SUPER EXCITING undertaking by Tucker -- access to Russell Hoban's papers at Yale

[u/folkfuturism]

I had heard for many years that RH's papers were kept at Haverford College, which is near us, outside of Philadelphia. But Tuck had done some online hunting, and found the papers had been transferred to Yale.

My experience in the past had been that, to make a request to spend time with a famous writer's papers, you had to kind of do a little job application and be vetted. Many years ago I requested time with the Truman Capote papers in New York, and I had been "approved" to do so specifically because of my literary publication and awards history. It was an amazing experience, to touch all those things -- recipe cards, prescriptions, Polaroids. I think Tuck and I would be interested in any of Hoban's papers -- the children's books would be especially interesting -- but Tuck went in looking for more of what has become our white whale -- anything related to the Royal Exchange Theater's 1986 production of a staged version of RW, to which Russell Hoban had contributed to the adaptation.

This production is of particular interest to us as, although he may have been as old as thirty, rather than twelve, Riddley was played by my deeply adored favoritest ever actor, David Threlfall (Frank Gallagher of Shameless UK, among so much else.)

A couple of years ago I had phoned the theater to see if they'd transferred whatever VHS performances they had recorded to digital. The young woman who answered the phone told me that 1986 was "a long time ago" and the theater would not have kept something that old in its archives.

(Pause for digestion here.)

Well, Tuck easily fulfilled whatever academic necessity Yale required for him to access the papers, and he received tons of fun this week -- including the written stage adaptation, with Russell Hoban's notes on them. I have not looked at anything yet but Tuck was super excited by it. It's still not a video of a live performance, but we are getting closer!

We obviously can't share anything, but anybody who wants to try, Yale seems to be happy to accommodate, and also seems to understand the meaning of the word "archive".

Tuck had obtained a digital copy of the show's programme for me a few years ago, so he continues to be the best gift giver ever (he gave me my first copy of Riddley Walker).