Archives Online at Indiana University

View options:

Search within this document:

 

Want to learn more?

  • Do you have a question about this collection?
  • Would you like to view the original items in this collection?
  • Are you seeking permission to publish or reproduce items in this collection?

Please contact the holding repository: Lilly Library, IU Bloomington

Email: liblilly@indiana.edu

Bookmark and Share

Tevis mss., 1945-1985

Papers, 1945-1985, of Walter S. Tevis at the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Electronic finding aid encoded by Beth Benda.

Summary Information

Repository
Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington)
Indiana University
1200 E. Seventh St.
Bloomington, IN 47405-5500
Phone: 812-855-2452
Fax: 812-855-3143
Email: liblilly@indiana.edu
http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly

Creator
Tevis, Walter S.

Title
Tevis mss., 1945-1985

Collection no:
LMC 2211

Extent
ca. 1200 items

Language
Materials are in English.

Abstract
Consists primarily of the writings of author Walter S. Tevis, 1928-1984. Tevis wrote several novels, and contributed numerous short stories and articles to magazines. A number of his novels have been adapted for film, including: The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Hustler and The Color of Money. The collection contains early manuscripts, drafts, final manuscripts, galleys and screen adaptations for most of his other longer works, although only a photocopy of The Hustler. In addition, there are typescripts of a number of his articles, a play, some poetry, as well as many of his short stories, both published and unpublished. The correspondence is small in number and consists mostly of photocopies. However, there are three original letters from science and fantasy fiction writer Fritz Leiber, and one each from authors E.L. Doctorow and Herbert Gold.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Acquisition Information
Purchase 1999.
Usage Restrictions
Prior arrangements are not necessary before coming to the Library, however, patrons from out of town are encouraged to communicate with the Library in advance of their visits to ascertain availability of materials.

Photocopying permitted only with permission of the Curator of Manuscripts, Lilly Library.

Preferred Citation
[Item], Tevis mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Biographical Note
Author.

Scope and Content Note

Consists primarily of the writings of author Walter S. Tevis, 1928-1984. Tevis wrote several novels, and contributed numerous short stories and articles to magazines. A number of his novels have been adapted for film, including: The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Hustler and The Color of Money. The collection contains early manuscripts, drafts, final manuscripts, galleys and screen adaptations for most of his other longer works, although only a photocopy of The Hustler. In addition, there are typescripts of a number of his articles, a play, some poetry, as well as many of his short stories, both published and unpublished. The correspondence is small in number and consists mostly of photocopies. However, there are three original letters from science and fantasy fiction writer Fritz Leiber, and one each from authors E.L. Doctorow and Herbert Gold.

The Writings are arranged as follows: Published novels, unpublished novels, articles, childhood writings, literary criticism, a play, poetry, published book of short stories, other published short stories, unpublished short stories, and fragments of works. Photocopies of articles about Tevis and his writings complete the collection.

Arrangement/Organization

Arranged into the following series: I. Correspondence; II. Writings.

  • Indexing Terms

  • The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in IUCAT, the IU Libraries' online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the catalog using these terms.

    • Names
    • Tevis, Walter S.
    • Tevis, Walter S. --Correspondence.
    • Leiber, Fritz, 1910- --Correspondence.
    • Leiber, Fritz, 1910-
    • Doctorow, E. L., 1931-
    • Gold, Herbert, 1924-
    • Topics
    • Authors, American --Correspondence.
    • World War, 1939-1945 --Personal narratives, American.
    • Soldiers --United States --Correspondence.
    • Motion picture film

Series: Correspondence

Box 1
Folder 1

Nine letters written by Tevis to his family while serving in the United States Navy during World War II, 1945-1946, 

including two pages of sketches by Tevis drawn at this time (photocopies)


Box 1
Folder 2

Correspondence arranged by correspondent

Clune, Henry W. Letters to Walter S. Tevis, Oct 8, 1974  and Nov 4, 1974 

(both photocopies)


Doctorow, Edgar Lawrence. Letter to Anne Goodman Freedgood (editor), Jan 12, 1983 

Gold, Herbert. Letter to Eleanora (Walker) Tevis and Walter S. Tevis, n.d.

