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Norman Bogner Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: EFB
Date: 12 Jan 1970

Biographical History

Norman Bogner (1935- ) is an American author, editor and television writer.

Norman Bogner lived in Europe for 14 years. During this period, he worked at the publishing house Jonathan Cape as an editor and then as Editorial Manager. Among the many authors whose works he has edited are John Fowles, Edna O'Brien, Ronald Harwood, Arnold Wesker, C. Day Lewis, and A.W. Lawrence. He also edited Derek Walcott's first volume of poetry, two novels by Claude Simon, and Alan Paton's book of short stories, Debbie Go Home; these three gentlemen eventually won Nobel Prizes for Literature. Bogner's work has appeared in a number of magazines and his reviews have appeared in the Sunday Times and the Times Literary Supplement.

Bogner eventually left publishing for ABC-TV (later Thames-TV) and ran "Armchair Theatre," an anthology drama series comparable to "American Playhouse." He was responsible for over 100 hours of network television, and discovered and commissioned a number of then-unknown writers, including Tom Stoppard, Alan Ayckbourne, Charles Wood, and the late Dennis Potter.

His novel Seventh Avenue (1968) was a best-seller, and sufficiently successful that Bogner was at last able to devote himself to writing full time. His other novels include The Madonna Complex, Making Love, and California Dreamers. His books have sold 22 million copies worldwide, and Seventh Avenue was adapted as a six hour mini-series for NBC. Bogner has also written several plays for both theatre and television.

Bogner's wife, Felice Gordon, is an author and theatrical agent. They have three sons.

[Biographical sketch adapted from the author's website, 2007.]

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Norman Bogner Papers consist of correspondence, writings and memorabilia of the American author, editor and television writer.

Correspondence consists mostly of discussions about book signings and appearances.

Writings includes drafts, galleys, published editions of novels, plays, speeches, short stories, and screenplays. The collection also contains publicity and reviews of many of his works.

Memorabilia consists of scrapbooks, clippings, and assorted miscellany.

Arrangement of the Collection

Alphabetical order by title or topic.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

Published editions of several books have been traferred to Rare Books for cataloging; these are noted in the inventory below. Please refer to the Classic Catalog to locate these items.

Subject Headings

Persons

Bogner, Norman, 1935-

Subjects

Authors, American.
Motion picture authorship.
Novelists, American.

Genres and Forms

Clippings (information artifacts)
Compact discs.
Correspondence.
Drafts (documents)
Galley proofs.
Manuscripts for publication.
Scrapbooks.
Scripts (documents)

Occupations

Authors.
Novelists.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Norman Bogner Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Norman Bogner, 1969, 2011-2018.

Table of Contents

Correspondence

Writings

Memorabilia

Inventory