Hey Everyone,
I'm currently at Cleveland Ohio, not too far from Kent State University, where SRD's early drafts of his novels are kept for posterity.
I was wondering, have any of you visited Kent State Uni and taken a look at these drafts? Does the Uni let tourists (ie I'm Australian) access to SRD's works to have a look and read some of it?
I can either try Kent State or visit the Rock n Roll Museum here in Cleveland tomorrow, and I know which I'd prefer!
SRD's writing at Kent State University
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[Syl]
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If not, college students are notoriously easy to bribe. 
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
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Savor Dam
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Good luck, duke. However, if you decide on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, that isn't too shabby either.
[Cleveland tourist tips]
You might also stroll next door to the RRHF&M and check out the Great Lakes Science Center. I haven't been there in over a decade, but as a founding member and one of the people who did some of the original exhibits, I can assure you it certainly was very good when I last saw it.
As for the Metroparks Zoo...well, you'd probably laugh at the Australian Outback area, but the Rainforest building is worth seeing.
Finally, go get a pint (or twenty) down in the Flats.
[/Cleveland tourist tips]
[Cleveland tourist tips]
You might also stroll next door to the RRHF&M and check out the Great Lakes Science Center. I haven't been there in over a decade, but as a founding member and one of the people who did some of the original exhibits, I can assure you it certainly was very good when I last saw it.
As for the Metroparks Zoo...well, you'd probably laugh at the Australian Outback area, but the Rainforest building is worth seeing.
Finally, go get a pint (or twenty) down in the Flats.
[/Cleveland tourist tips]
Last edited by Savor Dam on Thu Jul 09, 2009 5:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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CovenantJr
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Not sure if this will help, duke, but here is the contact information page for the Kent State University Libraries...
www.library.kent.edu/page/10599
A phone number is on there, as well as a little chat window you can directly ask a question of a librarian in and receive a nearly instantaneous response, as long as a librarian is online. My assumption is that a librarian would be online during library hours.
If I was there, this is what I would do. Go to that page, decide how I would wish to contact them, and ask if the collection is accessible in anyway to the public.
Good luck, and if the answer is "yes," have fun!
www.library.kent.edu/page/10599
A phone number is on there, as well as a little chat window you can directly ask a question of a librarian in and receive a nearly instantaneous response, as long as a librarian is online. My assumption is that a librarian would be online during library hours.
If I was there, this is what I would do. Go to that page, decide how I would wish to contact them, and ask if the collection is accessible in anyway to the public.
Good luck, and if the answer is "yes," have fun!
I thought Australia was just one big island, and everybody lived within sight of the Great Barrier Reef!duke wrote:coming from Australia, I've never seen so much water in my whole life!!
(joking, of course)
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Cagliostro
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Good news! I'm here at Kent State Uni, in the library. The special collections section is only open from 1pm to 5pm, so once it hits 1pm I'll go up there (12th floor) and check our some of SRD's early drafts. Very excited!
And in more good news, I managed to drive here from Cleveland on the wrong side of the road without causing an accident! Yay!
And in more good news, I managed to drive here from Cleveland on the wrong side of the road without causing an accident! Yay!
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Cagliostro
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It happens all the time. People must have just thought you were drunk.duke wrote:And in more good news, I managed to drive here from Cleveland on the wrong side of the road without causing an accident! Yay!
Life is a waste of time
Time is a waste of life
So get wasted all of the time
And you'll have the time of your life
wow! we ain't seen ya in ages and here you turn up at Kent State gettin ready to check out the collections! dang!!!! awesome! get one of the librarians to take a pic of you with the collection!!!duke wrote:Good news! I'm here at Kent State Uni, in the library. The special collections section is only open from 1pm to 5pm, so once it hits 1pm I'll go up there (12th floor) and check our some of SRD's early drafts. Very excited!
And in more good news, I managed to drive here from Cleveland on the wrong side of the road without causing an accident! Yay!
you're more advanced than a cockroach,
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies
i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio
a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies
i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio
a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~
Hey Lucimay! Well I've been busy, but I do pop in here from time to time and see what everyone's chatting about. I trust you're well!
Had a blast at KSU this afternoon, took some pics too like you suggested, one of me out the front of the library, then a whole bunch of various pages of the first draft to LFB and TPTP, but didnt end up getting one of me with the collection, oh well.
