Fil Lewitt (Brown 1963) literary papers (MS.2015.021)

This collection contains the products of Fil Lewitt's literary career as a poet, novelist and professor of literature and creative writing.

Series 1. Academic Credentials. This series contains the diplomas and certificates Lewitt earned from academic institutions.

Series 2. Articles - published. Published articles related to the topics of poetry and the writing process.

Series 3. Diaries. His diaries record his experiences and are often introspective. They were written primarily during his travels in the United States, Europe and Asia. The notebook titled Talking in Two Worlds is both a diary and a poetry notebook. Many of the volumes include original sketches and drawings. The book titled Book 1A - Kyoto contains descriptions of Lewitt's meeting with Gary Snyder and Rams Dass and an original letter from Gary Snyder to Lewitt written in 1994.

Series 4. Dissertation. A copy of Lewitt's Ph.D. dissertation for Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 1984.

Series 5. Essays. This includes an essay written during his PhD program about Shakespeare's sonnets, a book review and an essay on a talk by Ram Dass in 1994 that Lewitt attended.

Series 6. Novel. This is the manuscript copy for his novel titled Tight published in 2008.

Series 7. Poetry - published. This series includes poetry published in journals and a copy of his published work Sweet Sweet Cold : Sonnets from Siam.

Series 8. Poetry compilations - manuscript and Series 9. Poetry compilations - typescript contain his poetry in his original manuscripts notebooks and as typed copies. Many of the poems are accompanied by his original sketches and drawings.

Series 10. Literary papers and photographs - electronic copies This is a DVD disk containing his literary works and photographs of his life and family (2 copies). The subseries listed in this series are the titles of the folders on the disk as Lewitt organized them. The disk contains drafts and final versions of his books and poetry; the computer applications he was using to create and publish his books; photographs and designs for the buildings he has lived in and built in California, Japan, and Thailand; photographs of him throughout his life and travels, his family, and his wife Tomomi Maeda; and poetry and prose by other writers that he admires. Access to these materials is available upon request to the Special Collections department at the John Hay Library, Brown University.