Craig letter to Robert Cormier 16 February 1996

Craig letter to Robert Cormier 16 February 1996

In this four-page letter from Cormier's editor, Craig Virden, it is apparent that Craig consulted with his colleague, Karen Wojtyla, and other editors at Bantam Doubleday Dell regarding the Tenderness manuscript. Craig explicitly mentions Karen's comments on the manuscript, though he opts for making macro-level suggestions on the draft. He shares his concerns that the novel makes huge departures from young adult literature. While Craig finds the novel and its characters gripping, he does offer some suggestions on Lori's troubling range of moral understanding and Eric's seeming self-awareness of his own monstrosity. Also of concern is the prominence of the police officer and his stereotypical treatment (as well as that of Maria). He briefly discusses mixed concerns about the use of first-person narration from Lori's perspective, Cormier has put notes in the margins indicating what suggestions he will attend to and how as well as which of his writing choices he plans to defend and preserve.

Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library

16 February 1996

Annamary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana

JPG, 8.5x11

English