McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
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H3A 0C9
Stephen Scobie Fonds
Fonds
2.1 m of textual records.
Stephen Scobie is a critic, author and poet who was born in Carnoustie, Scotland in 1943 and emigrated to Canada in 1965. Scobie was co-chair along with Douglas Barbour of the League of Canadian Poets between 1971 and 1973. Scobie won the Governor General’s Award for poetry in 1980 for McAlmon's Chinese Opera and the Prix Gabrielle Roy for Canadian Criticism in 1986. He received a PhD at the University of British Columbia and later taught at the University of Alberta and the University of Victoria in the English Department. Scobie is a founding editor of Longspool Press and his critical writings include works on Leonard Cohen, Canadian poet bpNichol and Bob Dylan. He has written over 20 collections of poetry and in 1995 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
The fonds consists of Scobie’s personal records relating to his career as a prominent author, poet and critic in Canada between 1966 and 1989. The bulk of the records consists of his written materials; manuscripts and drafts of published and unpublished poetry, novels, short stories, critical writings, including annotated drafts of his books on bpNichol and Leonard Cohen, as well as various notes, both typed and handwritten, unproduced film scripts and a libretto. The files also include some peripheral and administrative documents relating to his publications, such as book sales receipts, royalty agreements, and reviews, as well as promotional materials relating to lectures, poetry readings and other events. Other materials include correspondence between Scobie and friends, publishers, and other organizations and individuals, as well as selected editions of White Pelican, a literary journal that Scobie edited, from 1971-1973.
The fonds consists 2.1 linear meters of textual records within five containers, arranged into the following series: 1) collected texts, 2) correspondence, 3) fiction and drama, 4) non-fiction, and 5) poetry. While the files have been intellectually arranged into series, the original physical order of the files has been preserved, and as a result one series may be spread across multiple containers.
No other formats available.
No known restrictions.
File-level finding aid available.
5 containers
Finding aid prepared by Sarah Lake, Pamela Smofsky, Nina Patterson, Melissa Nelson and Christopher Morley as part of McGill’s School of Information Studies course GLIS 641 ; edited by Gordon Burr, December 2018.