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[UMA-SRE-20160137] ANNOTATED REFERENCE PUBLICATIONS
The Greer Archive has been made available because of its historical and research importance. Statements which form part of the collection are not made on behalf of the University and do not represent the University's views. It contains material that some researchers might find confronting. This includes: explicit language and images that reflect either the attitudes of the era in which the material was originally published or the views of the creators of the material but may not be considered appropriate today; names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in published and unpublished printed material, audio recordings and photographs; discussion and descriptions of sexual violence, medical conditions and treatment.
IdentifierUMA-SRE-20160137Extent4 UnitsLinear Meterage0.92Scope and ContentThis series comprises 4 boxes holding publications used by Germaine Greer for research and reference purposes throughout her career as a student, academic and writer and publications of significance to her, including volumes given to her by their authors. The physical collection, with the addition of 5 estrays in December 2017, consists of 47 individual items, comprising 40 paperback books, 6 hardcover books and 1 magazine, 1971 Life magazine article about Greer, with publication dates of 1906, 1953 to 2011. Of the 47 items, 33 items contain marginalia, annotations, underlining, and/or inscriptions or letters to Greer by the publication author(s). There are three items in languages other than English (French and Italian). The series contains books that were significant to Greer in researching and writing The Female Eunuch. Selected books include: a proof copy of Shulamith Firestone’s The Dialectic of Sex (1970); Norman O. Brown’s Life Against Death (1968) and Love’s Body (1966); Mary Ellman, Thinking About Women (1969); Erna Wright, Periods without Pain (1966); and a heavily annotated copy of Peter Laslett, The World We Have Lost (1966); Eric Fromm, The Art of Loving (1969); Norman Mailer, Cannibals/Christians (1966). The series also contains volumes of poetry by women poets, including Fran Landesman, Lucy M. Boston, Anne McCosker, Susan Premru, Shelly Geiser, U. A. Fanthorpe, Ann Lauterbach and Heather Brett. In addition, the series contains two items that Greer has identified as textbooks, namely: Robert Frost’s Selected Poems (1955); and John Dryden’s The Poems and Prose of John Dryden (1955). A 1906 edition of Bell's Miniature Series of Painters on Dante Gabriel Rossetti, with a University of Melbourne Library bookplate, is also held. This series was part of a subsequent accession of the Greer Archive which was transferred to the University of Melbourne Archives by Greer in 2016, supplementing the first accession of the Archive in 2014. The books were received packed together and no clear original order was discernible. The items have been rehoused into 4 archival boxes (3 T1 size and one oversize phase box), with their arrangement determined to best physically house and protect the books and interleavings. Five additional volumes transferred in the first accession were added to this series in December 2017. The publications are generally in good physical condition. Some items are fragile and all items have been rehoused into mylar sleeves, acid free bags or acid free folders as appropriate to aid preservation. Many items were received with an accompanying yellow sticky note with handwritten text by Greer, identifying the item and indicating the significance of the work to Greer. These sticky notes have been attached to acid free archival bookmarks, interleaved within the publications. Basic bibliographic metadata was recorded, including: document type; author; date; publishing location; publisher; physical description; and ISBN, if available. Items were cross-checked against bibliographic listings on OCLC WorldCat (https://www.worldcat.org/). Works can also be searched for using the consistent subject headings tagged to each item. The inscriptions and letters that accompany the publications have been noted in the item descriptions and shed insight into the personal and social significance of Greer’s work, while revealing the nature and impact of her celebrity. A letter written by Fran Landesman to Greer (interleaved within her poetry book, Songs Without Music, Item 2016.0137.00024) reflects on her experience of reading The Female Eunuch, revealing painful self-insight: “Too late for me…I wonder how I would have been”. Describing herself as “one more female eunuch”, Landesman closes with the hopeful refrain that one day she may meet “some of the post-Greer girls”. Other notable letters discuss Greer’s celebrity and public appearances. Sue Kedgley, author of The Sexual Wilderness: Men and Women in New Zealand (Item 2016.0137.00041) refers to Greer’s “infamous” New Zealand visit (in which Greer was arrested in Auckland on obscene language charges for saying the words “bullshit” and “fuck”). Kedgley discusses the impact of this visit on the New Zealand public, arguing that it was greater than that of Greer’s Australian visit - views which are further explored in the individual stories contained within The Sexual Wilderness. Another letter from Bob Holt, author of From Ingleburn to Aitape: The Trials and Tribulations of a Four Figure Man (Item: 2016.0137.00010), praises Greer’s appearance on 2GB radio station, contrasting her with the “Right Wing, neo Fascist, Bible Bashers usually heard on the radio”.Collection CategoryCulture and the ArtsAccess StatusAccess restrictions applyAccess ConditionsResearchers are advised that they must attend a reference interview to discuss their project and sign a deed of undertaking prior to receiving access to records in the papers of Germaine Greer. Contact the archives to make arrangementsRequest access to recordsRequest records from this SeriesSearch within this Series