Flannery_ A Life of Flannery O'Connor - Brad Gooch [180]
For information pertaining to O’Connor’s most productive years after her return south I am indebted to several research institutions and individuals. Research Librarian David Smith at the New York Public Library was indefatigable, locating numerous articles and books and answering nearly weekly pleas for help. Other librarians, curators, and editors who contributed include Michael Carter, librarian at the Cloisters; Marvin J. Taylor, director, Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University; Stephen Crook, librarian, Berg Collection, New York Public Library; Sheri Young, archivist, National Book Foundation; David Bagnall, managing editor, Modern Language Association International Bibliography; Max Rudin, publisher, Library of America; Thomas P. Ford, reference assistant, Houghton Library, Harvard University; Margaret Sherry Rich, reference librarian and archivist, Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library; and Lynn Conway, Georgetown University archivist. I traveled to Lourdes, where I was helped by Agnès Baranger, Service Communication, Sanctuaires Notre-Dame de Lourdes; and to West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, where I was guided through the papers of Maryat Lee in the West Virginia Historical Manuscript and Archives Collection by Lori Hostuttler.
Among the most significant in bringing O’Connor to life, and providing memories and insights in interviews by phone and e-mail, as well as sharing unpublished correspondence, was Erik Langkjaer, now living with his wife, Mette, in Copenhagen. The word “gentleman” always springs to mind when I think of Erik. Others of O’Connor’s close friends, who helped color in the picture for me were certainly Louise Abbot, whom I met in her home in Louisville, Georgia; Ashley Brown; and Dr. Ted Spivey. Valuable personal insights were also provided in interviews by Robert Coles, Alfred Corn, Christopher Dickey, Richard Giannone, Leonard Mayhew, and Gabrielle Rolin. For his patient clarification of the medical complications of lupus, I am indebted to Michael D. Lockshin, MD, professor at the Joan and Sanford Weill College of Medicine of Cornell University. I appreciate Martha Asbury, Fran Belin, William French, and Donald Richie for sharing their memories of Maryat Lee. For his unpublished correspondence with Betty Hester, I thank Greg Johnson; and for their memories of Hester, Janet Rechtman and Judy McConnell. Other important assistance of many different kinds was given by Jean-Francois Anton, Neil Baldwin, Susan Balée, John Berendt, A. Scott Berg, Mark Bosco, S.J., Jean Cash, Michael Cunningham, Lisa E. Davis, PhD, Paul Elie, Bruce Fulton, Michael Gehl, Dr. Edwin Gleaves, Roger Harris, Edward Hirsch, Frances Kiernan, Gary Logue, Jon Jewett, Josh Milstein, Honor Moore, Jean Nathan, Georgia Newman, Christopher O’Hare, Padgett Powell, Patrick Samway, S.J., Michael Selleck, Ken Silverman, Gore Vidal, and Edmund White.
I could not have completed this project within six years without the support of a 2004 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in Biography; a 2007 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, designated a “We the People Project,” for “promoting knowledge and understanding of American history and culture”; and a 2006 Furthermore Grant in Publishing, a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund. I had the boon during the spring semester of 2006 of the assistance of Michael McAllister, a Columbia University School of the Arts Hertog Fellow, through the excellent program administered by Patricia O’Toole. I received steady support as well from the William Paterson University of New Jersey, where I am a professor of English, and where I was generously granted an academic leave for my 2004–2005 Guggenheim year and a sabbatical leave for the 2006–2007 academic year, as well as release time for research throughout the duration of the project. I especially wish to thank the librarians