QUICK TAKES - April 8, 2009

The literary papers of the late Los Angeles novelist John Fante have been acquired by the UCLA Library, it was announced Tuesday. The collection features his book manuscripts, short stories and screenplays, as well as personal letters, business records and memorabilia such as his typewriter, pencil and a lock of his hair.

“We are delighted to announce this noteworthy acquisition in conjunction with the centennial of Fante’s birth on April 8,” said UCLA University Librarian Gary E. Strong in a statement. “The Fante collection, together with the UCLA Library’s holdings of papers and books by other authors associated with California and Los Angeles, including Raymond Chandler, Nathanael West, Horace McCoy and Fante’s close friend Carey McWilliams, offers a rich resource for research on his fiction, our city and the American immigrant experience.”

Among the correspondence featured in the collection are 32 letters to writer-editor H.L. Mencken, who was Fante’s literary idol; 17 letters to and from William Saroyan; one missive from John Steinbeck; and some 240 letters to his parents, wife and children that were written between 1932 and 1959.

-- Susan King