Christopher Middleton, poet, essayist, and translator, was born June 10, 1926, in Truro, Cornwall, England. He attended Merton College at Oxford, where he earned his B. A. degree in 1951 and his D. Phil. in 1954. He gave English language classes at Zurich University from 1952 to 1955 before accepting a lectureship in German literature at King's College, University of London. In 1966, Middleton accepted a professorship at the University of Texas at Austin in the department of Germanic languages and literature and was named the first David J. Bruton Jr. Centennial Professor of Modern Languages in 1986. He retired in May 1998.
Among Middleton's published books of poetry, there are
The papers of Christopher Middleton, poet, translator, and essayist is comprised of several acquisitions including a 2003 substantial addition to his materials previously received and cataloged at the Ransom Center. The material includes holograph manuscripts, typescripts, notebooks, galleys, page proofs, correspondence, and printed material and is arranged in four series: Series I. Works, 1954-2012; Series II. Correspondence, 1962-2001; Series III. Professional Personal, 2005; and Series IV. Periodical Publications, 1977-2002.
Series I. Works contains three subseries, each arranged in chronological order: A. Original Poetry and Prose; B. Translations; and C. Essays and Reviews. Middleton provided a detailed descriptive list for the collection, and his original order has been followed throughout, except for minor adjustments to maintain consistency. Works are listed chronologically and 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.
Titles of works, primarily published poetry, in Subseries A. include
The poems do not appear to have been arranged in any order. These manuscripts include Middleton's earliest holograph drafts, multiple revised versions, and typescripts of the final version of each poem. Among the materials for
In addition to handwritten notes for many 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.
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
Among the materials for the Canetti translation, there are a notebook containing a draft of the translation, a corrected photocopy typescript, a corrected advance proof copy, and correspondence between Middleton and Beverly Colman of Schocken Books, concerning editorial matters. Among the Hölderlin/Mörike materials, there are two notebooks of holograph translations of the poems; notes, a holograph manuscript, and typescripts of the Preface and the Introduction; a carbon copy typescript of the text; a set of page proofs; a set of corrected galleys; and correspondence between Middleton and various representatives of the University of Chicago Press, addressing publication of the book.
Essays and reviews are found in Subseries C., most especially
A 2022 addition to the papers included computer files for many later works. Only the electronic materials have been preserved and integrated into the works series. The title entry includes a brief description, the number of files, the file formats, and the year timestamp. These dates do not necessarily reflect when the file was created or last saved.
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.
Series III. Professional and Personal includes 125 electronic photographs of Poem Present reading.
The periodical publications in Series IV. contain writings by Middleton, especially poems, but also essays and reviews. The material is arranged in alphabetical order by serial title.
The inventory for the Christopher Middleton Papers is a conflation of one finding aid created in 1996 (reflecting 1966, 1968, 1977 acquisitions), which was updated in 2022 to incorporate electronic records, and a preliminary inventory created in 2004 for a minimally processed addition received in 2003. The descriptions from the two inventories were combined in 2025 to comply with a new content management system. Because both descriptions began the box numbering with Box 1, the three boxes from the 1966-1977 acquisitions are differentiated by adding the letter "a" to the original box number (e.g., Box 1a, Box 2a, etc.).
Gift and Purchases 1966, 1968, 1977, 2003 (Reg. no. 15159), 2022 (only electronic records described)
Open for research. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to the
Materials Use Policy before using archival materials. To request access to electronic files,
please email
Finding Aid created by Robert Kendrick, 1996; Isabel Morales and Liz Murray, 2004; Born digital materials processed, arranged, and described by Brenna Edwards, 2022
Additional Middleton materials may be found in the following collections: E. Dahlberg, Robinson Jeffers, John Lehmann,
Middleton's works and other books received with the manuscripts have been transferred to the Ransom Center Library.
The following index includes the 2003 addition only.
Bolded locations indicate that the relevant material is included in a notebook containing multiple works.
The following index does not include the 2003 addition.