Ruby Cohn Papers, 1960-1994 | MS Manuscripts

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Collection Overview

Title: Ruby Cohn Papers, 1960-1994

Predominant Dates:1960-1994

ID: MS/MS/ms028

Primary Creator: Cohn, Ruby

Extent: 2.0 Boxes

Date Acquired: 03/00/1981

Languages: English

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The Ruby Cohn Papers consists largely of manuscripts toward published and unpublished essays and lectures on Samuel Beckett. In addition, the collection includes correspondence and manuscripts toward published and unpublished essay and lectures on modern theater and analyses of playwrights.

Collection Historical Note

Ruby Burman Cohn (August 13, 1922 – October 18, 2011) was a theater scholar and a leading authority on playwright Samuel Beckett. Born in 1922 in Columbus, Ohio, Cohn moved with her family to New York City, where she completed high school and graduated from Hunter College. During World War II she joined the Waves, a Navy division for women, and served as a document courier. After the war she returned to Europe and competed a doctoral degree at the University of Paris. In January 1953 while a student at the Sorbonne she attended the first public performance of En Attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot), by a then obscure Irish-born dramatist, Samuel Beckett. The play and its author became the focus of the rest of her academic life. She earned a second doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis with a dissertation on Beckett which became her first book, Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut (1962).

Cohn wrote or edited several other books about Beckett, including Casebook on ‘Waiting for Godot’ (1967), Back to Beckett (1974), Samuel Beckett: A Collection of Criticism (1975), Just Play: Beckett’s Theater (1980) and Disjecta: Miscellaneous Writings and a Dramatic Fragment (1984), an oeuvre that established an academic reputation not just for her deep expertise but also for her lucid, unpretentious prose.

In addition to her volumes on Beckett, Cohn wrote other books about modern American and British theater and analyses of playwrights, including artistic descendants of Beckett like Edward Albee, Harold Pinter and Caryl Churchill.

Cohn joined the Language Arts faculty of San Francisco State University in 1961 and taught until her resignation during the student strike of 1968. She joined the theater faculty of the California Institute of the Arts in 1969, and moved to the University of California, Davis in 1972. Through her scholarship she became friends with Beckett, exchanging letters and visiting each other at least annually until his death in 1989.

Administrative Information

Repository: MS Manuscripts

Access Restrictions: Open

Use Restrictions:

Users of the collection must read and agree to abide by the rules and procedures set forth in the Materials Use Policies.

Providing access to materials does not constitute permission to publish or otherwise authorize use. All publication not covered by fair use or other exceptions is restricted to those who have permission of the copyright holder, which may or may not be Washington University.

If you wish to publish or license Special Collections materials, please contact Special Collections to inquire about copyright status at (314) 935-5495 or spec@wumail.wustl.edu. (Publish means quotation in whole or in part in seminar or term papers, theses or dissertations, journal articles, monographs, books, digital forms, photographs, images, dramatic presentations, transcriptions, or any other form prepared for a limited or general public.)

Acquisition Source: Gift of Ruby Cohn

Acquisition Method:

Accession number 1612, March 1981

Accession number 23901, June 1, 2006

Accession number 23902, April 1, 2007

Preferred Citation: Name of the Collection, Washington University Libraries, Department of Special Collections

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Correspondence],
[Series 2: Scholarly Essays and Lectures, Published and Unpublished, Concerning Samuel Beckett Written by Cohn],
[Series 3: Critical Essays and Lectures, Published and Unpublished, Written on Subjects Other Than Samuel Beckett],
[Series 4: Miscellaneous Publications and Papers],
[All]

Series 1: Correspondence

Includes letters written by Cohn, and to Cohn, and includes recommendations and reviews written by Cohn.

