Big Table records, 1958-1960.
Collection Number: 7720
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Big Table records, 1958-1960.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Collection Number:
7720
Abstract:
Correspondence, primarily that of Albert N. Podell, business manager, pertaining to
the finances, publishing, and advertising of the literary quarterly BIG TABLE, and
to the publication of Beat and other modernist writing; also papers pertaining to
an obscenity suit brought against the periodical. Major correspondents include Irving
Rosenthal, Griselda Ohannessian, Roy Miller, Paul Carroll, and Laurence Ferlinghetti
Creator:
Big Table, Inc
Podell, Albert.
Quanitities:
.2 cubic feet.
Language:
Collection material in English
Big Table was a literary periodical that published and promoted progressive, modernist,
and Beat prose and poetry. It ran for five issues from 1959 to 1960 and was the subject
of a 1960 obscenity suit. The journal originated as an offshoot of The Chicago Review
after the University of Chicago suppressed the Winter 1959 issue, which was to contain
ten chapters of William S. Burrough's Naked Lunch, as well as new work by Jack Kerouac
and Edward Dahlberg. The publication ran into legal difficulties after the U.S. Post
Office deemed it "unmailable" due to its "obscenity and filthy contents." Eventually
a judge ruled in favor of the magazine and ordered that the Post Office Department
allow it to be mailed openly. In its short life, Big Table published major works by
Beat writers Allen Ginsberg (including "Kaddish"), Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Peter Orlovsky,
Gregory Corso, Paul Blackburn, and Robert Duncan, and included work by establishment
writers such as John Logan or Norman Mailer.
Correspondence, primarily that of Albert N. Podell, business manager, pertaining to
the finances and advertising of the literary quarterly BIG TABLE, and to the publication
of Beat and other modernist writing; also papers pertaining to an obscenity suit brought
against the periodical. Major correspondents include editor-in-chief Paul Carroll,
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Irving Rosenthal, and Griselda Ohannessian..
Collecting Program: Human Sexuality Collection.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
Big Table Records, #7720. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University
Library.
Names:
Carroll, Paul, 1927-1996.
Ferlinghetti, Lawrence.
Rosenthal, Irving, 1930-
Ohannessian, Griselda.
Subjects:
Beats (Persons)
Obscenity (Law) -- United States.
Publishers and publishing -- United States.
Press law -- United States.
Censorship -- United States.
American poetry -- 20th century.
American literature -- 20th century.
CONTAINER LIST
|
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Misc. Business Correspondence
|
11/1958 - 12/1959 |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Advertising Correspondence
|
1/1959 |
| Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Advertising Correspondence
|
1/1959 - 2/1959 |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Misc. Author and Publisher Correspondence
|
4/1959 - 5/1959 |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 |
Correspondence with Roy Miller of the SF Review
|
11/1958 - 2/1959 |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 |
Correspondence with Jerry Brennan
|
1987 |
| Box 1 | Folder 7-9 |
Magazine and Newspaper Articles
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 10 |
Court Documents
|
1960 |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 |
Two articles by Gerald E. Brennan
|
1960 |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 |
Chicago History book with article about Big Table
|
Spring 1988, Summer 1988 |