File: "Schmidt, Michael"

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 133 CQA1/1/116
  • Dates of Creation
      25 Jan 1971-6 Jan 1983 & n.d.
  • Physical Description
      153 pieces; 178 leaves .

Scope and Content

Extensive correspondence with and relating to Michael (Norton) Schmidt (b 1947), Mexican-born poet and managing director of Carcanet Press. There are various references to poems by Schmidt submitted to CQ, including: typescripts of 'Eden' and 'Alone, and in a Lonely Place' (/3); the acceptance of his poem 'The Shells' in 1972 (/65); and a large bundle of duplicated proofs of poems by Schmidt (/86-132).

Other topics covered include: the work of Carcanet Press during its early days in Oxford; Schmidt's own literary work; the relocation of Carcanet to Cheadle Hulme in Cheshire in 1972, and subsequently to central Manchester; Schmidt's appointment and work as Fellow of Poetry at the Manchester Poetry Centre in 1972; a reading by Schmidt in January 1972; a planned reading by Janos Pilinszky in 1976 (in /133 Schmidt encloses a copy of a letter from Ted Hughes on the subject); a reading by I.A. Richards in 1977; the journalPN Review; and the publication of Schmidt's first novel,The Colonist, in 1980.

There is also a bundle of material relating to Cox's work in 1972 on a report for the Arts Council Literature Panel (of which Schmidt was a Junior Member) about poets in residence. This includes letters from various writers and academics responding to Cox's questions about residency and fellowship schemes, including: Peter Redgrove (/54), Malcolm Bradbury (/55), Kenneth Muir (/57), John Lawlor (/59), Reg Foakes (/60), E. Honigman (/61), Brian Morris (/62), and W.A. Murray (/63).

/71 is an annotated proof of a poem by Schmidt entitled 'The Angel and the Spider', inscribed to Cox; /72 is an annotated typescript of a review article by Schmidt entitled 'The Poetry of Donald Davie'; /84 is a copy of a Manchester University publication which includes an article on Manchester Poetry Centre alongside two poems by Schmidt.

Dated at: South Hinksey, Oxford; Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire; and Manchester.

Holograph and typescript.

Arrangement

/153 is from the 1993 accession of CQ papers.

Access Information

Pieces /44, /48, /61, /66, /78-79 and /83 are closed.