Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation

MSS 10975, Breece D' J Pancake papers, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Biographical / Historical

Breece D'J Pancake was an American author. He was born in 1952 in West Virginia. Pancake died in the age of 26, apparently of suicide, publishing only six short stories, mostly in The Atlantic Monthly. His first and only collected stories were published after his death in 1983, and won great acclaim. Pancake's style and power have been compared to such twentieth-century literary giants as William Faulkner, James Joyce, Flannery O'Connor, and Samuel Beckett, and it is considered today a masterpiece of American short fiction.

Pancake grew up in Milton, a small town in Cabell County. He completed a B.A. in English in Marshall University in 1974 and spent the next two years as an English instructor at Fork Union Military Academy and Staunton Military Academy. He left teaching in 1976 to enroll in the MA program at the University of Virginia. There Pancake began to write fiction.

His first published story, "Trilobites," appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 1977. This event would bestow on him the unusual middle initials D'J, a miss-punctuation by the Atlantic editors of the initials for "Dexter" (his middle name), and "John" (the name he adopted after his conversion to Catholicism in his mid-twenties). Pancake chose to adopt the misprint and used it afterwards on all his published works.

Breece D'J Pancake died on the night of April 8, 1979, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. His death was officially judged a suicide, though some family members and childhood friends believe his death was a tragic accident. All those who read his work believed he was on the cusp of a brilliant career, full of promise and potential. His collected stories were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and named an American Library Association Notable Book for 1983. In a letter to author John Casey, who was Pancake's friend and professor at the University of Virginia, Kurt Vonnegut wrote: "I give you my word of honor that he is merely the best writer, the most sincere writer I've ever read. What I suspect is that it hurt too much, was no fun at all to be that good. You and I will never know."

Source: "Breece D' J Pancake" The Short Story Project. Accessed 6/20/23 https://shortstoryproject.com/writers/breece-dj-pancake/

Content Description

Breece D' J Pancake papers, MSS 10975 a-e. Papers were formerly on long term deposit and have been purchased.

The collection contains typescripts, setting copy, and galley proof of "The stories of Breece D'J Pancake," and other manuscripts of his short stories and class papers. There are translations into German, and Italian of "The Stories of Breece D' J Pancake." Also included is an afterword to a new edition by Andre Dubus II.

There are also original letters from Pancake as well as post cards; letters from Pancake's mother, Helen; letters to Casey concerning his efforts to publish Pancake's stories; letters from Breece D'J Pancake to Michael Jennings, and material pertinent to documentary film maker Mark Rance's attempts to secure funding and produce a script based on Pancake's work including screenplay adaptations.

The collection also contains contracts; royalty statements; book reviews; and papers concerning a controversy over a poem allegedly about Pancake.

There are newspaper clippings, photographs, and a Holy Bible and two books by Henri J.M. Nouwen owned by Pancake.

In addition there is a documentary on videocassette "Breece D'J Pancake : An Appalachian Voice." (VHS, ca. 60 min., "Aired 1/87")

Arrangement

The new addition ViU-2022-0105 has been combined with ViU-2019-0053 which was on deposit for many years under MSS 10975. We recently purchased all of the accretions (MSS 10975-a,-b,-c,-d,-e) and have combined them with 2019-0105.The collection has been reprocessed into 7 series. Series 1 is Correspondence. Subseries 1 is Breece D' J Pancake correspondence. Subseries 2 is Helen Pancake and John Casey correspondence. Series 2 is manuscripts. Series 3 is articles and reviews. Series 4 is contracts, permissions, and royalty checks. Series 5 is newspaper clippings and photographs. Series 6 is teaching and student materials of Breece D' J Pancake and miscellaneous including Breece D' J Pancake's personal bible. Series 7 is born digital materials related to the collection. The collection is 6 document boxes, one oversize folder, and born digital materials.

Related Material

ViU-2022-0105 (addition 1 to MSS 10975) is included with materials from ViU-2019-0053 (10975-a-e) and are all combined in this Resource record 10975.

Michael Jennings collection of Breece D' J Pancake ViU-2022-0096 is also included with MSS 10975.

Related collection is MSS 10973 John Casey letters to Marcia McGhee.