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AROUND THE QUADS
In Memoriam
John H. Middendorf, emeritus professor of English, passed away on August 14. He was 85. Middendorf earned a Ph.D. in English and comparative literature in 1953 from GSAS and taught at Columbia for 45 years, devoting himself to his edition of Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, forthcoming in the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, of which he was general editor. He is survived by his wife of 21 years, Maureen MacGrogan; daughters from his first marriage to Beverly Bruner, who died in 1983, Cathie Hamilton, and Peggy and her husband, Larry Brindisi; and two granddaughters. Memorial contributions may be sent to the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, 161 Fort Washington Ave., New York, NY 10032-3784, c/o Dr. Chabot (checks payable to Columbia University).
Edward G. Seidensticker, emeritus professor of Japanese literature, died on August 26 in Tokyo. An eminent translator who brought the works of ancient and modern Japanese writers to a wide English-speaking public, he was 86 and lived in Tokyo. Seidensticker was most widely known for his translation of The Tale of Genji, the 11th-century epic of love and intrigue by Murasaki Shikibu, a Japanese lady-in-waiting at the imperial court. Seidensticker’s translation, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1976, was praised by critics and attracted a popular following. Seidensticker, who taught at Stanford and Michigan as well as Columbia (1978–85), also was closely associated with the work of three 20th-century novelists: Yukio Mishima, Junichiro Tanizaki and Yasunari Kawabata. Seidensticker’s translations of Kawabata’s work are generally credited with helping Kawabata secure the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, the first Japanese writer to receive the award. Seidensticker won a National Book Award in 1971 for his translation of Kawabata’s novel The Sound of the Mountain.
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