Call Number:

F0736

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

17 item

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0099, F0736, Edward Field letters to Ilse-Margret Vogel, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1992-2000 (inclusive)

Creator:

Field, Edward, 1924-

Form:

Letters (correspondence), Clippings (information artifacts), Poems, and Postcards

Abstract:

The Edward Field letters to Ilse-Margret Vogel comprise seventeen items roughly spanning the dates between 1992 and 2000, documenting the literary friendship between American poet, novelist, and editor Field and German author and illustrator Vogel. Material includes correspondence with a variety of enclosures, including manuscripts, clippings, notes, and advertisements.

American poet, novelist, and editor Edward Field was born in Brooklyn on June 7, 1924. Field served in the Eighth Army Air Force during World War II. Although Field dabbled with poetry during his wartime duty, it was during his return to Europe from 1946 to 1948 that he seriously worked at writing poetry. Field's first published collection of poetry,

Stand Up, Friend, With Me, appeared in 1963. His success prompted further publications, reading tours, and recognition, including the Lambda Literary Award in Poetry (1993).

More recent works include

Counting Myself Lucky: Selected Poems, 1963-1992 (1992). Field also edited A Geography of Poets (1979) and co-edited, with Gerald Locklin and Charles Stetler, a revision titled A New Geography of Poets in 1992.

Besides being an accomplished poet, Field has edited the work of poet and friend Alfred Chester, whose literary reputation Field continues to revive. Field is the editor of

The Alfred Chester Newsletter and has edited Chester's Black Sparrow Press publications of Head of a Sad Angel: stories, 1953-1966 (1990) and Looking for Genet (1992).

Field's literary talents also extend to fiction. Using the pseudonym "Bruce Elliot," he has collaborated with his companion, Neil Derrick, in writing three popular novels, The Potency Clinic (1978), Village (1982), and The Office (1987).

German author and illustrator Ilse-Margret Vogel was born June 5, 1918, in Sybillenort, Germany, in what is now Poland. Her 1992 memoir,

Bad Times, Good Friends details her life in Germany during World War II. She co-founded and ran the Rosen Gallery, the first modern art gallery in post-War Berlin, from 1945 to 1948. In 1948, Vogel sought refuge in Switzerland to study art. After immigrating to the United States in 1950, Vogel continued to pursue her artistic interests, working as a toy designer and as an illustrator before turning to writing children's books in the early 1960s. Vogel married artist Howard Knotts in 1959.

As both author and illustrator, her works include

The Don't Be Scared Book (1964); When I Grow Up (1968); Farewell, Aunt Isabell (1979); Mein Freund Tichon (1985). Vogel's illustrations also appear in Bears Birthday (1964); Little Plays for Little People (1965); and City Cats, Country Cats (1969).

Vogel also wrote a memoir of her time in Nazi Germany,

Bad Times, Good Friends: A Personal Memoir (1992).

Ilse-Margret Vogel died on October 7, 2001.

"Vogel, Ilse-Margret 1914-." Something About the Author. Vol. 14. Ed. Anne Commire. Detroit: Gale, 1978. 231.

"Ilse-Margret Vogel." Contemporary Authors Online. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. (November 26, 2002).http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC (accessed September 25, 2006).

The Edward Field letters to Ilse-Margret Vogel comprises seventeen items roughly spanning the dates between 1992 and 2000 documenting the literary friendship between American poet, novelist, and editor Field and German author and illustrator Vogel. Material includes correspondence with a variety of enclosures, including manuscripts, clippings, notes, and advertisements. The collection represents the friendship between the two writers as one of warmth, familiarity and mutual regard in the continued inclusion of one another in their professional activities. The bulk of the letters and enclosed materials (copies of publisher's advertisements with excerpts of reviews and ads for readings and lectures) emphasize Field's literary success during this time. Items in the collection demonstrate Field's enthusiasm for Vogel's

Bad Times, Good Friends: A Personal Memoir (1992), and Vogel's own handwritten notes to Field point to similar achievements and frustrations she as a writer also experienced. Field's inscription to Vogel on the included typescripts, "For Ilse, who will understand best," indicates their personal and professional bond.