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Snyder (Gary) Letters to Shandel Parks
MSS 0719
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Table of contents
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Gary Snyder Letters to Shandel Parks
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0719
Physical Description:
0.2 Linear feet
(1 archives box)
Date (inclusive): 1953-1966
Abstract: Letters from poet Gary Snyder to Sally "Shandel" Parks, a friend and prominent member of the local San Francisco Bohemian
scene, written during the period from June 1953 to April 1966.
Letters from poet Gary Snyder to Sally "Shandel" Parks, a friend and prominent member of the local San Francisco Bohemian
scene, written during the period from June 1953 to April 1966. It contains 16 letters and 7 postcards, all written by Snyder,
and 3 typed responses from Parks, only one of which was sent. Within the correspondence are pre-publication versions of the
poems "Numerous Broken Eggs" and "Maitreya." The letters are arranged chronologically by either the date on the letter or
the postmark on the envelope. Also included is a passport-sized black and white headshot photograph of Gary Snyder and an
envelope sent from Snyder to Parks containing small pieces of sea glass.
Born May 8, 1930, in San Francisco, Gary Snyder spent most of his youth in Washington State and Oregon, where he received
his BA in anthropology at Reed College, Portland, in 1951. He studied Oriental languages at U.C. Berkeley from 1953 to 1956;
while at Berkeley, Shandel Parks introduced him to poets Kenneth Rexroth, Shunryon Suzuki and Philip Whalen, among others.
During this time he also associated with Beat writers including Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Snyder left Berkeley in
1956 for Japan where he studied Zen Bhuddism. For the next twelve years Snyder alternated between California and Japan before
settling back in California in 1968.
Snyder's first book of poems,
Riprap, was published in 1959. Since then he has published 17 other works of poetry and prose and won numerous literary prizes
including a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (1969-70), a Bollingen Foundation Fellowship (1966-1969), the Pulitzer Prize
for Poetry for
Turtle Island (1974) and the Bollingen Prize for Poetry for
Mountains and Rivers Without End (1996).
Publishing rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Acquired 2010.
Gary Snyder Letters to Shandel Parks, MSS 719. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Poets, American -- California -- San Francisco
Bohemianism -- California -- San Francisco
Snyder, Gary, 1930- -- Archives
Parks, Shandel -- Correspondence