Literary Papers

[Richard Romeo]

from an article that appeared in Saturday's LA Times, which discusses UCLA's 
purchase of Susan Sontag's papers for $1.1 million

snip

'Andreas Brown, owner of the Gotham Book Mart and a leading archival 
consultant, said acquiring the papers of living authors has become more 
common in the 30 years since a change in tax laws removed the incentive for 
estates to donate archives.

"Norman Mailer is asking $2.5 million for his archive. That's absurd," Brown 
said. "There are only two 20th century authors who would be in that 
ballpark, J.D. Salinger and Thomas Pynchon, because of the mystique they 
have."

The University of Texas has long been the foremost collector in the field, 
but the Huntington Library is actively collecting 20th century writers. 
Emory University has concentrated on Irish literature.

Brown called the Sontag acquisition "quite a coup for UCLA.'

Rich



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