10 cents per page to have them photocopied... I nearly got the lady to photocopy all of the first draft of Lord Mhoram's Victory, but decided that just the first page of LFB - or Lord Foul's Ritual as it was called then - would be enough.
I'm stoked! Feels like I've done a rite of passage for an SRD fan. Now all I need to do is get to the USA when SRD is booktouring it for AATE!
I highly recommend checking out KSU and the SRD writing there to anyone interested.
Had a blast at KSU this afternoon, took some pics too like you suggested, one of me out the front of the library, then a whole bunch of various pages of the first draft to LFB and TPTP, but didnt end up getting one of me with the collection, oh well.
10 cents per page to have them photocopied... I nearly got the lady to photocopy all of the first draft of Lord Mhoram's Victory, but decided that just the first page of LFB - or Lord Foul's Ritual as it was called then - would be enough.
I'm stoked! Feels like I've done a rite of passage for an SRD fan. Now all I need to do is get to the USA when SRD is booktouring it for AATE!
I highly recommend checking out KSU and the SRD writing there to anyone interested.
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aliantha
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Good for you, duke! (Hmm, maybe next time I'm driving through Ohio, I'll stop by Kent State...)
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I should comment on the content of what I read. I read parts of the first draft of LFB, parts of the first draft of TPTP and basically all of the Lord Mhoram's Victory chapter.
Unfortunately I didnt have my copies of LFB and TPTP to compare with the drafts, so I had to work from my memory of the novels when comparing to the first drafts.
I noticed that the early chapters of LFB had a lot of extra writing that was cut out in the final draft - more detail about Covenant and Joan, and the way Covenant's leprosy was introduced to the reader is much messier in the first draft - it is kind of thrown into the narrative at the very start without a clearer explanation.
The scenes with Drool, LF and Covenant had some extra lines in there, the changes there are basically tighening up the prose and giving these scenes more gravitas.
The first draft of Lena's rape is basically the same as the final version, only smoothness tweaks (changing "her" to "Lena" in one paragraph, and vice versa)
Covenant's short story discussion with Foamfollower ("I was, once" "I live" etc) was there complete in the first draft, as was Covenant hiding the ring before arriving at the Council of Lords. For some reason I assumed that SRD added the hiding of the ring in a later draft, but I was wrong.
I could go on, but my overall impression was that from the mid-point of LFB, SRD really hit his stride, and from that point the first drafts are very very good, the ideas are all there and only the prose required polishing in later revisions.
Even speed reading the first draft of LFB I found I'm understanding more of Covenant - I understand more clearly now that Covenant was bitter and disillusioned not just by his leprosy, but by Joan abandoning him because of it. There seemed to be more emphasis on Joan abandoning him in the first draft of LFB than in the final draft.
Unfortunately I didnt have my copies of LFB and TPTP to compare with the drafts, so I had to work from my memory of the novels when comparing to the first drafts.
I noticed that the early chapters of LFB had a lot of extra writing that was cut out in the final draft - more detail about Covenant and Joan, and the way Covenant's leprosy was introduced to the reader is much messier in the first draft - it is kind of thrown into the narrative at the very start without a clearer explanation.
The scenes with Drool, LF and Covenant had some extra lines in there, the changes there are basically tighening up the prose and giving these scenes more gravitas.
The first draft of Lena's rape is basically the same as the final version, only smoothness tweaks (changing "her" to "Lena" in one paragraph, and vice versa)
Covenant's short story discussion with Foamfollower ("I was, once" "I live" etc) was there complete in the first draft, as was Covenant hiding the ring before arriving at the Council of Lords. For some reason I assumed that SRD added the hiding of the ring in a later draft, but I was wrong.
I could go on, but my overall impression was that from the mid-point of LFB, SRD really hit his stride, and from that point the first drafts are very very good, the ideas are all there and only the prose required polishing in later revisions.
Even speed reading the first draft of LFB I found I'm understanding more of Covenant - I understand more clearly now that Covenant was bitter and disillusioned not just by his leprosy, but by Joan abandoning him because of it. There seemed to be more emphasis on Joan abandoning him in the first draft of LFB than in the final draft.
