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Elliott (Robert) Papers
MSS 0127
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Robert Elliott Papers
Creator:
Elliott, Robert C., 1914-1981
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0127
Physical Description:
5.6 Linear feet
(14 archives boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Date (inclusive): 1946-1981
Abstract: Papers of Robert Carl Elliott (1914-1981), scholar and professor of literature. Elliott specialized in the study of satire
and its relationship to utopian societies. The collection includes manuscripts of writings by Elliott, correspondence with
friends and colleagues, and material related to the development of UC San Diego.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Robert Elliott Papers consist of correspondence, writings, and materials related to Elliott's administrative and academic
work at Ohio State University (1946-1963) and the University of California, San Diego (1964-1981). The collection includes
materials related to political events and issues of academic freedom and free speech at both campuses. The papers span the
years 1946-1981, with the bulk of the material dating from 1960-1970.
Arranged in nine series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) WRITINGS, 3) OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY MATERIALS; 4) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,
SAN DIEGO ADMINISTRATIVE MATERIALS; 5) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO LITERATURE DEPARTMENT; 6) MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION;
7) LITERATURE CONFERENCES; 8) MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS and 9) ORIGINALS OF PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPIES.
Robert Carl Elliott (1914-1981) received a bachelor of arts degree from Wabash College (1936), a master of arts degree from
Columbia University (1937), and a Ph.D. from Brown University (1946). He first taught English at the University of Hawaii
(1937-1939, 1941) and later joined the faculty at Ohio State University in 1946, attaining the rank of professor in 1959.
During the Second World War, Elliott served in the Navy as a combat intelligence officer in the Pacific theatre. He was discharged
in 1946 as a lieutenant and received the Bronze Star.
Elliott's career at the University of California, San Diego began in 1964 when he was recruited to help found the Department
of Literature. He later served as department chairman (1968-1971). While at UCSD, Elliott chaired the Committee on Academic
Personnel and served on the Budget Committee.
Elliott received a Ford Foundation fellowship (1952-1953) to pursue research at Yale University and a Guggenheim Memorial
Foundation grant (1962) to study utopian literature. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the International Association of University
Professors of English, PEN, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the English Institute (chairman, 1978), the Modern
Language Association, the American Association of University Professors (president of the Ohio State chapter, 1963-1964),
and the American Comparative Literature Association.
Perhaps Elliott's most important contribution to literature is his work on satire and its role in the creation of utopian
societies in literature. A major argument of Elliott's "The Shape of Utopia: Studies in a Literary Genre," is that satire
and utopian writing have a common origin, as evidenced by the development of the two genres. Rather than Plato's Republic
being the original utopia, Elliott contends that myths of the Golden Age, as passed down during Saturnalian feasts, which
both venerated and ridiculed the Golden Age, were instead the precursors of utopian genre literature.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Robert Elliott Papers, MSS 127. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Acquired 1981.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Satire -- History and criticism
Persona (Literature)
Utopias in literature
Elliott, Robert C., 1914-1981 -- Archives
Said, Edward W. -- Correspondence
Marcuse, Herbert, 1898-1979 -- Correspondence
Martin, Jay -- Correspondence
Wright, Andrew, 1923-2009 -- Correspondence
Stillinger, Jack -- Correspondence
University of California, San Diego. Department of Literature -- Archives
Allen, Don Cameron, 1903-1972 -- Correspondence
Bate, Walter Jackson, 1918-1999 -- Correspondence
Erdman, David V. -- Correspondence
Hunter, J. Paul, 1934- -- Correspondence
Pearce, Roy Harvey -- Correspondence