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This acquisition of papers from Christopher Middleton, poet, translator, and essayist,
is a substantial addition to his materials previously received and cataloged at
the
Ransom Center. The papers include his original poetry and prose works, translations,
essays, correspondence, and published writings. Middleton provided a detailed
descriptive list for the collection, and his original order has been followed
throughout, except for minor adjustments to maintain consistency. For his original
writings, Middleton's order of creation follows a progression from handwritten
drafts, primarily in notebooks, to typescripts and ultimately to page proofs and
galleys. The material is arranged in three series: Series I. Works, 1968-2003;
Series II. Correspondence, 1962-2001; and Series III. Periodical Publications. |
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Series I. Works contains three subseries, each arranged in chronological order: A.
Original Poetry and Prose; B. Translations; and C. Essays and Reviews. Titles
of
works, primarily published poetry, in Subseries A. include Our Flowers & Nice Bones (1969), The
Lonely Suppers of W. V. Balloon (1975), Pataxanadu, & Other Prose (1977),
Carminalenia (1980), 111 Poems (1983),
Serpentine (1985), Two
Horse Wagon Going By (1986), Selected Writings
(1989), The Balcony Tree (1992), Intimate Chronicles (1996), In
the Mirror of the Eighth King (1999), Twenty
Tropes for Doctor Dark (2000), The Word Pavilion
and Selected Poems (2001), Crypto-Topographia:
Stories of Secret Places (2002), and Of Mortal
Fire: 1999-2002 (2003). In addition to handwritten notes for the
majority of works in the chronological listing, there are additional notebooks
that
contain drafts of poems, translations, and essays. Because multiple works are
represented in each notebook, an index was created to link the published work
with
the various notebooks. This alphabetical index is found at the end of the folder
list. |
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The prose and poetry translations in Subseries B. contain anthologies, edited by
Middleton and translated in collaboration with others, as well as his translations
of others' works. Included are Modern German Poetry,
1910-1960 (1962), German Writing Today
(1967), Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche
(1969), Christa Wolf's The Quest for Christa T
(1970), Selected Poems of Friedrich Hölderlin and Eduard
Mörike (1972), Robert Walser's Selected
Stories (1983), Selected Poems of Goethe
(1983), Christoph Meckel's The Figure on the Boundary Line:
Selected Prose (1983), Andalusian Poems
(1993), and numerous works by Gert Hofmann and Lars Gustaffson (1984-2000). Essays
and reviews are found in Subseries C., most especially The
Pursuit of the Kingfisher (1983). |
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Series II. Correspondence, 1962-2001, contains two subseries, Alphabetical Files and
Chronological Files. The Alphabetical Files contain letters from poets, writers,
and
translators, with occasional copies of Middleton's responses. Correspondents include
Leonardo Alishan, Basil Bunting, Cid Corman, Michel Deguy, Babette Deutsch, James
Dickey, Lawrence Durrell, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Günter Grass, Thom Gunn, Donald
Hall,
Michael Hamburger, Michael Harlow, John Hawkes, Ernst Jandl, Robinson Jeffers,
Erwin
Jereb, Ronald Johnson, August Kleinzahler, Denise Levertov, Cecil Day Lewis, Thomas
Lowenstein, Gerard Malanga, Robert Marteau, Friederike Mayröcker, Mary McCarthy,
W.
S. Merwin, Gloria Oden, Octavio Paz, Peter Redgrove, Hans Richter, David Rokeah,
Claude Royet-Journoud, Siegfried Sassoon, Thomás Segovia, Karl Shapiro, Roger
Shattuck, Edison Simons, Nathaniel Tarn, Dumitru Tsepeneag, Rosmarie and Keith
Waldrop, Donald Weismann, David Wevill, Tom Whalen, John Willett, and Jonathan
Williams. The Chronological Files, 1962-2001, are subdivided into three subject
areas: Publishers, Periodicals, and Translations and editorial material. |
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The periodical publications in Series III. contain writings by Middleton, especially
poems, but also essays and reviews. The material is arranged in alphabetical order
by serial title. |
