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Alexander (Will) Papers
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Works, projects, and research materials 1979-2020

Physical Description: 5 Linear Feet(12 boxes)

Scope and Contents

Will Alexander's written works and collaborative projects: primarily typescript drafts or copies of typescripts; printed proofs; and some handwritten drafts. Many of the typescripts and printed drafts include handwritten notes and corrections. There are also copies of reviews of Alexander's work, and reviews by him of others' work. Interspersed with these works are Alexander's research materials, usually printouts of articles and information from the internet that influenced and inspired his writing. Boxes 10-12 consist entirely of research materials.
There is a small amount of correspondence and biographical material also interspersed with the works, which is noted in the individual boxes. Box 5 includes the bulk of the correspondence; box 8 includes Sotère Torregian signed poems and correspondence. Box 3 also includes a few drawings.

Processing Information

Series preserves Alexander's original organization and provides insight into his creative process. Alexander's original folder titles are retained whenever possible; many items are undated.
Box 1, Folder 1-17

Works and projects 1987-2020; undated

Scope and Contents

Notes for Jerry Rothenberg volume; biographic material; Arcane Lavender Morals, 1996; Poets Say Goodbye to the 20th Century; The Interval of Dormancy (unpublished) approximately 1997-2007; Being as Neutrality and Drift; Vertical Rainbow Climber (early drafts) 1987–1988; Optic Occultation exhibition notes; research materials: Johannes Kepler & astronomy; research materials: On Dar El-Hikma; reviews: Kaleidoscopic Omniscience (2013), At Night on the Sun, Diary as Sin, The Brimstone Boat, Singing in Magnetic Hoofbeat, Stratospheric Canticles, and others; At the Vertigo Borders; research materials: Roger Gilbert-Lecomte; research materials: alien encounters, UFO Digest; research materials: Subhankar Banerjee, Octavio Paz on André Breton.
Box 2, Folder 1-9

Works and projects 2000-2015; undated

Scope and Contents

Research materials: Egyptian symbolism, global warming, fish of the Congo River, exoplanets, alchemy, life on Mars, epigenetics, aboriginal Australian art, Moorish culture, Arabic poets, medieval Islamic astronomy; Kaleidoscopic Omniscience: notes and introduction; Kaleidoscopic Omniscience: annotated typescript; resume and CV materials, biographical; The Brimstone Boat drafts (2012); The Brimstone Boat typescript (2012); Notes approximately 2000.
Box 3, Folder 1-19

Works and projects 1979-2018; undated

Scope and Contents

Compression & Purity drafts and proofs; The One True Body, Spectral Hieroglyphics drafts; "The Sand Genie," (unpublished 2017-18) fragments; Drawings; research materials: Roger Weir; Sunrise in Armageddon, fragments; "Polynesian Blackberry Units," 1985 (unpublished poem); "Mountain Slope Swimming in Detroit," (first poem published in River Styx); Fragments (possibly from Spectral Hieroglyphics); Utopian Stellar Preamble; "Ball Lightning," early 1990s; Utopian Stellar Concentrations, late 1980s-1990s; On Crossing the Vermin Frontier (with letter to Nathaniel Mackey); On Crossing the Vermin Frontier typescript; book on aphorisms fragment; Letters to Rosa unpublished excerpt; Letters to Rosa typescript.
Box 4, Folder 1-13

Works and projects 1998-2017; undated

Scope and Contents

At Night on the Sun; Inside the Earthquake Palace; "On Higher Phlogiston Current"; A Note on General Scatterings and Comment; Across the Vapour Gulf; study material: Spectral Hieroglyphics; Coming Mental Range; On Dar El Hikma fragments; "The Impalpable Brush Fire Singer"
Box 5, Folder 1-15

Works and projects 1993-2018; undated

Scope and Contents

Statement for Poet Laureate of Los Angeles application; Diary as Sin; correspondence; "California: The Golden Beacon" poems and fragments; reviews by Will Alexander; interviews of Will Alexander; comic art project with Kerry James Marshall, 2010–2012; "On Microbes and Adders"; poetry workshop at San Quentin; Across the Vapour Gulf, early work; Sunrise in Armageddon; On Dar El Hikma.
Box 6, Folder 1-12