Sub-Series 1.1: Correspondence by Cohn

Item 1: Abbot, Porter, 1977-1994: 2 items
Item 2: Acheson, Jim, 1976-1982: 12 items
Item 3: Professor Admussen, 1975: 2 items
Item 4: Bair, Deirdre, 1972: 2 items
Item 5: Bangs, Nora, 1981: 1 item
Item 6: Barge, Laura, 1981-1986: 3 items
Item 7: Bishop, Thomas, 1981: 1 item
Item 8: Bowen, Zack, 1983: 1 item
Item 9: Boyle, Father Robert, S.J., 1980: 1 item
Item 10: Bradford, Meriel, 1974: 1 item
Item 11: "Breon", 1975-1977: 2 items
Item 12: Calder, John, 1982-1983: 2 items
Item 13: Donaldson, Ian, 1981: 1 item
Item 14: "Douglas", 1977: 1 item
Item 15: Elkin, Saul, 1981: 1 item
Item 16: "Elliott", 1975: 1 item
Item 17: "Enoch", 1977: 1 item
Item 18: Miss Farley, 1971: 1 item
Item 19: Fortier, Paul A., 1976: 1 item
Item 20: Mr. Fitchen, 1969: 1 item
Item 21: Frechtman, Bernard, 1962: 1 item
Item 22: Frost, William, 1977: 1 item
Item 23: Gontarski, Stan, 1978-1985: 9 items
Item 24: Hall, Holly, 1981: 1 item
Item 25: Homan, Sidney, 1982: 1 item
Item 26: Israel, Calvin, 1979: 1 item
Item 27: "Jerry", 1973: 2 items
Item 28: Jordan, Robert M., 1978: 1 item
Item 29: Ms. Kipschitz, 1975: 1 item
Item 30: Laughlin, Karen L., 1982: 1 item
Item 31: Mahaffy, Sarah, 1981: 1 item
Item 32: Majeski, Jane, 1980: 1 item
Item 33: "Marty", 1975: 1 item
Item 34: Mays, James C.C., 1986: 1 item
Item 35: "Oscar", 1978: 1 item
Item 36: "Otto", 1978: 1 item
Item 37: Reck, Rima, No date: 1 item
Item 38: Richards, Colin, No date: 1 item
Item 39: Roth, Michael S., 1981: 1 item
Item 40: "Rubin", 1974: 1 item
Item 41: Segre, Elizabeth, 1975: 1 item
Item 42: Sellstrom, A. Donald, 1977: 1 item
Item 43: Sherzer, Dina, 1980: 1 item
Item 44: Silver, Janet, 1982: 1 item
Item 45: Smith, H.E. Wesley, 1977: 1 item
Item 46: Winandy, Andre, 1976: 1 item
Item 47: "Xerxes", 1991: 1 item

Sub-Series 1.2: Correspondence to Cohn

Item 1: Abbott, H. Porter, 1994: 1 item
Item 2: Acheson, Jim, 1986: 1 item
Item 3: Curley, Daniel, 1960-1962: 2 items
Item 4: Fehsenfeld, Martha, 1989: 1 item
Item 5: Frechtman, Brian, 1962-1964: 4 items
Item 6: Iser, Wolfgang, 1966: 1 item
Item 7: Labeille, Daniel C., 1991: 2 items
Item 8: Rabinovitz, Rubin, 1974: 1 item
Item 9: Ricks, Christopher, 1978: 1 item
Item 10: Schmidt, Judith, 1960: 4 items
Item 11: Segre, Elizabeth, 1975: 1 item
Item 12: Sroka, Elliott, 1975: 1 item
Item 13: Taylor, Thomas J., 1978: 3 items
Item 14: van Norden, Linda, 1961: 1 item
Item 15: Winandy, Andre, 1976: 1 item

Sub-Series 3: Recommendations and reviews by Cohn

Item 1: Beausang, Michael, No date: 1 item
Item 2: Cohn, Ruby, 1962: 1 item
Item 3: Fehsenfeld, Martha and Lois Overbeck, 1989: 1 item
Item 4: Gontarski, Stan, 1982: 1 item
Item 5: Murphy, Peter John, 1985: 1 item
Item 6: Segre, Elizabeth B., No date: 1 item
Item 7: Mr. Soloman, No date: 1 item

Series 2: Scholarly Essays and Lectures, Published and Unpublished, Concerning Samuel Beckett Written by Cohn

