Title: James A. Perkins Papers

Date/Date Range :   1997-2002

Extent: 2.0 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection contains the papers and the computer files (electronic versions of the paper formats in the collection) related to two books written by James A. Perkins. The first series contains materials related to the publications of Robert Drake (1930-2001), an acclaimed writer of fiction who was an English professor at the University of Tennessee from 1965 until the early 1990s. James Perkins and Randy Handpicks, both former students of Drake, published For the Record: a Robert Drake Reader in 2001. The second series contains materials relating to Perkins's book on Korean War poetry, entitled Brother Enemy: Poems of the Korean War.

Call number: MS-2682

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

This collection was donated to Special Collections by James A. Perkins in 2002.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], James A. Perkins, MS-2682. The Special Collections Library of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Collection consists of two boxes. Material is divided into two series: Robert Drake Materials and Materials related to Brother Enemy: Poems of the Korean War.

James A. Perkins was born in Covington, Kentucky on February 7, 1941. After attending Holmes High School, he obtained degrees from Centre College (1963), Miami University (1965), and The University of Tennessee in 1972, where he got his Ph.D. in English. While working on his doctorate, Perkins spent two years teaching at All Saints Episcopal School in Vicksburg, Mississippi. His dissertation was completed under Bobby Leggett on the American socialist poet, Kenneth Fearing. After a year as instructor at UTK, Perkins was hired to teach creative writing and American literature at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, where he has stayed.

Perkins has participated in four summer seminars and institutes hosted by the National Endowment for the Humanities. At a seminar under R.W.B. Lewis, Perkins was reintrodced to the work of Robert Penn Warren and has spent almost two decades researching and writing about Warren. Perkins has written books on Robert Penn Warren, Robert Drake, David Madden and other Southern writers. He is also a poet and writer of short stories. His most recent collection of stories is, Snakes, Butterbeans and the Discovery of Electricity, published by Mercer University Press.

In 1998 Perkins was named a senior Fulbright Scholar to Seoul National University in Korea. He is currently teaching at Pembroke College, Oxford University. He is married and has two grandsons, one by each of his sons.

The James A. Perkins Papers, 1997-2002, consists of materials relating to two books: For the Record: a Robert Drake Reader (2001) and Brother Enemy: Poems of the Korean War (2002). The materials relating to each book are listed in two series: Robert Drake Materials (Series I) and Materials Relating to Brother Enemy: Poems of the Korean War (Series II). The bulk of the collection consists of multiple rough drafts of each publication. There is also correspondence regarding the content and the publication of each book. The correspondence is primarily between James Perkins and collaborators, Randy Hendricks and Ji-Moon Suh. Series I contains a 72 page interview between Perkins and Drake.

• Perkins, James A., 1941- .
• Drake, Robert, 1930-2001.
• Tennessee -- Social Life and Customs -- Fiction.
• Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Poetry -- Translations into English.
• War Poetry, Korean -- Translations into English.
• Korean Poetry -- 20th century -- Translations into English.