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Muske-Dukes (Carol) papers
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Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Carol Muske-Dukes papers
Creator:
Muske-Dukes, Carol
Identifier/Call Number: 0349
Physical Description:
55.02 Linear Feet
111 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1957-2023
Abstract: The Carol Muske-Dukes papers consist of the literary works, academic files, and personal papers, photographs, and correspondence
of Carol Muske-Dukes, California poet laureate and USC professor of creative writing. The materials cover the period from
early 1957 to 2023.
Language of Material:
English
.
Carol Muske-Dukes is a writer and educator, whose body of work stretches from the 1970s forward and whose achievements as
an educator include the founding of two creative writing programs--one for inmates of New York area prisons and the other,
a PhD. program in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California (USC). Muske-Dukes, an accomplished
poet, novelist, and essayist, has won a number of different awards, including the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award (Poetry Society
of America), the Witter Bynner Award (Library of Congress), and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the
John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. While Muske-Dukes' career in education includes a number of notable positions, including
brief stints at the University of Iowa's International Writing Program, University of California at Irvine, and the Writing
Division at Columbia University, her most notable achievements include the establishment of the aforementioned doctoral program
in Literature and Creative Writing at USC and Free Space/Art Without Walls. What is distinctive about Muske-Dukes as both
an artist and educator--though it is perhaps false to draw a line between the two--involves the blurring or challenging of
conventional boundaries: the boundary between art and science (as evident in her novel Saving St. Germ), the boundary between
"high" culture that the academic world can embody and the street culture which may be attributed to the incarcerated, and
between established themes that have marked the tradition of Western literature and the more politically charged themes that
may be seen as less transcendent in nature.
Carol Muske-Dukes was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on December 17, 1945. In an article written for the December 29, 2002 edition
of the New York Times, Muske-Dukes recalls the impact that her mother, Elizabeth, made in shaping her relationship to the
English language. According to Muske-Dukes, her mother's ability to recite poems, a result from her schooling during the Great
Depression, incubated Carol Muske-Dukes' ability to learn "words with my body as well as my brain." Muske-Dukes went on to
graduate with a B.A. from Creighton University and an M.A. from San Francisco State College in 1970 (currently San Francisco
State University).
After spending time abroad, Muske-Dukes settled in New York where she established Free Space/Art Without Walls in 1972, a
writing program for female inmates at Riker's Island Prison, and developed her craft as a poet. Over the course of her time
in New York and the various writers' conferences she attended in the 1970s, Muske-Dukes developed collegial relationships
with Mark Strand, Grace Schulman, Daniel Halpern, Thomas Lux, and John Irving, amongst others. In 1975, the University of
Pittsburgh Press published Camouflage, Muske-Dukes' first book of poems. In 1979, Muske-Dukes won the Alice Fay Di Castagnola
Award from the Poetry Society of America, and in 1981, Doubleday published Skylight, her second book of poems. During her
final years in New York, Muske-Dukes accepted visiting teaching positions at the University of Iowa and University of California
at Irvine. At Irvine, Muske-Dukes met long time confidants Charles Wright, as well as Sherod Santos and Lynne McMahon (both
students at the time), and at Iowa, she developed a friendship with Larry Levis.
In 1981, Muske-Dukes was awarded a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, which enabled her to travel to Italy to work
on her third book of poems. In Italy, Muske-Dukes met actor David Dukes, whom she would marry in 1983. Shortly after the marriage,
she and David moved to California, where their daughter, Annie, was born, also in 1983. By 1985, the University of Pittsburgh
Press published Muske-Dukes' third book of poems, Wyndmere, which traces an arc from her family's roots in the upper-Midwest
to poems voiced through the future-looking lens of a new mother. Muske-Dukes' first novel, Dear Digby (published by Viking-Penguin),
was published in 1989, an effort that spanned nearly a decade including an initial collaboration with Ms. editor Curtis Catherine
Ingham. Applause, which contains several poems that center around illness and the body, was also published in 1989 (by University
of Pittsburgh). Saving St. Germ and Red Trousseau, were both published in 1993 (by Viking and Penguin respectively). Saving
St. Germ, concerns the relationship between a biochemist and her daughter, who has a rather unique relationship to language.
