will also b e looking for the Burroughs book. Are the poems in it new ones? When I wrote you last, I declined to look at your current poems in order to retain a frame for my comments in the DLB essay. Since beginning the project, I have wondered about the feasability of a longer, perhaps book--length study of your poetic life (to include, of course, the early years). I still am very interested in pursuing such a project, though the form it would take is still rather hazy in my mind. If you are interested in such a thing, perhaps we could talk about it before too long. I may be in Connecticut for the summer, and that could offer a chance for us to meet and talk about it. Always, Doug Department of English (405) 275-2850 Shawnee, OK 74801 "

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Typed letter from Douglas Watson to James Emanuel, dated March 15, 1983. Watson updates Emanuel on the progress of DLB's publication. He also offers condolences for the death of Emauel's son, James.

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Download image “Letter from Douglas March 1983”
  • type
    Image
  • created on
  • file format
    jpg
  • file size
    19 MB
  • container title
    James A. Emanuel Papers
  • creator
    Douglas Watson
  • issue
    Box 4 Folder 7, Watson, Douglas, 1981-1993
  • rights
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • rights holder
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • version
    1983