Sub-Series 2.1: Scholarly Essays Concerning Samuel Beckett

Item 1: "Anablin": Typescript with autograph corrections, 19 pages
Item 2: "Animateurs de Beckett", 1986: Typescript [carbon], 11 pages. Published in Revue d'Esthetique as "Animateurs de Beckett: Roger Blin, Alan Schneider," 189-194.
Item 3: "Beckett's Recent Residua", 1969: Typescript with autograph corrections, 12 pages. Published in The Southern Review, Volume 5, 1045-1054.
Item 4: "The Beginning of Endgame", 1966: Typescript, 9 pages. Published in Modern Drama, Volume 9, 319-323
Item 5: "Confrontation: Chapter 4", 1973: Typescript with autograph corrections, 28 pages. Published in Cohn's Back to Beckett
Item 6: "La Femme Fatale Chez Beckett", 1981: Typescript with autograph corrections, 9 pages. Published in Cahiers Renaud-Barrault, Volume 102, 93-107
Item 7: "Le Femme Fatale Chez Beckett", 1981: Typescript [photocopy] of published article, 8 pages. Published in Cahies Renaud-Barrault, Volume 102, 93-107
Item 8: "The Femme Fatale in Beckett's Plays", 1990: Typescript with typescript [carbon] attached. 2 copies, 8 pages each. Published in Women in Beckett: Perforamce and Critcal Perspectives, Ben-Zvi, Linda, ed., as "The Femme Fatale on Beckett's Stage."
Item 9: "The Femme Fatale in Beckett's Plays": Typescript, 13 pages. Published in Women in Beckett: Perforamce and Critcal Perspectives, Ben-Zvi, Linda, ed., as "The Femme Fatale on Beckett's Stage."
Item 10: Notes on "Games": Autograph, 1 page. Typescript with autograph corrections, 1 page
Item 11: "Godot On and Off Stage": Typescript, 17 pages
Item 12: "Grace Notes on Beckett's Environments": Typescript with manuscript corrections, 11 pages
Item 13: "Growing (Up?) with Godot": Typescript [carbon] with autograph corrections, 17 pages
Item 14: "Growning (Up?) with Godot": Typescript [carbon], 17 pages with typscript and autograph corrections attached, 1 page
Item 15: "The Growth of Symbol in Beckett's Plays": Typescript with autograph corrections, 12 pages
Item 16: "Joyce and Beckett, Irish Cosmopolitans": Typescript with autograph corrections. Two drafts, 8 pages each. Published first in Proceeding of the IVth Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association, 2 volume. Jost, Francois, editor, 1966. Published in Joyce Quarterly, volume 8, 1971
Item 17: "The Laughter of Sad Sam Beckett": Typescript with autograph corrections, 1 page
Item 18: "A Note on Beckett, Dante, and Geulinox": Typescript, 3 pages. Upper left corner of page 3 torn off
Item 19: "A Pedantic Postscript": Typescript with autograph corrections, 12 pages
Item 20: Untitled typescript with autograph corrections: 10 pages. Actually a first draft of "Play Within the Play in Beckett and Genet." Typescript following, no date.
Item 21: "Play Within the Play in Beckett and Genet", No date: Typescript with autograph corrections, 10 pages.
Item 22: "The Plays of Yeats Through Beckett-Colored Glasses": Typescript with autograph corrections, 7 pages. Published in Threshold (Ireland), Autumn, 1965.
Item 23: "Samuel Beckett": Typescript [carbon], 6 pages.
Item 24: "Stages of Godot": Typescript with autograph corrections, 17 pages
Item 25: "Words While Waiting": Typescript with autograph corrections, 10 pages

Sub-Series 2.2: Lecture on Beckett

Item 1: "Beckett and Mother's Day": Typescript with autograph corrections, 7 pages with 2 autograph notes

Series 3: Critical Essays and Lectures, Published and Unpublished, Written on Subjects Other Than Samuel Beckett

Sub-Series 3.1: Critical Essays On Subjects Other Than Beckett

Item 1: "Albee's Box and Ours": Typescript and autograph corrections, 10 pages. Published in Modern Drama, Volume 14, no date.
Item 2: "Berenger, Protagonist of an Anti-Playwright": Typescript with autograph corrections, 9 pages. Published in Modern Drama, Volume 8, 1965.
Item 3: "Black Power on Stage": Typescript with autograph corrections, 8 pages. Published in Yale French Studies, Autumn 1971.
Item 4: "Four Stages of Absurdist Hero": Typescript with autograph corrections, 19 pages. Published in Drama Survey, Volume 4, 1965.
Item 5: "Harold Pinter, Playwright in an Old English Tradition": Typescript with autograph corrections, 8 pages. Serr perhaps, "Latter Day Pinter," Drama Survey, Volume 3, 1964.
Item 6: "Marat/Sade: An Education in Theater": Typescript, 13 pages. Published in Education Theater Journal, Volume 19, 1967
Item 7: "Obit For Absurdist Drama": Typescript with autograph corrections, 17 pages. No date
Item 8: "Theatrum Mundi in Today's Theater": Typescript and manuscript corrections, 11 pages. Draft of "Theatrum Mundi and Comtemporary Theater."
Item 9: "Theatrum Mundi in Contemporary Theater": Typescript with autograph corrections, 11 pages. Published in Comparative Drama, Volume 1, 1967
Item 10: "Valorizing By Verse": Typescript with autograph corrections, 7 pages. Published in New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 1993