As part of her background research for this book, Muske-Dukes corresponded with a number of biochemists, including Richard
Lewontin. Red Trousseau, like St. Germ focuses, in part, on how the mind connects and shapes the world through language. 1997
saw the completion of a volume of new and collected poems titled An Octave Above Thunder as well as Women and Poetry, a volume
of essays about influential female voices in British and American poetry. 2001 saw the publication of Life After Death (Random
House), Muske-Dukes' third novel. In October of 2000, Muske-Dukes' husband, David Dukes, died unexpectedly from a heart attack.
In the wake of this loss, Muske-Dukes compiled a collection of essays titled Married to the Icepick Killer (Random House),
which included work previously published by Muske-Dukes as well some original pieces, and Sparrow (Random House), a finalist
for the 2004 National Book Award.
In 1985, the University of Southern California hired Muske-Dukes to teach Creative Writing. While at USC, Muske-Dukes helped
establish the doctoral program in Literature and Creative Writing. The program accepted its first class of students for the
fall of 2001, making it one of only a handful of such programs in the nation. Among Muske-Dukes' other achievements during
her tenure at USC are the Witter Bynner award from the Library of Congress (awarded in 1997) and the establishment of the
David Dukes Memorial Scholarship, which is awarded to students at USC's School of Theatre.
In 2007, Random House published Channeling Mark Twain, Muske-Dukes' fourth novel, a semi-autobiographical work following the
story of a poet teaching writing to female inmates at Riker's Island. Like Dear Digby, Channeling Mark Twain is the culmination
of years of drafts and revisions, including a novel titled Edelweiss and a short story titled "Contraband," which would eventually
become the opening chapter of Twain. As this novel represents a process that spans a large bulk of Muske-Dukes' career, it
is perhaps fitting that it interweaves poetry with prose, "high" culture with popular, the act of teaching with that of creation,
political themes with those transcendent of the novel's historical moment; that is, the avenues down which have helped define
Muske-Dukes' career.
In 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Muske-Dukes as California's poet laureate.
The Carol Muske-Dukes papers consist of the literary works, academic files, and personal papers, photographs, and correspondence
of Carol Muske-Dukes, California poet laureate and USC professor of creative writing. The materials cover the period from
early 1957 to 2023.
Organized by series: I. Works by Carol Muske-Dukes; II. Academic Files; III. Correspondence; IV. Works by Others; V. Ephemera;
VI. Publications; VII. Photographs; VIII. Audio-Visual Materials.
Advance notice required for access.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections 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.
Access to the contents of Box 22, Folder 10 is permitted only with the authorization of Carol Muske-Dukes.
[Identification of item], Carol Muske-Dukes papers, Collection no. 0349, University Archives, Special Collections, USC Libraries,
University of Southern California
David Dukes Papers, T-Mss 2004-012. Billy Rose Theater Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
The Carol Muske-Dukes papers consists of two major (and many smaller) accessions --the first in 2006, the remainder beginning
in 2008 and continuing on a regular basis. The first accession consisted of Muske-Dukes' major literary archive--correspondence
with well-known authors and celebrities; manuscripts, typescripts, and notes for her major works published up to that point;
poetry and prose by her contemporaries; teaching materials (USC and Art Without Walls); and additional material (some ephemera,
photographs, and personal materials). The materials received after 2006 consist primarily of correspondence, most of it casual
or personal in nature, and additional materials related to both Muske-Dukes' publications and teaching. The second, and later,
accessions have been, where appropriate, integrated with the material from the first accession. The correspondence, however,
has been treated separately, and can be found in the the Correspondence by Date subseries. Subsequent accessions since the
first two are unprocessed but are included in this finding aid.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
American literature -- 20th century -- Archival resources
American poetry -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Authors, American -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Creative writing (Higher education) -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
Poets, American -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Women authors -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Audiocassettes
Clippings
Compact discs
Correspondence
Ephemera
Manuscripts
Moving images
Notes
Photographs
Realia
Scrapbooks
Typescripts
Muske-Dukes, Carol -- Archives
Bloom, Harold -- Correspondence
Boyle, T. Coraghessan -- Correspondence
Dukes, David -- Archives
Levis, Larry -- Archives
Lux, Thomas -- Archives
Rich, Adrienne -- Correspondence
Strand, Mark -- Archives
University of Southern California -- Faculty
Wright, Charles -- Correspondence