Works and projects 1995-2015; undated

Scope and Contents

On Dar El Hikma; biographic materials; aborted projects; Diary as Sin excerpt, Compression & Purity contract, City Lights; The Audiographic as Data; Solar Fire on Earth; Secrets Prior to the Sun; On Crossing the Vermin Frontier (copy); At Night on the Sun fragment and research; General Scatterings and Comments.
Box 7, Folder 1-13

Works and projects 1993-2015; undated

Scope and Contents

Towards the Primeval Lightning Field; Sri Lankan Loxodrome; Secrets Prior to the Sun; notes on Wanda Coleman; Gherasim Luca; Inscrutable Visibility; "Saturate with Refined Enigmas", research: Antonin Artaud; Singing in Magnetic Hoofbeat; Notes on Kaufman. Folder 13 also includes letters to editors with related essays.
Box 8, Folder 1-16

Works and projects 1983-2012; undated

Scope and Contents

Intuitive Primevals; Mirach Speaks to His Grammatical Transparents; Treason in the Northern Theatre; unpublished materials; The Density Paintings; Sotère Torregian signed poems and correspondence; Brian Lucas: Circles Matter; poems by Roberta Olson, Heller Levinson, and others; Marie Wilson exhibition brochures; Post Fukushima (introduction by Will Alexander); Inalienable Recognitions lecture; marketing report; Pandora's Hatchery.
Box 9, Folder 1-24

Works and projects 1990s-2011; undated

Scope and Contents

Stratospheric Canticles; Taking Issue with Ubiquitous Reduction; "One's Organic Intuition…"; On the Substance of Disorder; "The Dust Pony"; "A Conversation About Light" collaboration with Gaspar Orozco; "The Western World"; Singing in Magnetic Hoofbeat; materials by Heller Levinson and Janice Lee; "The Impossible Dagger" (unpublished); "On Microbes and Adders"; Zomaya and the Myrmidons; random notes; correspondence and ephemera; "Texas Blind Salamander"; "From Alien Weaving"; "The Cryptographic Ocelot"; "Candle from the Black Widow's Love Cake"; Ron Allen's The Ink Blot Theory (edited by Will Alexander); "Enjaracon Sponaeda"; Singing in Magnetic Hoofbeat; Combustion & Leakage, Lightning.
Box 10, Folder 1-9

Research materials 2010s; undated

Scope and Contents

Printed typescripts of works by others, including Ron Allen, Jed Rasula, and Philip Lamantia. Research materials: printouts of subjects related to Alexander's work.
Box 11, Folder 1-5

Research materials 2010-2014

Scope and Contents

Research materials: printouts of subjects related to Alexander's work.
Box 12, Folder 1-6

Research materials 2010s

Scope and Contents

Research materials: printouts of subjects related to Alexander's work; plus some magazine issues.
 

Notebooks 2011-2015

Physical Description: 2 Linear Feet(2 boxes)

Scope and Contents

Handwritten notebooks, most entirely filled with writing, including extended pieces and some titled works of poetry and prose that can be cross-referenced in Series 1. Notebooks also contain notes ranging from reading observations to rental housing, to baseball statistics. Some notebooks include check marks next to pieces, suggesting their eventual transformation into typescripts and ultimately published work.
Box 13, Folder 1-30

Notebooks 2011-2015

Box 14, Folder 1-15

Notebooks 2011-2015

 

Audio recordings approximately 2010s

Physical Description: 1 Linear Feet(1 box)

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

NOT AVAILABLE. Audio materials in box 15 are not available for paging until reformatted. Please contact Reader Services for more information.

Scope and Contents

Audio recordings on cassette and compact disc, including interviews, live readings, conference proceedings, and recordings of Alexander playing piano.
Box 15, Item 1-54

Audio recordings approximately 2010s

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

NOT AVAILABLE. Audio materials in box 15 are not available for paging until reformatted. Please contact Reader Services for more information.