Guthrie, A. B. Letter to Walter S. Tevis, Jun 1, 1952  

(photocopy)


Leiber, Fritz. Letter to Eleanora (Walker) Tevis, Apr. 18, 1980  

(incomplete)


Leiber, Fritz. Letters to Eleanora (Walker) Tevis and Walter S. Tevis, Oct 24, 1980  and Jan 17, 1982 

Littauer, Kenneth P. Letter to Walter S. Tevis, Jan 22, 1957  

(photocopy)


Mills, Robert Park. Letter to Walter S. Tevis, May 27, 1975 

(photocopy)


Riordan, Marianna. Letter to Walter S. Tevis, Jun 16, 1983 

Schickel, Richard. Letter to Walter S. Tevis, May 21, 1976 

(photocopy)


Tevis, Eleanora (Walker). Letter to Walter S. Tevis, May 21, 1976  

(photocopy)


Tevis, Walter S. Letter to British Lion Films, Ltd., Jun 2, 1975  

(photocopy)


Tevis, Walter S. Letter to W.B. Carnochan, Nov 8, 1981  

(photocopy)


Tevis, Walter S. Letter to Circus Magazine, Dec 30, 1975  

(photocopy)


Tevis, Walter S. Letter to Larry Jordan, ca. 1978-1979  

(photocopy)


Tevis, Walter S. Letter to Robert P. Mills, Aug 1, 1979;   Oct 30, 1978 

(photocopy of August 1, 1979)


Tevis, Walter S. Letter to Betty A. Prashker and Patrick LoBrutto, Oct 15, 1981 

Tevis, Walter S. Letter to Marianna Riordan, Jun 25, 1983  

(copy)


Tevis, Walter S. Letter to Buz Wyeth (?), Oct 27, 1960  

(photocopy)


Series: Writings

The Writings are arranged as follows: Novels - published and unpublished; articles; childhood writings; literary criticism; plays; poetry; short stories - published and unpublished; and fragments of works. Three magazines containing articles and photocopies of several articles all concerning Tevis and his writings complete the collection.


Subseries: Novels

Published novels are arranged by various forms of the book from original manuscript to drafts to galleys, followed by related notes, outlines, synopses, ending with alternate forms of the book, such as plays, screenplays or teleplays. Drafts and related materials of unpublished novels are filed at the end of this section.


The Color of Money

Box 1
Folder 3-6

Original typescript

Box 1
Folder 7-8

Author's copy of final draft, Feb 4, 1984 

Box 1
Folder 9-10

Copy #3, Feb 12, 1984 

Box 1
Folder 11-12

Author's final copy, Feb 13, 1984 

Box 1
Folder 13-14

Draft pages

Box 1
Folder 15

Dialogue between The Color of Money and Walter S. Tevis

Box 1
Folder 16

Eddie's background

Box 1
Folder 17-18

Outlines of chapters

Box 1
Folder 19

Notes

Box 1
Folder 20

Notebooks

Box 1
Folder 21

Screenplay, draft, Dec 19, 1983  

Box 1
Folder 22

Screenplay, draft, Sep 26, 1985 

Box 2
Folder 1

Screenplay, by Richard Price, Rev. Dec 30, 1985 

Box 2
Folder 2

Screenplay, incomplete

Box 2
Folder 3-4

Screenplay, final.

2 copies


The Hustler

Box 2
Folder 5-6

Photocopy of typescript

The Man Who Fell to Earth

Box 2
Folder 7-8

Original typescript

Box 2
Folder 9

Original typescript for Oxford University Press Alpha edition

Box 2
Folder 10

Epigraphs

Box 2
Folder 11

Screenplay by Dick Wheelwright

Box 2
Folder 12

Screenplay - suggestions and notes

Mockingbird

Box 2
Folder 13

Earliest version

Box 2
Folder 14-15

Two early versions, one date ca. Oct. 1977 

Box 2
Folder 16

Opening and revision to Reader (earlier title)

Box 2
Folder 17

Part Two: Spofforth. Early version of Chapter 3 and early page of Spofforth

Box 2
Folder 18-19

Original typescript

Box 2
Folder 20-21

Drafts

Box 2
Folder 22-23

Final manuscript

Box 3
Folder 1-4

Final manuscripts,

2 copies


Box 3
Folder 5-6

Copy edited version

Box 3
Folder 7-8

Galleys

Box 3
Folder 9

Notes

1)"Harrison [Starr, film producer] says..."; 2) "A novel is a story and a story has direction...."


