Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow undated
In this letter to his agent, Cormier discusses current and forthcoming projects, particularly surrounding a potential novel on French-Canadians in New England. Cormier shows a remarkable degree of self-awareness in assessing his own writing, including its limitations and his disinterest in autobiographical writing. The short story "The Three Hundred Dollar Loan" referenced in this letter may have become "My Father's Gamble" published in <em>The Sign</em>, in which the protagonist's father takes out a loan for exactly that amount.
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Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/120" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"My Father's Gamble" The Sign</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/42" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow 29 March 1968</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/41" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow 4 October 1960</a>
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English
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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 sexual and repellent, so it also does not feel like a match. He also shares his experiences as a part-time "free-lancer" and returning part-time at the <em>Fitchburg</em> <em>Sentinel </em>as a means to support his family while trying to carve out time for novel writing. He invites Marilyn to visit him since he is unable to come to New York with the new baby.
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Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
29 March 1968
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/138" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow undated</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/120" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"My Father's Gamble" The Sign</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/41" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow 4 October 1960</a>
JPG, 8.5x11 onion skin
English
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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 <em>The Rumple Country</em>. He solicits her advice on a short story "The Three Hundred Loan" and shares an encouraging conversation he had with a Random House salesman who showed interested in Cormier's plots for <em>The Rumple Country</em> and an unnamed novel about seduction. He also inquires upon the potentially improved conditions at Macmillan. He also laments that free-lancing has not offered him more time to write what pleases him.
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Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
4 October 1960
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/138" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow undated</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/120" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"My Father's Gamble" The Sign</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/42" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow 29 March 1968</a>
JPG, 8.5x11 onion skin
English
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"Marilyn Marlow Remembered" <em>Publishers Weekly</em> 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 <em>The Chocolate War</em>. Further, Marlow was Cormier's only agent and a family friend. S.E. Hinton, Susan Hirschman, Thacher Hurd, Craig Virden, and Dave Barbor also included their laudatory thoughts and shared positive experiences with Marlow.
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Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
13 October 2003
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
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English
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