Don Barthelme to William H. Gass

Item

Barthelme, Donald. 1986. Don Barthelme to William H. Gass. William H. Gass at PEN International Congress, William H. Gass: The Soul Inside the Sentence, accessed March 5, 2026, https://digitalexhibits.library.wustl.edu/s/gass/item/57544

Title: Don Barthelme to William H. Gass
Description: Barthelme is writing to Gass about the controversial International PEN Congress that had just concluded, which both writers attended, and which Barthelme co-chaired with poet Richard Howard.; Barthelme and Howard devised the theme of the Congress, “The Writer’s Imagination and the Imagination of the State.” The controversy stemmed from Secretary of State George Schultz being invited by Norman Mailer to speak at the opening ceremony, resulting in some writers boycotting and protestors gathering outside the venue.; The Barthelme correspondence file also includes an early draft of the sessions schedule, topics, speakers and descriptions.
Date: 1986: June 29
Type: Correspondence
Format: Paper; jpeg file
Creator: Barthelme, Donald
Extent: 1 page
Language: English
Relation: William H. Gass at PEN International Congress; Donald Barthelme, William Gaddis, and Muriel Oxenberg Murphy at a party celebrating William H. Gass's election to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 1983; Typescript draft of an introduction for Donald Barthelme; 1986 PEN Congress: The Writer and the State
Source: Accession: MS2024-026; Acquired from: Mary Gass
Identifier: ms2024-026-barthelme-008
Rights: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/