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Novak (Maximilian E.) Papers on the Stoke Newington Daniel Defoe edition
MS.2015.006
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Contributing Institution:
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Title: Maximillian E. Novak Papers on the Stoke Newington Daniel Defoe edition
Creator:
Novak, Maximillian E.
Creator:
Schonhorn, Manuel
Identifier/Call Number: MS.2015.006
Physical Description:
2 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1967-2004
Abstract: This collection is comprised primarily of correspondence made within a circle of scholars of the early modern and Restoration
period regarding the publication of a comprehensive, scholarly edition of works by 18th-century thinker Daniel Defoe. The
primary correspondents are Maximillian E. Novak (UCLA) and Manuel Schonhorn (Southern Illinois University), who have been
editors of the Stoke Newington Daniel Defoe Edition Series since the project was first started in 1968 - then under a different
name as "The Collected Works of Daniel Defoe". Along with a sizable quantity of correspondence between these scholars, the
collection also contains some of the supplementary documents relating to the production of the Stoke Newington Daniel Defoe
Editions.
Physical Description: 0.8 linear feet, 2 boxes
Physical Location: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Language of Material:
English
.
The documents in the collection exhibited little original order. Many documents were found stashed loose-leaf into a record
carton, and items that were placed within folders oftentimes had little relationship to the folder title. While processing,
many items were taken out of these folders for better integration into the finding aid's arrangement scheme.
Processing and description of this collection was done by Joyce Wang in 2018.
[Identification of item], Maximilian E. Novak Papers on the Stoke Newington Daniel Defoe edition, MS.2015.006, William Andrews
Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
The Maximillian E. Novak papers on the Stoke Newington Daniel Defoe edition consists primarily of written, scanned, and typed
correspondence between Novak and a circle of scholars of early modern European writers. The letters span a broad date range
starting mostly from 1968 to the late 1990s. Many of the letters were mailed as duplicate copies within the circle of scholars,
and many of them are addressed to or written by Novak's colleague Manuel Schonhorn rather than Novak himself. Most folders
contain less than 10 pieces of correspondence, with the exception of folders for letters written by Joyce D. Kennedy, Irving
Rothman, and Maximillian Novak (to Manuel Schonhorn). Along with the correspondence, the collection also holds project outlines,
prospectuses, typescripts, handwritten notes, scans of academic articles, a National Endowment for the Humanities grant application,
and survey responses, mostly pertaining to the Stoke Newington Defoe edition (or the project's aliases throughout the years)
or to developments in the field of early modern literature at large.
This collection has been split into 2 series, one featuring supplementary materials for the publication of the Stoke Newington
Daniel Defoe edition and one for correspondence. Materials in the first series are sorted alphabetically by folder title.
The correspondence files are arranged alphabetically by the author's last name, and then chronologically when necessary.
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Maximillian E. Novak, 2015.
Maximillian E. Novak (1930- ) is a UCLA Distinguished Professor Emeritus specializing in the works of Daniel Defoe, an 18th
century trader, novelist, and pamphleteer most well-known for writing Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and A tour thro' the
whole island of Great Britain. Novak obtained both his undergraduate degree and doctorate at UCLA, the latter obtained in
1958. He briefly taught at the University of Michigan before returning to UCLA. He has produced numerous essays and books
on the philosophical, political, cultural, and economic underpinnings of Defoe's writings and has serve as general editor
for the Augustan Reprint series and the Stoke Newington Defoe series. Included among his works on Defoe are three monographs
titled Economics and the Fiction of Daniel Defoe (1962), Defoe and the Nature of Man (1963), and Realism, Myth, and History
in Defoe's Fiction (1983). In 2001, Novak also produced the biographical work Daniel Defoe: Master of Fictions. In becoming
one of the most renowned scholars of Defoe in the world, Novak has also contributed to studies of other early modern writers
such as John Dryden, William Wycherly, Jonathan Swift, and William Congreve.
The idea for creating a series of critical, scholarly editions for lesser known works within the Defoe canon was conceived
by Maximillian Novak and Manuel Schonhorn in as early as 1968, but a combination of funding issues and other attending priorities
delayed the actual publication of the works. In 1999, the first volume in the Stoke Newington Defoe Edition Series was published
through New York's AMS Press (also the publisher of The Eighteenth Century Current Bibliography), featuring a textual study
of Defoe's 1697 work An Essay Upon Projects. The series has received contributions from scholars such as Joyce Deveau Kennedy,
Michael Seidel, Irving Rothman, Jim Springer Borck, Kit Kincade, and John G. Peters.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Defoe, Daniel