Descriptive Summary
Scope and Content of Collection
Biography
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Publication Rights
Restrictions
Digital Content
Descriptive Summary
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Charles Bernstein Papers
Creator:
Bernstein, Charles, 1950-
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0519
Physical Description:
50 Linear feet
(129 archives boxes, 5 card file boxes and 5 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): 1962 - 2000
Abstract: Papers of Charles Bernstein, writer, editor, librettist, educator, and publisher, who is most often associated with
L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, a journal (1978-1982) Bernstein co-edited with Bruce Andrews. The papers include correspondence with writers, artists, publishers
and friends; manuscript drafts and production materials for his collected works; notebooks and journals (1971-1994); editorial
work; and uncollected poem drafts and working papers.The papers also contain correspondence and drafts for music theater projects,
book reviews of his published work, critical essays on Bernstein, teaching materials, conference planning materials, and spoken
word audio recording of readings and lectures, as well as several videotapes.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Charles Bernstein Papers document his career as a writer, librettist, editor, publisher, and to a lesser extent, his
career as an educator. The papers reflect Bernstein's central place in a large community of poets and artists loosely associated
with
L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, many of whom were based in New York City and California. The papers include correspondence from writers, artists, publishers,
and friends; notebooks and journals (1971-1994); and early manuscript drafts; manuscripts and typescripts of Bernstein's published
works, and freelance medical journal writing. Also included are extensive materials related to Bernstein's editorial work;
publicity materials; recordings of poetry readings and lectures; datebooks; high school and college materials; and other early
biographical materials.
The papers date from the early 1960s to 2000, and are arranged in fifteen series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS,
3) NOTEBOOKS, 4) COLLECTED WORKS, 5) COLLABORATIONS/TRANSLATIONS, 6) MUSIC THEATER, 7) UNCOLLECTED WORK, 8) EDITORIAL WORK,
9) REVIEWS AND CRITICISM, 10) MEDICAL WRITING, 11) TEACHING MATERIALS, 12) CONFERENCES, 13) MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS, 14) RECORDINGS,
and 15) ORIGINALS OF PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPIES.
Biography
Charles Kegel Bernstein was born on April 4, 1950, in New York City. As a student at the Bronx High School of Science, Bernstein
edited and wrote for the school newspaper,
Science Survey, and was active in his synogogue's youth group. Before entering Harvard University in 1968, Bernstein met visual artist Susan
Bee, whom he would later marry and with whom he occasionally collaborates.
During his years at Harvard University, Bernstein studied philosophy with Stanley Cavell and wrote his final thesis on Gertrude
Stein and Ludwig Wittgenstein, portions of which were later published. After receiving his A.B. in 1972, Bernstein and Bee
moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and then the following year to Santa Barbara where he worked part-time as a community
health education coordinator. In 1974, the two moved back to New York City.
Over the next ten years, as Bernstein became an established poet, he earned his income by editing and writing for medical
and healthcare publications. During this time, Bernstein was very active in the experimental poetry scenes of New York, San
Francisco and Toronto, not only as a poet, but also as an editor and publisher. Bernstein and Bee started Asylum's Press,
which brought out some of their collaborations as well as the works of other poets who are now well-known. In New York, he
met Bruce Andrews, with whom he founded and co-edited the journal
L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, the name also given to the loosely connected group of experimental writers with whom Bernstein has been most closely associated.
In conjunction with the magazine, Bernstein co-founded Segue Distribution service, which made small press publications more
accessible to readers.
In 1990, Bernstein was appointed David Gray Professor of Poetry and Letters at the State University of New York in Buffalo,
where he continues to exert a significant literary influence through his continued teaching, writing and editing; the on-line
Poetics discussion list which he founded and initially moderated, and the Electronic Poetry Center for which he serves as
the main advisor.
As a writer, Bernstein works in a wide range of styles, showing that there is no "natural" voice or register for poetry or
any other sort of writing. Like many associated with L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writing, Bernstein foregrounds the materiality of language
and extends the experimentalism often associated with the Black Mountain and New York Schools of poetry and other arts. Bernstein's
work is also significantly influenced by figures such as Gertrude Stein, Laura (Riding) Jackson and Ezra Pound, as well as
his background in philosophy, evident in his early work on Wittgenstein.
Preferred Citation
Charles Bernstein Papers, MSS 519. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Acquisition Information
Acquired 2000.
Publication Rights
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Restrictions
Letters of recommendation located in Box 31, Folder 14 are restricted until 2025. Original media formats are restricted. Viewing/listening
copies are available for researchers.
Digital Content
The collection includes digital correspondence files. Sound recordings from this collection have been digitized.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
American poetry -- 20th century
Perloff, Marjorie -- Correspondence
Child, Abigail -- Correspondence
Language (New York, N.Y.) -- Archives
Lazer, Hank -- Correspondence
Segue Books -- Archives
Bernstein, Charles, 1950- -- Archives
Messerli, Douglas, 1947- -- Correspondence
Andrews, Bruce, 1948- -- Correspondence
McCaffery, Steve -- Correspondence
Asylum Press -- Archives
Watten, Barrett -- Correspondence
Creeley, Robert, 1926-2005 -- Correspondence
Higgins, Dick, 1938-1998 -- Correspondence
Silliman, Ronald, 1946- -- Correspondence
Greenwald, Ted -- Correspondence