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Oreste F. Pucciani papers

 Collection — Box: 1
Identifier: Coll2008-059

Scope and Content of Collection

This collection contains materials relating primarily to the private life of UCLA Professor of French and Sartre scholar Oreste Pucciani, documenting in particular his relationship with his long-time lover, Rudi Gernreich, and several of his close friends. The collection is arranged in the following series: 1. Oreste Pucciani; 2. Rudi Gernreich; 3. Friends; 4. Subject Files; 5. Publications; 6 Audio Visual; and 7. Miscellanea. The bulk of Pucciani's writings consists of erotic short stories written most probably between 1975 and 1980. The writings also include a number of poems, possibly translations of works by Stanley Kuniholm. The bulk of the materials relating to Rudi Gernreich consists of condolence letters to Pucciani after Gernreich's death. Other materials include a small number of cards and letters addressed to Gernreich, and letters to Pucciani from Gernreich's mother. The Friends Series documents in particular Pucciani's relationship with three men, Jacques Faure, Stanley Kuniholm, and Lionel Mailles. The bulk of the materials consists of letters received by Pucciani; however, the Mailles files include copies of letters, poems, and essays addressed by Pucciani to Mailles. The materials received from Kuniholm include a large number of poems, short stories, and essays. The collection also contains a small number of subject files, publications, a videocassette recording of a talk given by Pucciani on Rudi Gernreich in 1993, and miscellaneous memorabilia and ephemera.

Dates

  • Creation: circa 1890-1998
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1950 - 1985

Creator

Access

The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.

Publication Rights

Researchers wishing to publish materials must obtain permission in writing from ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives as the physical owner. Researchers must also obtain clearance from the holder(s) of any copyrights in the materials. Note that ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives can grant copyright clearance only for those materials for which we hold the copyright. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain copyright clearance for all other materials directly from the copyright holder(s).

Biography

Oreste Francesco Pucciani was born in Cleveland on April 7, 1916, the son of a candy manufacturer. He attended the Cleveland public schools and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Adelbert College, Western Reserve University (now Case Western University) in 1939. He took his doctorate in Romance languages from Harvard in 1943. In 1946-47, Pucciani studied in France and Italy on a Sheldon Traveling Fellowship, meeting Sartre and his companion Simone de Beauvoir. Returning to the United States in 1947, Pucciani lectured at Harvard, before joining the faculty of the University of California Los Angeles as an Assistant Professor of French in 1948. He was became an Associate Professor in 1954, and a full Professor in 1960. He was chairman of the French department from 1961 to 1966, and became emeritus in 1979.

Pucciani's scholarly interests were diverse. His doctoral dissertation was devoted to the reception of Walt Whitman in France. The French Theater since 1930 (1954) remains a useful anthology of French theater in the years between the world wars. He also published a well regarded translation of Racine's masterpiece Phédre in 1961. But Pucciani is best known as an interpreter of the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, and pioneered in teaching courses on Sartre at UCLA before the philosopher's works were translated into English.

In addition to his work on Sartre, Pucciani was well known as a theorist on methods of language acquisition. He had studied with Emile B. de Sauzé at Western Reserve in the 1930s, and was an ardent champion of Sauzé's "direct method" of language teaching, in which all instruction, including explanations of grammar and vocabulary, is given in the target language. In the late 1950s, Pucciani pioneered in adapting the direct method (still little known outside the Cleveland public schools) to the UCLA French Department's language program. The highly successful and influential textbook, Langue et Langage, published by Pucciani and Jacqueline Hamel in 1967, described the department's experience with the direct method, and revealed the advantages of immediate and total immersion in a foreign tongue.

For his services to French language and culture, Pucciani was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Legion of Honor by the French government in 1965.

Pucciani was the long-time lover of fashion designer Rudi Gernreich. In 1988, after Gernreich's death, he established the ACLU Rudi Gernreich-Oreste Pucciani Endowment Fund to support the fight for GLBT rights.

He died in Los Angeles on April 28, 1999.

Source:

1999, University of California: In Memoriam, http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb267nb0r3&brand=calisphere (accessed November 2, 2008).

Extent

4.3 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

This collection contains materials relating primarily to the private life of Oreste Pucciani (1916-1999), UCLA Professor of French and Sartre scholar, documenting in particular his relationship with his long-time lover, Rudi Gernreich, and his close friends, art director Jacques Faure (1926-1986), poet Stanley Kuniholm (1912-1984), and Lionel Mailles (born 1951). The bulk of Pucciani's personal writings consists of erotic short stories written most probably between 1975 and 1980. The bulk of the materials relating to Rudi Gernreich consists of condolence letters to Pucciani after Gernreich's death, together with a small number of cards and letters addressed to Gernreich, letters to Pucciani from Gernreich's mother, and a videocassette recording of a talk given by Pucciani on his late partner in 1993. The bulk of the materials relating to Faure, Kuniholm, and Mailles consists of letters received by Pucciani; however, the Mailles files include copies of letters, poems, and essays addressed by Pucciani to Mailles. The materials received from Kuniholm include a large number of poems, short stories, and essays documenting the poet's creative processes. The collection also contains a small number of subject files, publications, and miscellaneous memorabilia and ephemera.

Arrangement

Missing Title

  1. Series 1. Oreste Pucciani
  2. Series 2. Rudi Gernreich
  3. Series 3. Friends
  4. Subseries 3.1. Jacques Faure
  5. Subseries 3.2. Stanley Kuniholm
  6. Subseries 3.3. Lionel Mailles
  7. Subseries 3.4. Other Correspondents
  8. Series 4. Subject Files
  9. Series 5. Publications
  10. Series 6. Audio Visual
  11. Series 7. Miscellanea

Acquisition Information

Circumstances of acquisition unknown.

Separated Materials

Additional papers of Oreste Pucciani constitute the Oreste Pucciani Papers (Collection 585), Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

General Physical Description note

10 archive cartons + 1 archive half-carton.

Processing Information

Formerly boxes 103-338, 103-339, 103-345, and 103-349. Collection processed by Michael P. Palmer, November 4, 2008.

Processing this collection has been funded by a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Title
Finding aid of the Oreste F. Pucciani Papers Coll2008.059
Status
Completed
Author
Michael P. Palmer
Date
© 2008
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in: English

Repository Details

Part of the ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, University of Southern California Repository

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