Fredric Jameson donates personal, professional papers to UCI Libraries
Collection details the scholar’s illustrious career in critical theory
Irvine, Calif., Sept. 13, 2019 — The University of California, Irvine Libraries are honored to announce that Fredric Jameson – the influential scholar and director of the Institute for Critical Theory at Duke University – has agreed to donate his personal papers and professional records to UCI Libraries’ Critical Theory Archive.
“UCI’s theory archive was an important step in the academic recognition of contemporary theory and I am honored to be included,” Jameson said.
UCI’s graduate critical theory program is widely influential and is currently ranked No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report. Jameson was a UCI Wellek Lecturer in 1991, coming to campus to deliver a series of lectures relating to the contemporary theoretical scene.
The collection includes both published and unpublished manuscripts, drafts, books photographs and other materials. The gift of Jameson’s work will be available for scholarly research to UCI faculty, students and staff, as well as to community members and visiting researchers. The collection will be housed in the UCI Libraries’ Special Collections & Archives.
“We are honored to receive Fredric Jameson’s collection. This significant contribution to the Critical Theory Archive will cross many disciplines and programs to serve the larger academic community, including students, faculty and researchers – many of whom travel internationally to access the collection,” said University Librarian Lorelei Tanji.
Fredric Jameson is a Knut Schmidt-Nielsen Professor of Comparative Literature and professor of romance studies in French at Duke. Jameson’s work analyzes literature as an encoding of political and social imperatives, and the interpretation of modernist and postmodernist assumptions through a rethinking of Marxist methodology. He received the 2008 Holberg prize and the 2011 MLA Lifetime Achievement Award for his scholarship.
About the UCI Libraries Critical Theory Archive: The UCI Libraries Critical Theory Archive holds the scholarly archives of major figures who have worked in the fields included under the loosely defined rubric of “critical theory.” The existence of the archive recognizes the key role that scholars at UCI have played in the development of the field since the 1970s and the significance of Critical Theory in UCI’s academic programs. Major figures whose manuscripts are held include Jacques Derrida, Wolfgang Iser, Paul de Man, Stanley Fish, Richard Rorty, J. Hillis Miller, Etienne Balibar and Murray Krieger. The library and papers of critic René Wellek also are in the archive.
About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.
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