The Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, has acquired the archive of novelist and short-story writer Tom Coraghessan "T. C." Boyle, author of such acclaimed works as The Tortilla Curtain (1995) and World's End (1987). Spanning more than 30 years, from the 1970s through the present, the archive covers the breadth of Boyle's prolific career.
"I am very pleased and honored to have my papers safely ensconced at the Ransom Center so that they may be preserved and made available to scholars," said Boyle. "With such an archive, there is always the danger of damage or even destruction, especially when the papers are stored in filing cabinets and cardboard boxes in the basement of a very old house. I am vastly relieved to know that they are now safe."
Boyle is the author of 22 books of fiction, and his short stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Esquire, Harper's, McSweeney's, and The New Yorker. He was awarded the PEN/Faulkner Prize for best novel of the year in 1988 for World's End and the PEN/Malamud Prize in 1999 for T. C. Boyle Stories (1998). Boyle is currently a professor of English at the University of Southern California.
The collection includes manuscripts, correspondence, professional files and teaching material. Nearly every published title is represented by a binder of manuscript notes, research material, drafts and proofs. Also included are about 140 short-story files.
If you're in Austin, don't miss the chance to see Boyle at BookPeople on March 19.
Image: File folder with notes for The Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle.
Elana Estrin is a features writer at the Harry Ransom Center.