Box 3
Folder 10

Play, adapted for Readers Theatre, Bowling Green State University, by Lois A. Cheney

Box 3
Folder 11-12

Screenplay, Written for the Television Laboratory at WNET/THIRTEEN

2 copies


The Queen's Gambit

Box 3
Folder 13-15

Original manuscript

Box 4
Folder 1

Synopsis

Box 4
Folder 2-4

Corrected rough draft, Apr 1982 

Box 4
Folder 5-7

Author's copy, final draft, Jun 30, 1982  

Box 4
Folder 8

Early manuscript

Box 4
Folder 9-15

Misc. draft pages, marked "Disorderly pages" and "various segments"

Box 4
Folder 16

Printer's copy

Box 5
Folder 1-3

Printer's copy

Box 5
Folder 4-6

Master proofs: Sep 21, 1982;   Oct 25, 1982;   Oct 27, 1982 

Box 5
Folder 7-9

Setting copy

Box 5
Folder 10

"Chessbook,"

typescript of early form of novel


Box 5
Folder 11

Dialogue between The Queen's Gambit and Tevis

Box 5
Folder 12

Eleanor Walker's notes on manuscript

Box 5
Folder 13

Notes and emendations

Box 5
Folder 14

Outline for Chess in America, nonfiction, precedes The Queen's Gambit; and single page of "Vegas"

Box 5
Folder 15

Pandolfini/Tevis consultation notes (Bruce Pandolfini, National Master, proof read manuscript for chess errors)

Box 5
Folder 16

Synopsis

Box 5
Folder 17

Motion picture treatment

Box 5
Folder 18-19

Screenplay, several corrected typescripts

The Steps of the Sun (working title: Belson)

Box 5
Folder 20-22

Original manuscript

Box 6
Folder 1-5

Second draft and partial second draft

Box 6
Folder 6-10

Final draft and copy

Box 6
Folder 11-14

Draft pages

Box 6
Folder 15

Printer's copy

Box 7
Folder 1-2

Printer's copy (cont.)

Box 7
Folder 3-4

Galleys

Box 7
Folder 5

Chapter 6 altered and published in OMNI Magazine

Box 7
Folder 6

Chinese characters for Belson's name

Box 7
Folder 7

Notes

Box 7
Folder 8

Outline

Box 7
Folder 9

Synopsis

Box 7
Folder 10-11

Motion Picture treatment

And So I Die Next (unpublished)

Box 7
Folder 12

Manuscript

Box 7
Folder 13

Notes

Box 7
Folder 14

Outline

Wit's End/Drunk (unpublished)

Box 7
Folder 15

Photocopy of manuscript

Box 7
Folder 16-19

Draft pages

Box 7
Folder 20

Outline

Subseries: Articles

Box 7
Folder 21

"How to Play Straight Pool"

Box 7
Folder 22

"The New Young Ones"

Box 7
Folder 23

Three untitled, partial articles, all concerning pool

Box 7
Folder 24

Photocopies of articles from magazines

Subseries: Childhood Writings

Box 7
Folder 25

Stories and a poem

Subseries: Literary Criticism

Box 7
Folder 26-27

Written for classes at the University of Kentucky and The Iowa Writers Workshop

Analysis from a Paragraph William Faulkner's "That Evening Sun Go Down" (Iowa)

Arthur Hobson Quinn on Poe (Kentucky)

The Darling Room: Tennyson and the Theme of Isolation (Iowa?)

Grammar and Language in "April Inventory" by W.D. Snodgrass (Iowa?)

Gustave Flaubert: "The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller"

Impinged Lives in William Faulkner's "The Evening Sun Go Down." (Iowa) Aug. 5, 1961 

"Pity This Busy Monster, Manunkind" by e.e. cummings: A Parody of Discourse (Iowa)

The Poetical Reputation of Andrew Marvell: A Reappraisal. (Kentucky) Aug. 2, 1955 

The Problem of Obscurity in Five Books by Joseph Conrad (Iowa)

Spiller and Lawrence on Cooper. (Kentucky) July 8, 1957 

An Undertow in one of V.L. Parrington's Main Currents and a Reading List for English 216C. (Kentucky) June 20, 1957 

