British Library buys archive of former poet laureate Ted Hughes
The British Library said Wednesday it has bought a major archive of materials by poet Ted Hughes from the writer's estate for the equivalent of about $1 million Cdn.
The library said the 224 boxes and folders of manuscripts, letters, journals and personal diaries would be an invaluable resource for literary researchers. The material ranges from recollections of fishing trips to correspondence with literary figures including poets Seamus Heaney, Kathleen Raine and Thom Gunn.
Hughes was poet laureate from 1984 until his death in 1998 at age 68.
He is considered one of Britain's most significant 20th-century poets and remains one of the bestselling. His final collection, The Birthday Letters, has sold half a million copies since it was published a decade ago.
His personal life also continues to fascinate. Hughes's first wife was fellow writer Sylvia Plath, who committed suicide in 1963. Their relationship was depicted in the 2003 movie Sylvia, which starred Gwyneth Paltrow as Plath and Daniel Craig as Hughes.
The library said the archive includes extensive material, including early drafts and unpublished poems, relating to The Birthday Letters, Hughes's collection exploring his fraught marriage to Plath. They reveal he originally intended the book to be called The Sorrows of the Deer.
Rachel Foss, the library's curator of modern literary manuscripts, said the archive was "an inestimably important addition" to its collection.
Hughes sold the bulk of his papers to Emory University in Atlanta, which had long shown an interest in his work. His widow, Carol Hughes, said she was delighted some of his archive would stay in Britain.
"Ted was a man of these islands — their landscapes, rivers and wild places — and it is fitting that papers covering such an important part of his creative life should be deposited with such a prestigious institution here in Britain," she said.
The library said it hoped to have the archive catalogued and available to researchers by the end of next year.