Sub-Series 3.2: Lectures On Subjects Other Than Beckett

Item 1: "Broadway Bound or Hanging Loose: An American Drama of the Last Two Decades", No date: Typescript with autograph correction, 18 pages
Item 2: "MLA Talk", No date: Typescript with autograph corrections, 8 pages
Item 3: "Post-Modern American Drama", No date: Typescript with autograph corrections, 16 pages. Labeled "MLA talk" by Cohn
Item 4: "A Synthesis of Brecht and the Absurd", No date: Typescript with autograph corrections, 8 pages
Item 5: "Theater of the Absurd", No date: Typescript with autograph corrections, 17 pages

Sub-Series 3.3: Containing Short Essays On Dramatic Terms Included in the Cambridge Guide to Theatre

Item 1: "Burlesque": Typescript [photocopy], 1 page
Item 2: "Comedy": Typescript with autograph corrections, 4 pages
Item 3: "Comedy": Typescript [carbon] with autograph corrections, 4 pages
Item 4: "Comedy": Typescript [carbon], 4 pages
Item 5: "Comedy": Typescript [photocopy], 1 page
Item 6: "Epic Theatre": Typescript, 2 pages
Item 7: "Epic Theatre": Typescript [carbon] with autograph corrections, 2 pages
Item 8: "Expressionism": Typescript, 2 pages
Item 9: "Expressionism": Typescript [carbon], 2 pages
Item 10: "Farce": Typescript with autograph corrections, 2 pages
Item 11: "Farce": Typescript with autograph corrections, 2 pages
Item 12: "Farce": Typescript [photocopy], 2 pages
Item 13: "Melodrama": Typescript [carbon] with autograph corrections, 3 pages
Item 14: "Melodrama"
Item 15: "Naturalism": Typescript [photocopy], 2 pages
Item 16: "Parody": Typescript [photocopy], 1 page
Item 17: "Realism": Typescript [photocopy], 2 pages
Item 18: "Satire": Typescript [photocopy], 1 page
Item 19: "Surrealism": Typescript, 2 pages
Item 20: "Surrealism": Typescript [carbon], 2 pages
Item 21: "Symbolism": Typescript, 2 pages
Item 22: "Symbolism": Typescript [carbon], 2 pages
Item 23: "Theatre of the Absurd": Typescript [carbon], 1 page
Item 24: "Tragedy": Typescript with autograph corrections, 5 pages
Item 25: "Tragedy": Typescript [carbon], 5 pages
Item 26: "Tragicomedy": Typescript [carbon], 4 pages
Item 27: "Well-Made Play": Typescript, 4 pages with typscript [carbon], 4 pages

Series 4: Miscellaneous Publications and Papers

Sub-Series 4.1: Publications by Cohn in Original and Copied Form

Item 1: "Beckett's Theater Resonance": Found in Samuel Beckett: Humanistic Perspectives. Beja, Morris, S.E. Gontarski and Pierre Astier, editors. Ohio University Press, no date.
Item 2: "Words Working Overtime: Endgame and No Man's Land": Extracted from The Yearbook of English Studies, Volume 9, 1979

Sub-Series 4.2: Odd Papers

Item 1: "Beckett Annotations": Newspaper clippings regarding Sotheby's auction of Beckett's rehearsal copy of Waiting for Godot, no date
Item 2: Iser, Wolfgang. "Samuel Beckett's Dramatische Sprache": Typescript [carbon], 17 pages
Item 3: "Lettres de Samuel Beckett a Roger Bensky": Typescript [carbon], 2 pages
Item 4: Programme for "The Beckett Foundation at the University of Reading" day seminar, 1994: December 10

Sub-Series 4.3: New Yorker Magazine Contained Beckett Piece

Item 1: Cohn's copy of The New Yorker's publication of Samuel Beckett's "Catastrophe (For Vaclav Havel)" translated by the author., 1983: January 10: The New Yorker, Volume LVIII, Number 47, pages 26-27. Cover and rear are detached.