Research Guides: Lee Krasner: A Through Line Booklist: Home

Description

CSULB Literature and Languages Librarian Alexis Pavenick collaborated with Erin Stout, Curator of Academic Programs at the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum to make an interactive cross-disciplinary display during the exhibition, Lee Krasner: A Through Line, February 7 to May 19, 2023. Dr. Pavenick chose 12 literary/social science books from the Krasner/Pollack personal library to create imaginary connections between the artist’s literary reading and the paintings. To read her connections, please visit the Exhibit!

The list below indicates where the books Dr. Pavenick chose can be found in the CSULB Library.

Krasner/Pollack Library - Selected Book List by Dr. P.

La comédie humaine by Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850
Call Number: 3rd Floor Stacks ; PQ2159.C7 B6 1962-66
Publication Date: 1829 - 1847
"The Human Comedy, a vast series of some 90 novels and novellas by Honoré de Balzac, known in the original French as La Comédie humaine . . . Individuals in Balzac’s stories [about French life and society in the 19th Century] are continually affected by the pressures of material difficulties and social ambitions. They are capable of expending their tremendous vitality in ways Balzac viewed as socially destructive and self-destructive." Excerpt from Britannica.com.
The Treasure's Report and Other Aspects of Community Singing by Benchley, Robert
Call Number: forthcoming
Publication Date: 1930
"Robert Charles Benchley was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor . . . Benchley is best remembered for his contributions to The New Yorker, where his essays, whether topical or absurdist, influenced many modern humorists." Excerpt from Goodreads.com
Can Such Things Be? by Bierce, Ambrose, 1842-1914?
Call Number: 4th Floor Stacks ; PS1097 .C3
Publication Date: 1918
Horror and supernatural short stories that focus on death and disappearance. Bierce was a famous horror writer in his day.
The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex by Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882
Call Number: 4th Floor Stacks ; QH365 .D2 1898
Publication Date: 1898
"Darwin details a theory that he calls “sexual selection”—the idea that, in many species, males battle other males for access to females, while in other species females choose the biggest or most attractive males to bond with." Excerpt from smithsonianmag.com
Kept Women Can't Quit by Fair, A. A. (Erle Stanley Gardner),
Call Number: 2nd Floor Stacks, along the wall ; Mystery Collection, under author last name - Fair
Publication Date: 1960
"Donald Lam arrives at work one day to find an outraged police sergeant Frank Sellers stewing in the office of his senior partner, Bertha Cool. Sellers is close to cracking an armoured car robbery case, but in the course of his investigation, a telephone number for the Cool-Lam detective agency was found on one of his primary suspects - one Hazel Downer." Summary from Goodreads.com
Almost a Life by Friedman, B. H.
Call Number: 4th Floor Stacks ; PS3556.R498 A46 1975
ISBN: 9780670114528
Publication Date: 1975
Friedman was art critic who wrote a biography of artist Jackson Pollock and the introduction to artist Lee Krasner’s 1958 exhibition. Almost a Life tells of a biography writer who becomes deeply involved with his subject.
I'm Not Stiller by Frisch, Max
Call Number: 4th Floor Stacks ; PT2611.R814 S83
Publication Date: 1958
Arrested and imprisoned in a small Swiss town, a prisoner [exclaims]: 'I'm not Stiller!' He claims that his name is Jim White, that he has been jailed under false charges and under the wrong identity. [Similar to Kafka and Camus], simultaneously haunting and humorous, I'm Not Stiller has come to be recognized as 'one of the major post-war works of fiction' and a masterpiece of German literature." Excerpt from Amazon
Faust by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832
Call Number: 4th Floor Stacks ; PT2026.F2 F3
ISBN: 9780802016683
Publication Date: 1808 - 1831
Faust makes a deal with the Devil for unlimited knowledge and pleasure.
Views of a Nearsighted Cannoneer by Krim, Seymour
Call Number: 4th Floor Stacks ; PS3521.R557 V5 1968
Publication Date: 1968
Krim tells us his book about his life in the Beat Generation (1950s) was “written in great sweat and urgency.” Many readers of his time felt his commentary offensive. He did not mind.
The Tastemakers by Lynes, Russell, 1910-1991
Call Number: 2nd Floor Stacks ; E169.1 .L95
Publication Date: 1954
This book identifies all manner of trends and trendsetters of the 1950s, with very slanted impressions.
The Works of Rabelais by Rabelais, François, approximately 1490-1553?
Call Number: 3rd Floor Stacks ; PQ1685.E5 U7 1858
Publication Date: 1532 - 1535
"Rabelais' most famous works are the Gargantua-Pantagruel series, four books published from 1532 to 1535. Framed as chivalric romances, they use the theatrical language of vaudeville to satirize heroic works, traditional pedagogy, and humanist ideals." From
The Works of Francis Rabelais - Wythepedia - Wolf Law Library, lawlibrary.wm.edu
Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero by Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863
Call Number: 4th Floor Stacks ; PR5618 .A1 1848
Publication Date: 1848?
"A novel that chronicles the lives of two women who could not be more different: Becky Sharp, an orphan whose only resources are her vast ambitions, her native wit, and her loose morals; and her schoolmate Amelia Sedley, a typically naive Victorian heroine, the pampered daughter of a wealthy family." Summary from Goodreads.com