Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0016472, Fri, 6 Jun 2008 21:53:45 EDT

Subject
Bruccoli, former Nabolov student & Selected Letters Editor, Dies
Date
Body
The New York Times, 6 June 2008


Matthew J. Bruccoli, 76, Scholar, Dies; Academia’s Fitzgerald Record Keeper
By _WILLIAM GRIMES_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/william_grimes/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: June 6, 2008

Matthew J. Bruccoli, whose biography of _F. Scott Fitzgerald_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/f_scott_fitzgerald/index.html?i
nline=nyt-per) and outpouring of scholarly essays and critical editions
made him the dean of Fitzgerald studies in the United States, died at his home
in Columbia, S.C., on Wednesday. He was 76.

_Skip to next paragraph_
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/arts/06bruccoli.html?ref=todayspaper#secondParagraph)

Mary Ann Chastain/Associated Press
Matthew J. Bruccoli in 2005.


The cause was a glioma, a tumor of the brainstem, said his wife, Arlyn.
Mr. Bruccoli (pronounced BROOK-uhly), who taught at the _University of South
Carolina_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_south_carolina/index.html?inline=nyt-org) for nearly 40
years, wrote more than 50 books on Fitzgerald or Hemingway, notably “Some Sort of
Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald,” published in 1981. He and
his wife donated 3,000 books and periodical publications by and about
Fitzgerald to the university.
Matthew Joseph Bruccoli was born in the Bronx, where his father ran a
drugstore and where he attended the Bronx High School of Science. He earned his
bachelor’s degree at _Yale University_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/y/yale_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org) in
1953 and briefly attended graduate school at _Cornell University_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/cornell_university/index
.html?inline=nyt-org) before transferring to the _University of Virginia_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_
of_virginia/index.html?inline=nyt-org) , where he received a master’s degree
and a doctorate.
“It took me seven years because I kept taking time off to write books,” he
told The New York Post in 1978.
After teaching at _Ohio State University_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/o/ohio_state_university/index.html?inline=nyt-
org) for eight years, he joined the English department at the University of
South Carolina in 1969. He retired in 2005 as the Emily Brown Jefferies
Distinguished Professor of English but continued to cut a dash on campus,
instantly recognizable by his vintage red Mercedes convertible, Brooks Brothers
suits, Groucho mustache and bristling crew cut that dated to his Yale days. His
untamed Bronx accent also set him apart.
In the publish-or-perish world of academia, Mr. Bruccoli set a daunting
example. In addition to his voluminous work on Fitzgerald and Hemingway, he wrote
biographies of John O’Hara, James Gould Cozzens and Ross Macdonald, compiled
descriptive bibliographies of several authors and edited the letters and
notebooks of many others, including _Vladimir Nabokov_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/n/vladimir_nabokov/index.html?inline=nyt-per
) , whose literature courses he took at Cornell.
“He endeared himself to Nabokov by saying that his reason for taking the
course was, ‘I like stories,’ ” his wife said. “Nabokov thought that was the
perfect answer.” With Dmitri Nabokov, the novelist’s son, Mr. Bruccoli edited
“Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Letters, 1940-1977,” published in 1989.
In his spare time he helped run Bruccoli Clark Layman, a company that
produced reference works of literary and social history, notably the Dictionary of
Literary Biography. He also edited the Fitzgerald Newsletter from 1958 to
1968 and the Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual from 1969 to 1979.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Joseph, of Columbia, and
three daughters: Mary, of Manhattan; Josephine Owens, of San Francisco; and
Arlyn, of Corinth, Vt., as well as seven grandchildren.




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