John L'Heureux papers

Collection

Identifier: MS-2018-030

Scope and Contents

See more See less

Papers documenting twentieth-century American author and former Jesuit John L'Heureux through his correspondence, journals, literary manuscripts, newspaper clippings, photographs, and publishing proofs.

The majority of L'Heureux's papers focus on his creative writing, both published and unpublished. Included are versions of his novels and short stories from first draft through proof, and materials documenting the editing and publishing process such as contracts, fan mail, publisher and agent correspondence, reviews, and royalty statements.

L'Heureux began his writing career, as a poet, while a member of the Society of Jesus, and papers from this era contain drafts of his poems and publishing materials for three of his four books of poetry. They also include correspondence with other Jesuits, journals, photographs, student work, and English translations of the Catholic Mass, in addition to his contentious article on "The New American Jesuits" for the Atlantic Monthly, and response to his memoir, Picnic in Babylon.

L'Heureux's collected correspondence from his post-Jesuit years chronicles his friendships with other writers, many of them former students from Stanford University. In the letters, he gives critical feedback, professional support, and details of his efforts to balance the demands of teaching and writing. Much of the longer-term correspondence evolves to include his wife Joan as well.

A smaller portion of the papers are dedicated to L'Heureux's thirty years at Stanford University as a professor of creative writing and director of the Creative Writing Program (CWP). He retained a selected set of his administrative records that summarize the history of that program and his impacts on it.

Dates

Creation: 1946 - 2020
Creation: Majority of material found within 1965 - 2019

Creator

L'Heureux, John (1934 October 26-2019 April 22) (Person)

Access Note

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.

Biographical Note

See more See less

John Clarke L'Heureux was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts on October 26, 1934, to Wilfred and Mildred (Clarke) L'Heureux. He attended the College of the Holy Cross for two years before entering the Society of Jesus at Shadowbrook in 1954. He received degrees from Weston College (BA in Philsophy, 1959), Boston College (MA in English, 1963), Woodstock College (STL, 1967), and Harvard University (post-graduate studies in English, 1967-1968). He was ordained in 1966.

While pursuing his studies, L'Heureux published three volumes of poetry and a memoir, Picnic in Babylon, a Jesuit Priest's Journal 1963-1967. After leaving Harvard, he took a position as staff editor at the Atlantic Monthly (staff editor 1968-1969, contributing editor 1969-1983) and began writing short stories. In 1970 he began to question his vocation, left his position at the Atlantic, and spent most of the year in London reflecting on his path. In 1971 he decided to leave and was laicized. He married Joan Polston, a former nun, that same year.

L'Heureux taught briefly at Boston College High School, Georgetown University, Tufts, and Harvard until 1973, when he was hired as a professor of English at Stanford University, where he remained for over thirty years until his retirement. He was an assistant professor from 1973-1979, associate professor 1979-1981, and full professor 1981-2006. At Stanford, he directed the Creative Writing Program from 1976-1989 and again in 1993-1994 and 1996. He was Lane Professor of the Humanities from 1985-1990. He taught fiction writing, the short story, and dramatic literature. In 1981 and again in 1998, he received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He retired in 2006.

L'Heureux's short stories were published in The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Harpers, and The New Yorker, and were included in Best American Short Stories and The O. Henry Awards Prize Stories. His first two novels, Tight White Collar and The Clang Birds, were published in 1972, and his first collection of short stories, Family Affairs, in 1974. He published more than twenty books over his lifetime, as well as a last story collection and novel posthumously in 2019 and 2020. John L’Heureux received two writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 2006 he was awarded a Guggenheim Grant to research Renaissance Florence for the book that became The Medici Boy (2014).

John L'Heureux had Parkinson's Disease for many years, and he ended his life under California's Death with Dignity law on April 22, 2019.

Sources:

"Authors: John L'Heureux." Grove Atlantic website, accessed December 31, 2024: https://groveatlantic.com/author/john-lheureux/.

Biographic materials, Box 1, Folder 1, John L'Heureux papers, MS.2018.030, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Seelye, Katherine. "John L’Heureux, Whose Novels Wrestled with Faith, Dies at 84." The New York Times, April 25, 2019.

Partial Extent

32.25 Linear Feet (29 containers)

Partial Extent

15 Megabytes (58 files)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Papers document twentieth-century American author and former Jesuit John L'Heureux through his correspondence, journals, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, photographs, and publishing proofs. The focus is primarily on his creative writing, including short stories and novels from across his career. The papers also cover his seventeen years in the Society of Jesus as a student, literary editor, and poet. Additionally, they include L'Heureux's thirty years at Stanford University as a professor of creative writing and director of the Creative Writing Center.

Arrangement

Organized in six series: I. Biographical; II. Correspondence; III. Faculty work; IV. Jesuit years; V. Publishing; and VI. Writings.

Series II. Correspondence is further divided into four subseries: A. By correspondent; B. By group; C. Chronological; and D. Family.

Series III. Faculty work is further divided into four subseries: A. Employment; B. Lectures; C. Stanford Centennial; and D. Stanford Creative Writing Program.

Series VI. Writings is further divided into six subseries: A. Book reviews; B. Novels; C. Play; D. Short story collections; E. Short stories, individual; and F. Writing notebooks.

Provenance

Gift of John L'Heureux in 2018 and 2019, and Joan L'Heureux in 2025.

Related Materials

Other twentieth-century American novelists and poets at John J. Burns Library:

Brendan Galvin papers, MS.2009.008, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Doug Lang papers, MS.2019.020, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Joe McCarthy papers, BC.1996.048, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Rex Stout papers, MS.1986.096, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Terence Winch papers, MS.2017.005, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Separated Materials

Published works associated with this collection have been transferred within the Burns Library and can be found in the Boston College Library catalog.