Scope and Contents
The collection contains both business and literary documentation of the history of the magazine. On the business side are legal and financial papers, photographs of art work printed in the magazine, clippings, press releases and advertising circulars. The literary history is recorded in the correspondence and in an incomplete set of drafts of articles and poems. Among those whose drafts (holograph or typescript) have survived are W.H. Auden, Stefan Zweig, Heinrich Mann and Muriel Rukeyser. Particularly interesting are the drafts by William Carlos Williams for an article on Pound and by Sir Julian Huxley for "The redefinition of freedom." Klaus Mann's editorials are almost all concerned with the dangers of Nazism to America and to western culture. Also in the papers is the proof for an unpublished article by Vladimir Nabokov, "Soviet Literature 1940."
Dates
- 1940-1942
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Existence and Location of Copies
Correspondence to Klaus Mann available on microfilm (164 frames on 1 reel, 35mm.) from Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, at cost. Order no. HM30.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Klaus Mann in 1942.
Extent
0.3 Linear Feet (2 boxes, 1 folio)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
Correspondence, drafts of articles and poems, legal documents, press releases, clippings and other papers of the magazine which was published in New York from January 1941 to February 1942 under the editorship of Klaus Mann. Correspondents and writers include W.H. Auden, André Gide, Sir Julian Huxley, Christopher Isherwood, Heinrich Mann, Thomas Mann, William Carlos Williams and Stefan Zweig. Also in the papers is the proof for an unpublished article by Vladimir Nabokov, "Soviet Literature 1940."
Biographical / Historical
Decision: A review of free culture was founded in New York in December 1940 by Klaus Mann (1906-1949), a refugee writer and son of Thomas Mann. Conceived as an anti-fascist organ as well as a literary review, the magazine, from its very first issue in January 1941, was for the most part an American forum for exiled European artists and intellectuals. In addition to Thomas Mann, who contributed articles without a fee, the magazine published Stefan Zweig, Heinrich Mann, Julien Green, Vladimir Nabokov, Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger and anti-Nazi English writers such as W.H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood and Stephen Spender.
Yet a number of American writers, artists and educators also took an interest in Decision. In the issue of September 1941, William Carlos Williams contributed a strong attack on Ezra Pound, who was then making broadcasts for Mussolini. Max Lerner wrote several articles, and for a brief period Muriel Rukeyser was an associate editor. The correspondence contains letters from many others expressing support for the magazine. On the permanent editorial board of directors were Stephen Vincent Benét, Louis Adamic, Horace Gregory, Robert Nathan, Ernest Boyd, Vincent Sheehan and Robert E. Sherwood. At the end of 1941, Decision found itself in grave financial difficulties and was forced to cease publication with the issue of January/February 1942.
- Adamic, Louis, 1899-1951
- Ascoli, Max, 1898-1978
- Benét, Stephen Vincent, 1898-1943
- Breuer, Bessie, 1893-1975
- Chagall, Marc, 1887-1985
- Childs, Stephen Lawford, 1896-1943
- Clough, T. Gardner
- Connolly, Cyril, 1903-1974
- Decision
- Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955
- Farrell, James T. (James Thomas), 1904-1979
- Field, Marshall, 1893-1956
- Fisher, Peter Thomas
- Fletcher, Angus, 1883-
- Frank, Bruno, 1887-1945
- Gide, André, 1869-1951
- Green, Julien, 1900-1998
- Hartman, A. (Alan)
- Heller, Gesine
- Huxley, Aldous, 1894-1963
- Isherwood, Christopher, 1904-1986
- Journalism
- Kaplan, Percy
- Kaufmann, Edgar, 1910-1989
- La Touche, John Treville, 1917-
- Landau, M. A. (Mikhail Aleksandrovich)
- Lerner, Max, 1902-1992
- MacLeish, Archibald, 1892-1982
- Mann, Heinrich, 1871-1950
- Mann, Klaus, 1906-1949
- Mann, Thomas, 1875-1955
- McCullers, Carson, 1917-1967
- Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977
- O'Brien, Justin, 1906-1968
- Paley, William S. (William Samuel), 1901-1990
- Periodicals
- Political refugees
- Prokosch, Frederic, 1908-1989
- Quinn, Kerker
- Radicalism
- Rosenbloom, Charles J., 1898-1973
- Sherwood, Robert E. (Robert Emmet), 1896-1955
- Singsen, F. M.
- Spender, Stephen, 1909-1995
- Thompson, Dorothy, 1893-1961
- Tully, Jim, 1886-1947
- United States -- Intellectual life
- Van Loon, Hendrik Willem, 1882-1944
- Von Stroheim, Erich, 1885-1957
- Wells, H. G. (Herbert George), 1866-1946
- World War, 1939-1945
- Young, Stanley, 1906-1975
- Zweig, Stefan, 1881-1942
- Title
- Guide to the Decision Magazine Papers
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- compiled by Staff of Manuscripts and Archives
- Date
- March 1984
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)
beinecke.library@yale.edu
Location
Sterling Memorial Library
Room 147
120 High Street
New Haven, CT 06511