Browse Items (133 total)
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"A Purple Lollipop In Hand" John Fitch IV Column
In this John Fitch IV column, Cormier talks about visiting various places with his daughter. Their divergent observations, preferences, and feelings about the stops - libraries, cemeteries, ponds, etc. - again reveal her innocence and his age. He…
"Words that Linger" John Fitch IV Column
In this John Fitch IV piece, Cormier shares a conversation he had with his 6-year-old daughter about his 10 favorite words in the English language. Their conversation was spurred on by Cormier's reading of several such lists of beautiful and ugly…
"Holding To What Is Magic" John Fitch IV Column
This John Fitch IV article is one of a few in which Cormier talks about magic and dad jokes. Here, as in other pieces, he links magic and the belief in magic to the innocence of childhood. When he teaches his daughter a trick, he is sad for the lost…
"That Tender Touch" book review of Tenderness
This review addresses the novel Tenderness as a book for older, young adult readers. Much of the piece focuses on Cormier's portrayals of Eric and Lori. The author contends that the two teens, though different in many ways, share a twisted search for…
Worcester Phoenix Tenderness review
This review explores Cormier's novel Tenderness. It touches upon the terrifying realism of the plot and the characters. Later, it quotes Cormier's discussion regarding character development; specifically the ways that characters come alive for him…
Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow 29 March 1968
This is a two-page typed letter to Marilyn Marlow of Curtis Brown Ltd. Literary agency. Cormier discusses his difficulty in settling on an idea for his new novel. One novel on a woman looking to be a nun reads dated to him and another is overtly…
Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow 4 October 1960
In this four-page letter (page 2 missing) to agent Marilyn Marlow, Cormier discusses at length his difficulties writing a new novel, as well as publication challenges for his finished novel The Rumple Country. He solicits her advice on a short story…
"Marilyn Marlow Remembered" Publishers Weekly 13 October 2003
This "in memoriam" for literary agent Marilyn Marlow features a brief account from Cormier's widow Connie. She describes her husband's close relationship with Miss Marlow, and how Marlow defended Cormier when publishers wanted to make changes to The…
Robert Cormier's email to Fiona, Gudrun, Lucy, and Paul 3 February 1999
Cormier writes to a group of students in Newcastle, U.K., promising to answer their questions in a forthcoming email. Cormier recounts his brief visit to Newcastle and praises Waterstones Books' "In Brief" program.
Robert Cormier's letter to Catherine July 1994
In this two-page typed draft of a letter to a family friend, Catherine, Cormier conveys sympathy to her and her family over the loss of her father. With at least a dozen pen edits, this copy clearly shows revisions. In it, he encourages her to…
Stray scratch paper
A single page of typewritten notes is overwritten with pencil notes that show time duration and what appear to be flight numbers and times. Cormier bemoans the immorality of our times and specifically mentions abortion.
Lara Langweiler's letter to Robert Cormier 13 December 1999
In this 2-page letter to Cormier, middle-school student Lara praises Cormier's realistic and socially-relevant novels, and among other things thanks him for making her "less self-centered". She mentions the potential for all people to be bad people,…
Mike Gubbins's letter to Robert Cormier 18 February 1998
In this 2-page letter to Cormier, Mike, a student in Knoxville Tennessee, asks about Cormier's writing process and education, along with specific questions about Heroes and I Am the Cheese. Mike is especially interested in Cormier's inspirations and…
Kellee Rich's letter to Robert Cormier 14 July 1994
This three-page typed letter was sent to Cormier by Kellee Rich, a sixteen-year-old student in England. After recounting her horrible experience with Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native, she thanks Cormier for inspiring her to write and tells the…
Michael Antoniak's letter to Robert Cormier April 1986
In this one-page letter, young reader Michael Antoniak identifies the theme of injustice in Cormier's work and asks the author if he experienced teasing and injustice as a child. He also notes the depressing tone of Cormier's endings. Handwritten in…