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Larry Eigner Collection

 Collection — Box: VMF 4, Folder: 12
Identifier: MS-VMF-vmf045

Poem drafts and correspondence from Larry Eigner.

Dates

  • Creation: 1970-1971

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Conditions Governing Use

Users of the collection must read and agree to abide by the rules and procedures set forth in the Materials Use Policies.

Providing access to materials does not constitute permission to publish or otherwise authorize use. All publication not covered by fair use or other exceptions is restricted to those who have permission of the copyright holder, which may or may not be Washington University.

If you wish to publish or license Special Collections materials, please contact Special Collections to inquire about copyright status at (314) 935-5495 or spec@wumail.wustl.edu. (Publish means quotation in whole or in part in seminar or term papers, theses or dissertations, journal articles, monographs, books, digital forms, photographs, images, dramatic presentations, transcriptions, or any other form prepared for a limited or general public.)

Extent

19.00 items

1 folders

Biographical Information

Laurence Joel Eigner (August 7, 1927 – February 3, 1996) was an American poet and one of the lesser known Black Mountain poets, although he was influential among the next generation's Language poets.  Highlighting Eigner's influence on the "Language School" of poetry, his work often appeared in the journal L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, and was featured on the front page of its inaugural issue in February 1978.  During his lifetime, Eigner wrote dozens of books and published poems in more than 100 magazines and collections.

Eigner was critically palsied as a result of a bungled forceps delivery at birth and he spent most of his life in bed or in a wheelchair. Eigner grew up in Swampscott, Massachusetts. His parents believed that he was incapable of language until he taught himself to use a typewriter in his teens. As he matured into an artist, Eigner overcame many physical obstacles and limitations to achieve a mastery over the material text, producing his typescripts on a 1940 Royal manual typewriter using only his right index finger and thumb.

Eigner authored more than 40 books, among them From the Sustaining Air (1953), Another Time in Fragments (1967), Country/Harbor/Quiet/Act/Around-selected prose (1978), and Waters/Places/a Time (1983). His work appeared in well over a hundred magazines and collections, most notably Origin, The Black Mountain Review, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, and in Don Allen's anthology The New American Poetry.  In 2010, Stanford University Press published The Collected Poems of Larry Eigner, Volumes 1–4 (Vol. I: 1937–1958; Vol. II: 1958–1966; Vol. III: 1966–1978; Vol. IV: 1978–1995). The four volumes were edited by Robert Grenier and Curtis Faville.  Larry Eigner died from pneumonia and other complications on February 3, 1996.

Method of Acquisition

Accession number 1252, Gift of Larry Eigner, 1971 February 5

Accession number 1309, Gift of Larry Eigner and William Matheson, 1971 October 20

Accession number 1828, Gift of Larry Eigner, 1990 March 16

Processing Information

Processed March and December 1971 by Holly Hall

Title
Larry Eigner Collection
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
eng

Revision Statements

  • 2021 February 24: Resource record updated in ArchiveSpace by Sarah Schnuriger.

Collecting Area Details

Part of the Manuscripts Collecting Area

Contact:
Joel Minor
Olin Library, 1 Brookings Drive
MSC 1061-141-B
St. Louis MO 63130 US
(314) 935-5495