Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Heinemann, Larry
- Abstract:
- The Heinemann mss., 1967-2018, consist of the papers of Larry Heinemann (1944-2019), an American author known primarily for his novels about the Vietnam War.
- Extent:
- 47 Boxes
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
[Item], Heinemann mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
Background
- Biographical / Historical:
Larry Heinemann (1944-2019) was an American author from Chicago known primarily for his novels about the Vietnam War. Heinemann was drafted into the Army in 1966 and served a tour of duty with the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam from March 1967 to March 1968. Upon his return to the United States, he pursued his BA at Columbia College in Chicago (received 1971), where he would go on to teach creative writing until 1986. He is the author of two novels about the Vietnam War, Close Quarters (1977) and Paco's Story (1986), the latter of which was awarded the 1987 U.S. National Book Award in a controversial win over Toni Morrison's Beloved. Both of Heinemann's Vietnam War novels are notable for their graphic depictions of sexual violence committed by U.S. soldiers.
In 1990, Heinemann was invited to attend a literary conference for American and Vietnamese writers in Vietnam, organized by the William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He returned to Vietnam several times as a civilian in the 1990s and 2000s on tours of cultural exchange and reconciliation, and in 2002-2003 served as a Fulbright lecturer at Vietnam's Hue University. His experiences are documented in the memoir Black Virgin Mountain: A Return to Vietnam (2005).
Heinemann is the author of one additional comic novel set in Chicago, Cooler by the Lake (1992). He was the writer-in-residence at Texas A&M from 2005 until his retirement in 2015.
Heinemann married Edie Smith in 1968; they separated in 2005 and divorced in 2014. Together they had two children, a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Preston.
- Scope and Content:
The Vietnam series contains Heinemann's military records from the Vietnam War and his VA disability claim for post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as photographs, notebooks, artwork, and brochures from his trips back to Vietnam in the 1990s and 2000s.
The Writings series contains typescript drafts of Heinemann's two Vietnam novels, Close Quarters (1977) and Paco's Story (1986), along with publicity and letters of congratulations relating to Heinemann's 1987 National Book Award win for Paco's Story. Also included is an unfinished nonfiction work on the so-called "trip-wire vets" of Washington State and post-traumatic stress disorder, which had newly been added as a diagnosis to the DSM-III in 1980 because of the advocacy of Vietnam War veterans and those who treated them. There are also several iterations of Heinemann's "train book," which he began in the 1990s as a nonfiction work on the Vietnam Railways (VNR) and which was eventually published as the memoir Black Virgin Mountain in 2005. The series is completed by drafts of Heinemann's comic novel Cooler by the Lake and two unfinished novels, as well as short stories and essays published in periodicals.
The Correspondence series contains letters and printouts of emails to and from Heinemann arranged by correspondent where possible and chronologically where not. Heinemann's email addresses include riley73 [@] juno.com, riley73 [@] ameritech.net, and yo.riley [@] gmail.com. Significant correspondents include Pat Strachan, Heinemann's editor; Ellen Levine, his agent; Bruce Weigl, a fellow Vietnam War veteran author and Heinemann's close personal friend; Larry Rottmann, a photographer and Vietnam War veteran who collaborated on Heinemann's train book; and Edie Heinemann, his wife.
The "Wage Work" series contains professional files related to publicity and promotion, including press clippings, readings and events, work for professional organizations, and interviews. The series also contains Heinemann's teaching files, work that he referred to self-deprecatingly as "wage work."
The series Day Books consists of notebooks that Heinemann used as planners or agendas that contain to-do lists, weather forecasts, and phone numbers and addresses but which also contain Heinemann's dreams, drafts of speeches and letters, pornographic writing, and ideas and drafts of his novels.
Finally, the Audiovisual/Born Digital series contains physical media including audiocassettes, videocassettes, and 3.5" and 5.25" floppy disks.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchase: 2023
- Processing information:
Processed by Kyra Triebold. Completed in 2023.
- Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into the following series: Vietnam, Writings, Correspondence, "Wage Work" [i.e., Professional Files], Day Books, and Audiovisual/Born Digital.
- Physical location:
- ALF (Auxiliary Library Facility)
Indexed Terms
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
This collection is open for research. Materials related to Heinemann's claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs are restricted due to sensitive medical information; please contact the Curator for additional information.
Many collections are housed offsite; retrieval requires advance notice. Please make an appointment a minimum of one week in advance of your visit.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
Photography and digitization may be restricted for some collections. Copyright restrictions may apply. Before publishing, researchers are responsible for securing permission from all applicable rights holders, then filling out the Permission to Publish form.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
[Item], Heinemann mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
-
1200 East Seventh StreetBloomington, Indiana 47405-5500, USA
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- CONTACT:
-
(812) 855-2452liblilly@indiana.edu