Subseries: Play

Box 7
Folder 28

Spending a Day With Mother

Subseries: Poetry

Box 7
Folder 29

Includes the following poems:
  • View All (22)
  • "Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Russian Roulette, Me "
  • "Drunk in the Garden "
  • "Drunk Poem Number One "
  • "February Twenty-One, Nineteen Seventy Nine "
  • "The Game and the Play of Chess "
  • "A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic: First Things First, Easy Does It, One Day At a Time "
  • "The Hustler "
  • "Jamie After Sixteen Years "
  • "Mother's Visit "
  • "My Name is Bobby and I Came To Play "
  • "Nineteen Seventy Eight "
  • "On Metaphysics: With a Traitor "
  • "A Poem for Madeleyn Who Moves Fast "
  • "Poem: With Electrodes on My Head "
  • "Sci-Fi Poem Book "
  • "The Spirit Moves Deeply Toward Whiskey "
  • "The Spirit Moves Fearfully Toward Sobriety "
  • "Thirteen Thirty Eight Fortieth Avenue (appended to: The Hustler) "
  • "To Julie "
  • "Villanelle for H. Chovnik "
  • "A Way Out "
  • "Win a Few Lose a Few"

Subseries: Short Stories

Far From Home

Box 8
Folder 1-10

Far From Home (published collection of short stories).

Includes typescripts of the following: Introduction and Table of Contents; "The Apotheosis of Myra;" "The Big Bounce;" "Daddy;" "Echo;" "Out of Luck;" "Rent Control;" "The Scholar's Disciple;" "Sitting in Limbo;" "A Visit from Mother "


Box 8
Folder 11

Copy edited manuscript

Box 8
Folder 12-13

Galleys

Other published short stories

Box 8
Folder 14

"The Actors"

Box 8
Folder 15

"The King is Dead"

Box 8
Folder 16

"The Machine That Hustled Pool "

Box 8
Folder 17

"The Man from Budapest"

Box 8
Folder 18

"A Short Ride in the Dark"

Box 8
Folder 19

"Sucker's Game"

Box 8
Folder 20

Photocopies of various stories published in magazines

Unpublished short stories

Box 8
Folder 21

"The Albatross"

Box 8
Folder 22

"Big Man from the West Coast"

Box 8
Folder 23

"Cowards Die Many Times"

Box 8
Folder 24

"The Double Crossed Wire"

Box 8
Folder 25

"Gangster Cat"

Box 8
Folder 26

"The Gorilla System"

Box 8
Folder 27

"The Kingdom of Heaven"

Box 8
Folder 28

"Konraq"

Box 8
Folder 29

"Moriae Encomium"

Box 8
Folder 30

"My Name is Brown, Sir"

Box 8
Folder 31

"Royal Flush"

Box 8
Folder 32

"The Second Coming"

Box 8
Folder 33

"A Small Town Affair"

Box 8
Folder 34

"Stop!"

Box 8
Folder 35

"A Thing of Beauty"

Box 8
Folder 36

"Turnip Island"

Box 8
Folder 37

"Upright Coach"

Box 8
Folder 38

"The Weather is Uncertain"

Box 8
Folder 39

"When Last I Saw You"

Box 8
Folder 40

Untitled

Subseries: Fragments of works

Box 8
Folder 41

"Blunt Instrument "

Box 8
Folder 42

"Burton"

Box 8
Folder 43

"Crippled for Life"

Box 8
Folder 44

"The Disillusionment of Peter Baradolph"

Box 8
Folder 45

"Fidelity"

Box 8
Folder 46

"Flight"

Box 8
Folder 47

"The Homeless"

Box 8
Folder 48

"Iago"

Box 8
Folder 49

"Mafia Bees"

Box 8
Folder 50

"The Man Himself"

Box 8
Folder 51

"Melba on Burton"

Box 8
Folder 52

"Salt 17"

Box 8
Folder 53

"School in Nowhere"

Box 8
Folder 54

"Transbox to Porbyx"

Box 8
Folder 55

Untitled fragments

Subseries: Miscellaneous

Box 8
Folder 56-57

Photocopies of articles about Tevis and book reviews

Box 8
Folder 58

Three magazines, with articles about Tevis

"Chess: A Novel Idea," and an excerpt from The Queen's Gambit. Chess Life, May 1983 

"Toasting the Best of Times," The Courier-Journal Magazine, Jan 27, 1980 

"Walter Tevis is Hustling Again," Sunday Plain Dealer Magazine, May 21, 1978 

Accessibility Help