Yale University Library News

Stephen Tennant: Work in Progress

Saturday, January 18, 2014 - Wednesday, May 28, 2014 B
einecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
121 Wall St., New Haven, CT 06511

Stephen Tennant (1906 - 1987) is mainly remembered for his striking appearance and position as one of the “Bright Young People,” a group of upper-class British artists, writers, and bon vivants. This exhibition highlights the literary and artistic potential found in his personal archives.

Tennant spent decades writing a novel, Lascar, which he never finished. Still, he left a legacy of archival documents, including drafts of his novel, hundreds of poems, detailed drawings, and a rich correspondence with his friends and family, including Willa Cather, Daphne Du Maurier, and Stephen Spender. The Beinecke Library acquired several groups of material to partially reconstruct his archives. The exhibition draws upon this rich documentary legacy to provide a well-rounded portrait of this gifted and complex individual.

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