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Fong (Bobby) Collection on Oscar Wilde
MS.2015.005
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Contributing Institution:
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Title: Bobby Fong Collection on Oscar Wilde
Creator:
Fong, Bobby
Identifier/Call Number: MS.2015.005
Physical Description:
3 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1977-2014
Abstract: The Bobby Fong collection contains notes, correspondence, reference materials, and typescripts concerning the writing of Fong's
doctoral thesis in 1978 and a critical edition of Oscar Wilde's poetry that he published with his colleague Karl Beckson in
2000. Most of the collection consists of correspondence regarding the publication of the 2000 critical edition, the first
ever compilation of every existing piece of Oscar Wilde's Poetry.
Physical Location: This collection is stored at the Southern Regional Library Facility. Please contact Clark Library staff at least 2 weeks in
advance if you would like to view the materials in this collection.
Physical Description: 3 boxes, 3 linear ft.
Language of Material: English
Gift of Suzanne Fong, 2015.
Some duplicate materials were identified and removed as appropriate, such as empty mailing envelopes with no contextual information
and .
This collection was processed and described in 2018 by Joyce Wang.
[Identification of item], Bobby Fong Collection on Oscar Wilde, MS.2015.005, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University
of California, Los Angeles.
Bobby Fong was born on January 28, 1950 in Oakland, California. His parents were Chinese immigrants, and Fong lived in Oakland's
Chinatown neighborhood for most of his childhood. From 1969-1973, he attended Harvard on a scholarship where he obtained a
bachelor's degree in English and was elected to the honor society Phi Beta Kappa. He started his PhD program at UCLA in 1975
with a specialization in 19th-20th century English and American literature, poetry, and intellectual and religious history.
Between 1977 and 1978, he was a dissertation fellow at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, where he completed his
dissertation establishing the texts of Wilde's poetry, including those for poems that had hitherto been unpublished. His thesis
would be further expanded in a critical edition that he co-published with Karl Beckson (Brooklyn College) in 2000 that was
titled Poems and Poems in Prose.
His academic career included various professorships at the English department of Berea College, Hope College, and Hamilton
College. He rose to deanship at both Hope College and Hamilton College, spending the latter portion of his career in largely
administrative roles. Prior to his unexpected passing in 2014, he was the president of Ursinus College, where one of his main
achievements included spearheading an initiative to reinvigorate the campus' liberal arts curricula, believing in its capacity
to not only offer critical thinking skills, but to also transform an individual's soul. He also assumed a number of leadership
positions in professional and academic associations, such as being the chair of the Board of the Association of American Colleges
and Universities. He and his wife Suzanne Fong had two children named Colin and Jonathan.
This collection almost exclusively consists imarily of notes, correspondence, invoices, proofs, typescripts, and manuscript
facsimiles/scans related to Fong's research on the poetry of Oscar Wilde. A portion of his reference materials date from the
time of his PhD studies, with the collection being added to in the early 90s as he refined his dissertation. These materials
culminated in his co-production of the 4th volume of the Oxford English Texts Complete Works of Oscar Wilde:
Poems and Poems in Prose with Karl Beckson.
The collection has been split into four series. Despite this, some of the subject matter – including the actual materials
themselves – may overlap or be repeated across series. Reference files are arranged in their original file numbering order,
which was based on the order in which the poems appeared in the critical edition. The other series are arranged by approximate
date. The four series are named as followed:
Series 1 Reference Files on OW's Poetry
Series 2: Dissertation Materials
Series 3: Oxford English Texts (OET)
Series 4: Correspondence
The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library also holds a facsimile of Bobby Fong's dissertation and a copy of his 2000 publication
Poems and Poems in Prose, along with a number of other scholarly works regarding Oscar Wilde's poetry. Please consult the UCLA catalog to learn more
about these collections.
Collection is open for research, but is housed off-site and advance notice is required for paging. Please contact Clark Library
staff regarding this collection.
Copyright has not been assigned to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Clark Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900