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Correspondence with Harold Grier McCurdy, Accession #9806-u , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
These papers were given to the Library by Harold G. McCurdy of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on February 10, 1988.
This collection, consisting of the correspondence between John Moffitt (1908-1987), poetry editor of America, and Harold Grier McCurdy (1909- ), a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina and a poet, contains one hundred and eight letters, 1977-1987. In many of the letters they critique each other's poetry, share personal news, and discuss their differences over poetic style and composition.
Several topics of note include: "modern idiom" (July 25, 1977; October 28, 1978; March 20, 1979; and November 15, 1984); Groping for the Right Note, a poem of McCurdy's (February 7,1978); Ezra Pound's influence over modern poetry (February 10,1978); literary fashion (March 24, 1979); On the Death of an Old Lady by Moffitt (July 7, August 13, September 5 & 27, 1981);Communism (October 6, 1981); gnosticism (February 12 and November 22, 1982); Moffitt's "conversion" from Hinduism to Catholicism (November 5 & December 27, 1983; February 16, 1984; and July 1,1987); the evolution of The Empress Is Not Amused (March 1,1984); Wallace Stevens (March 1, 5, & 10, and April 24, 1984);and Not by Work Alone containing printed Moffitt letters.