Typed letter signed from James Michener, discussing the influence of Frank Norris' "McTeague" on his work

N.p.: N.p., 1981. Typed letter signed from James Michener to noted author and interviewer Richard Davison, dated December 19, 1981, executed on Michener's St. Michaels, MD stationery. With the original mailing envelope, matching the stationery with Michener's name and address on the rear flap.

The content in the letter is exceptional, with Michener going into some detail about how Frank Norris' novel, "McTeague," had a profound influence on his writing style, and how he considers it to be in league with the best of Gogol or Emile Zola.

Richard Davison is today a professor emeritus of English at the University of Delaware, and has over the last 30 years interviewed countless authors and stage actors, both in print and on the stage. His subjects have included John Updike, Arthur Miller, James Earl Jones, Hume Cronyn, Blythe Danner, Julie Harris, Stacey Keach, Jason Robards, Maureen Stapleton, and Eli Wallach. In 2001, the Rutgers University Press published a compendium of these interviews, co-edited with Jackson Bryer, titled "The Actors Art: Conversations with Contemporary American Stage Performers." In 2005, a companion volume, titled "The Art of the American Musical," was published.

7 x 5.5 inches. Folded once horizontally, Near Fine.