Add MS 89422/3/2

William ('Bill') Duff's letters to Joseph Brearley, his former teacher and life-long friend, contain many examples of Duff's (largely unpublished) poetry. For the letters, see Add MS 89422/2/2-3. Over the course of some two months, beginning in January 1965, Brearley convened a series of practical criticism sessions at Hackney Downs School involving a small group of 6th form students. Under discussion over several weeks was a single poem by Duff called 'Summer Evening'. The discussions were recorded and, in 1976, eleven years later when Brearley was living in Nürnberg, he transcribed and typed the recordings.

The file comprises:

(1). Documents from William ('Bill') Duff:

• the poem 'Summer Evening' typed by Duff (2 sheets);
• three autograph letters from Duff to Brearley, dated 26 May, 1 Jun, and 6 Jun 1976 (4 sheets in total).

(2). Brearley's autograph notes and transcription of the recorded discussions. Entitled: 'Notes to "the invisble frontier"'.

(3). 'The Invisible Frontier: An Exploration'. Typed and bound document, comprising:

• Introduction by Brearley (Nürnberg, June 1976). 'On listening again to these recordings after a lapse of more than eleven years I thought it might be a good thing to transcribe them as being of interest to other teachers and students of Literature and the Arts.'
• Epigraphs from Marjorie Green, Michael Polyani, and F. R. Leavis.
• The poem 'Summer Evening' by Duff.
• List of participants.
• Transcribed discussions.
• Epilogue: extract from Duff's letter of 26 May 1976.