Robert Fitzgerald was born in 1910. He was best known as a translator of ancient Greek and Latin—especially of Homer’s Odyssey (1961) and Iliad (1974) and Virgil’s Aeneid (1984); he also wrote several books of his own poetry. Fitzgerald won the first Bollingen Award for translation in 1961 for his Odyssey. His renderings of the Greek classics were so commonly taught in the twentieth century as to become textual standards.
The collection is particularly rich for its correspondence with poets, editors, translators, publishers, and literary scholars and critics during the middle part of the 20th century. In addition to the correspondence, there are printed versions and drafts of work in all his different modes, along with setting copies and page proofs. There is also a detailed exchange with the French poet and Nobel-winner St. John Perse, whom Fitzgerald translated. Other materials include artwork, family papers, medical and military records, notebooks, photographs, printed ephemera, school records, and teaching and course materials.
A detailed record of the collection is available online: Robert Fitzgerald Papers Collection Guide
I. In Context
Letters from John Berryman (see: 1 June 1954 the 1st letter in the group and 16 August 1970 much later in the group) (VIEW)
Call Number: YCAL MSS 222, Box 4, folder 125 (request)
Letter from Robert Lowell, Dec 1949 (beginning “After Two Readings of the Oedipus” – 3 pages) (VIEW)
Call Number: YCAL MSS 222, Box 24, folder 883 (request)
“Things to Remember” (VIEW)
Call Number: YCAL MSS 222, Box 98, folder 3434 (request)
Lesson plans on Homer (VIEW folder 3427)
Call Number: YCAL MSS 222, Box 98, folder 3427 (request)
Call Number: YCAL MSS 222, Box 98, folder 3432 (request)
II. Translations
Translation of St. John Perse, “Bulletin/Chronicle” in three different versions (VIEW)
Call Number: YCAL MSS 222, Box 69, folder 2443 (request)
Perse (con’t) another version of the same translation with new corrections (VIEW)
Call Number: YCAL MSS 222, Box 69, folder 2444 (request)
Perse (con’t), still another (final?) version of the same translation with new corrections Nov 4, 1960 (VIEW)
Call Number: YCAL MSS 222, Box 69, folder 2445 (request)
Fitzgerald’s Iliad, annotated by Fitts (VIEW)
Call Number: YCAL MSS 222, Box 69, folder 2449 (request)
Fitzgerald’s Iliad (1974), with proofreader’s marks (VIEW)
Call Number: YCAL MSS, 222, Box 69, folder 2450 (request)
III. Correspondence
Dudley Fitts to Robert Fitzgerald, 1942-86 (VIEW)
Some highlights: 29 April 1949 ; 26 Feb 1954; July 1962; “Anapest Fever”; “Pleased as hell”; On Borges translation
YCAL MSS 222, Box 12, folder 453-59
Correspondence with St John Perse about RF’s translation of “Chronicle” (VIEW)
Call Number: YCAL MSS 222, Box 33, folder 1250 (request)
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Mary Barnard | Langston Hughes
Ezra Pound | Louis Zukofsky | Dudley Fitts
The Practice of Literary Translation: Resources
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