Purchase, August 2005.
The collection is open for research.
Use of materials from this collection beyond the
exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S.
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Department, University of Delaware Library,
MSS 99, F748, Gregory Corso letters and poems, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.
Processed by Karalee Kopreski, October 2005. Encoded by Jaime Margalotti, November 2006.
Born in New York City, American poet Gregory Corso (1930–2001) was a young associate of the Beat poets.
Corso spent his early years in and out of prison. During his five year sentence for robbery at Dannemora prison in upstate New York, he learned to read and developed a passion for Percy Bysshe Shelley and Homer. When he was released from prison in 1950, he moved to Greenwich Village and developed close friendships with Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac. In 1954, Corso moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and became a fixture of the literary underground. A group of Harvard students and intellectuals were so impressed with his poetry that they paid for the publication of his first collection,
Corso's personal life was never as successful as his literary career. He abandoned and eventually divorced four wives and several children. From 1992 until his death, Corso was supported financially by a wealthy Japanese artist, Hiro Yamagata. After being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1999, Corso died in 2001 and his ashes were buried next to the grave of Percy Bysshe Shelley in Rome.
The Gregory Corso Letters and Poems comprise nineteen items spanning the
dates 1958–1964 (with one poetry manuscript possibly signed in the 1970s). The
collection includes letters from Corso to Ted Wilentz, Anselm Hollo, and the
bookseller U. Grant Roman. A typescript letter accompanies a contract
for Corso from Donald Allen regarding Corso's inclusion in his
Typescript letter and contract from Donald M. Allen, New York, for Corso's inclusion in his
Typescript letter signed, Gregory Corso to Otto. With holograph postscript by Irving Rosenthal, "editor of Big Table." Corso advises 17-year old Otto to "stick Mulenberg [sic] out" and spend the time reading; Rosenthal counters Corso and advises the youth to leave.
Postcard signed, Gregory Corso, Paris, to Anselm Hollo, London.
Autograph letter signed, Gregory Corso, Paris, to U. Grant Roman, Roman Books, Inc., Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Letter to the bookseller requesting fare home to the States in exchange for sale of his manuscripts; verso of the letter includes Corso's recollection of "these two poems," "On Mozart's Unmarked Grave" and "Sea Chanty."
Corso, Paris, to Wilentz, New York.
Corso, Paris, to Wilentz, New York.
Corso, London, to Wilentz, New York. Written while recovering at Cromwell Nursing Home.
Corso, Capoke Falls, New York, to Wilentz, New York.
Corso, New York, to Wilentz, New York.
Mrs. Sally Corso, New York, to Wilentz, New York.
Typescript (copy) with autograph notes, signed "G. C.," Note in corner reads "from G. C. 8/20/75."
Typescript manuscript signed. From
Typescript and holograph draft of poem.
Holograph draft of poem.
Typescript manuscript poem.
Holograph manuscript of poem.
Holograph draft of poem.
Typescript poem with holograph corrections, undated. Bears stamp "New Directions / 333 Sixth Ave. / New York 14, N.Y."