H05021 GERBER/DAVIS BIBLIOGRAPHY - 3/18/05 - HARDY FORUM ARCHIVES ____________________________________________________________________________
From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: Re: The Gerber Davis Bibliography
Date: March 18, 2005 6:54:02 PM PST
Greetings All -
A message to say that I've just finished uploading, to TTHA MEMBERS' PAGE, the 1930s decade of the Gerber-Davis Annotated Bibliography (approx 500 entries for the 1930s).
We now have 3 decades to go and then the full 2 volumes of thousands of entries will be online. Please note that the Bibliography includes annotated/translated data from Italian, French and German publications.
Grateful thanks to Eugene Davis for making my task much lighter - helping with the html! Warm thank to you Gene!.
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With every good wish,
Rosemarie
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These are random samples out of the 500.
1528 Scripture, E. W. "Versformeln und Betonungsprinzipien bei Hardy und Kipling" (Verse Forms and Accentual 930Principles in Hardy and Kipling), Neueren Sprachen, XXXVIII (Feb 1930), 122-26. Since "the verse forms [a poet uses] are expressions of the unconscious inner life," it is natural that those of Kipling and H differ sharply. H wrote [in response to Scripture], " 'In respect of the questions [you asked] I regret to say that I am unable to answer them and can only suggest in a general way that I write poems because I cannot help it.' " [In German.]
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1534 Stanley, Charleton Wellesley. "The Poetry of Thomas Hardy," Nineteenth Century and After, CVIII (Aug 1930), 266-80.
H's poetic corpus is larger than Tennyson's, but H_"one of the great English poets"_is unrecognized by the critics because he can't be conveniently pigeonholed. Aside from The Dynasts, H's work is predominantly lyrical in form. The predominant theme is death_but many poems are also humorous. There are many fine dramatic and narrative poems also. In style, subject and form, H has immense variety. Dynasts is a "completely new and original work of art" because H is the first poet to use the ideas of nineteenth-century science. In originality, H can only be compared to Lucretius, but H has a humanity the Roman lacks.
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RM-- strikes me that there is much more research to be done on Hardy and Science
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1539 Untermeyer, Louis (ed). "Thomas Hardy," Modern British Poetry, 3rd rvd ed (NY: Harcourt, Brace, [ca. 1930]), pp. 128-45.
H was no pessimist: "actually the poet was an unorthodox moralist whose heart went out to the things, people and elements he loved." H denied no God but sensed design in chaos. His poetic resources are seemingly endless. He commanded an unusually wide variety of poetic moods, personae, and meters.
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1550 Compton, Charles H. "Who Reads Thomas Hardy?" Journal of Adult Education, III (Jan 1931), 72-76; rptd, with additions, in Who Reads What? (NY: Wilson, 1935), pp. 35-52.
A survey by the St. Louis Public Library reveals that H is read by blue- and white-collar workers as well as professionals. Of all occupational groups, more stenographers had read H than any other group_the stenographers preferred Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Bookkeepers preferred The Return of the Native, and Far From the Madding Crowd was the most popular novel among builders and painters, A Pair of Blue Eyes among the hairdressers, and Under the Greenwood Tree among unskilled workers. The preferences were about the same for doctors and lawyers, and icemen and janitors alike. The comments reprinted from some of those surveyed indicate that H's popularity stems from his sympathetic understanding of the human situation.
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RM: J. A. E would seem to be useful material for anyone working on Hardy and his Readers.
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From: fsiedow@omniglobal.net
Subject: Re: Gerber Davis Bibliog. - responses
Date: March 22, 2005 4:23:51 PM PST
Hi, Rosemarie: Boy!, you surely are doing a monumental job -- I for one appreciate your efforts, even if I don't use that very much. I suppose if I try to carry my little project farther, I will have to start digging into some of those ref's. Which ones I have no clue, or even how to start!
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From: fsiedow@omniglobal.net
Subject: Re: The Gerber Davis Bibliography
Date: March 22, 2005 4:37:29 PM PST
Dear Mr. Davis: KUDOs to you! for this mammoth task. I have a silly question, if you have time to reply -- I presume you two had to read all of those hundreds of books, articles, or whatever, then think about 'em, formulate annotations, etc, -- is that true? It seems that would take at least several years; is that true? Or, how did you do it? And does the Lib. of Congr. have all that much on Hardy, or just american? Did you have to go to England, etc.?
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From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu
Subject: Re: Gerber Davis Bibliog. - responses
Date: March 22, 2005 8:13:22 PM PST
Fred -- think MOLE!
Just get digging and scoop out those deep piles of good earth!
WE -- none of us-- ever knows where to start!
But like Christopher Columbus ( and he didn't start off right either ) we do hope to reach a significant destination.
Keep Going Fred!
Besties
Rosemarie
PS Sorry I didn't answer all your questions. As for research -- if it's such a chore (and not a passion) you should chuck it and keep bees.
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From: edavis149@comcast.net
Subject: Genesis of the Hardy Bibliography
Date: March 24, 2005 1:54:57 PM PST
Dear Fred,
Your question about how the Thomas Hardy bibliography came about is certainly apropos. As you may know, I am in the middle of working with Rosemarie Morgan to prepare the "bibli" for the Association website. Consequently much of my time is taken up with rereading the abstracts (over 3,000 of 'em) as I scan for errors. This routine but stimulating activity in turn causes me to think back to the genesis of the bibliography, and the many colleagues and friends who were involved with me and Professor Helmut E. (Hal) Gerber in its creation.
By the way, you may be interested in the process we use to recreate the bulky volume (it runs to about 825 pages) as a series of web pages. I first scanned all the pages to create several PDF (or optical image) files, then converted each one to HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) files to make them compatible with the website; I then reformatted and corrected errors introduced by the OCR (optical character recognition) software. A few of the errors I found I admit I couldn't blame on OCR! I then sent the files to Rosemarie for final editing and uploading to the website. I must admit that we groped our way to this procedure. Rosemarie and I suffered computer anguish over the first few batches we prepared.
Now, to your questions. No, Hal and I did not read all the books and articles and then produce the abstracts. Had we tried to do so the bibli would not yet be published. This was Hal's project before I joined forces with him in 1967. The Contributors Page lists 28 souls who made very significant contributions-in the form of abstracts plus accurate bibliographical information. There were, however, many others who helped. In all, I'd estimate that 75 to 100 Hardy scholars, students, and enthusiasts-without-portfolio collaborated in the making of the volume. We did, of course, read and check all the abstracts.
The bibliography project was already well along in 1967. We had enlisted many contributors at American universities, but also several in foreign countries (Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy) who tracked down books and articles which would have been out of our reach here. During a sabbatical in 1969-70 I ransacked the British Library for Hardy items that had eluded us in the States.
Upon my return, Hal and I set aside other projects to complete the bibliography. Our publisher, Northern Illinois University Press, was eager to have it, but final checking of the typescript and preparation of the five indexes kept us occupied throughout 1971. Reading galley proofs took much of the spring and summer of the next year. The volume was published in 1973. How long did it take to complete? I don't know exactly when Hal began compiling Hardy material or recruiting annotators, but 1963 seems about right; so from conception to publication, about ten years.
Thank you for your question! Answering it has prompted many good memories of times spent in dusty, aromatic archives, reading proofs with Hal and others and making research trips to libraries here and abroad.
Cordially,
W. Eugene Davis
Professor Emeritus, Purdue University
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