Sigurd Burckhardt Manuscripts
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Copyright 2005
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Descriptive Summary
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Sigurd Burckhardt Manuscripts
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0117
Physical Description:
1 Linear feet
(3 archives boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1955-1969
Abstract: Manuscripts (1955-1969) of Sigurd Burckhardt, literary scholar specializing in Shakespeare, Goethe, and Kleist, and founding
member of the University of California, San Diego, Literature Department. Materials include published and unpublished essays
and articles, reprint copies, chapbooks, drafts, relevant notes, Burckhardt's dissertation entitled "Sprache als Gestalt in
Goethes Blankversdramen,"
Shakespearean Meanings, and a transcript of Michael Kohlhaas. The collection consists of two series: 1) MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS, and 2) BOOK-LENGTH
STUDIES.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Sigurd Burckhardt collection contains manuscripts and typescripts of published and unpublished essays, articles, chapbooks,
drafts, notes and book-length studies. Essays and notes related to Shakespearean plays in Series 1 can often be found in finished
form in the manuscript,
Shakespearean Meanings, located in Series 2. The collection is organized into two series: 1) MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS, and 2) BOOK-LENGTH STUDIES.
SERIES 1: MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS
The MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS series contains typescripts, reprints, chapbooks, and holograph drafts. This series is arranged
alphabetically, and a number of manuscripts have been annotated by Robert Elliott. In many cases, each folder contains several
versions of a particular study. Within each folder, manuscripts are arranged chronologically, that is, in order of refinement,
with rough notes and other "groundwork" at the beginning of each folder, and the finished product at the end.
SERIES 2: BOOK-LENGTH STUDIES
This series contains three book-length studies arranged alphabetically. The first study is the manuscript of
Shakespearean Meanings, a collection of Burckhardt's essays on Shakespeare, edited by R. Pearce and R. Elliott in 1967-1968. Press release forms
and reviews, as well as some holograph notes from Elliott are included after the manuscript proper. The second study (exclusively
in German) consists of the numerous preliminary drafts for Burckhardt's dissertation, "Sprache als Gestalt in Goethes Blankversdramen,"
as well as the completed dissertation. The third study is a transcript of Michael Kohlhaas (from an Old Chronicle).
Biography
Sigurd Burckhardt was born on November 21, 1916, in Bielefeld, Germany. He received his secondary education at the Friedenauer
Gymnasium, Berlin, from which he graduated in 1935. After absolving two years of compulsory military service, he emigrated
to the United States. Burckhardt's family was relatively large and had long been working to earn enough money to send one
of the children to America. When that sum had been accumulated, Sigurd seemed the most worthy recipient due to his scholarly
inclinations and ambitious intellect. In the autumn of 1938, Burckhardt matriculated at the University of California at Berkeley,
where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in German in 1940 and, after some interruptions of his graduate studies by employment
in a war industry and as a high school teacher, received his Master of Arts degree in English in 1945.
Burckhardt was employed from 1947 to 1953 as an instructor and assistant professor at Saint Mary's College in California.
In the autumn of 1953, he entered Ohio State University to resume his study of German language and literature while simultaneously
teaching as an assistant instructor from 1953 to 1954 and as an instructor from 1954 to 1956. At practical odds with the "New
Critics" such as Brooks and Leavis, Burckhardt straddled the ground between traditional scholarship and "close reading" methodology.
In 1963, Burckhardt left his position at Ohio State and became a professor at the University of California, San Diego. A
posthumous collection of his essays on Shakespeare has been co-edited and published (1967-1968) under the title
Shakespearean Meanings by Pearce and Elliott. This was the first and only book to be published under Burckhardt's name. His preferred form of writing
was the long essay, and he claimed to be intimidated by the scale of the book-length study. Sigurd Burckhardt died on December
15, 1966.
Preferred Citation
Sigurd Burckhardt Manuscripts, MSS 117. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquisition Information
Acquired 1970.
OFF-SITE STORAGE
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Publication Rights
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Criticism -- United States
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
Kleist, Heinrich von, 1777-1811
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832
Burckhardt, Sigurd, 1916-1966 -- Archives
Box 1, Folder 1
Bloom, Allan - Includes two reprints from "The American Political Science Review", vols. LIV, nos. 1 and 2, March and June,
respectively. No. 1 is entitled "English Barbs and APSR Reviewers", No. 2 is entitled "On Reading Ordinary Prose: A Reply
to Allan Bloom"
1960
Box 1, Folder 2
Brutus and Hamlet: The Dramatist Within - Two holograph drafts
ca. 1962
Box 1, Folder 3
Die Natuerliche Tochter: Goethes Iphigenie in Aurelius? - Reprint from the journal
Germanisch=Romantische Monatsschrift
1960
Box 1, Folder 4
Egmont and Prinz Friedrich von Homburg: Expostulation and Reply - Reprint from
The German Quarterly
1963
Box 1, Folder 5
German Made Easy - Reprint from
The Hudson Review
1966
Box 1, Folder 6
Hamlet and Julius Caesar: Two Plays in Search of a Plot - Two holograph drafts
ca. 1962
Box 1, Folder 7
Hamlet and Julius Caesar, untitled writings - Two holograph drafts
ca. 1961-1962
Box 1, Folder 8
Heinrich von Kleist: Fall und Ruckfall, Vorwort - Holograph on notecards. Two sub-headings: "Einfuhrung: Der Zusammenbruch"
and "Der Dramatiker als Tater"
Box 1, Folder 9
Homburgs Pferde - Holograph
Box 1, Folder 10
How Not To Murder Caesar - Chapbook version of inaugural lecture, given October 31, 1963, at the University of California, San Diego
Box 1, Folder 11
I am but a Shadow of Myself: Ceremony and Design in I Henry VI - Typescript
1966
Box 1, Folder 12
I am but a Shadow of Myself: Episode and Design in I Henry VI - Typescript
1966
Box 1, Folder 13
Julius Caesar and Hamlet: Lofty Scenes and Casual Slaughters - Three holograph drafts
Box 1, Folder 14
King John: The Ordering of This Present Time - Reprint from
ELH: A Journal of English Literary History
1966
Box 1, Folder 15
King's Language: Shakespeare's Drama as Social Discovery - Reprint from
The Antioch Review, photocopy
1959 - 1960
Box 1, Folder 16
King Lear: The Quality of Nothing - Reprint from
The Minnesota Review, photocopy with author's additions
Box 1, Folder 17
Kleist - General notes. Two holograph drafts. Covers: Marquise von O., Amphitryon, Verlobung und Penthesilea, Der Findling,
Der Zweikampf, Zebrochene Krug
Box 1, Folder 18
Kleist - Notes on Prinz Friedrich von Homburg. Two holographs, one loose-leaf, one spiral bound notebook
Box 1, Folder 19
Kleist - Reprint from
The Hudson Review. The Stories of Heinrich von Kleist - Reprint from
The Modern Language Quarterly
1961 - 1963
Box 1, Folder 20
Kleist's Hermannsschlacht: the Lock and the Key - Typescript
Box 1, Folder 21
Limits of Representation - Reprint from
The Hudson Review. Regards Rolf Hochhuth's
The Deputy
Box 1, Folder 22
Mann, Thomas - Holograph drafts for an untitled essay on the critical treatment of
Box 1, Folder 23
Merchant of Venice: The Gentle Bond - Reprint from
ELH, A Journal of Engish Literary History. Read in April of 1962 as the annual Tudor and Stuart Lecture at The Johns Hopkins University
Box 1, Folder 24
Metaphorical Structure of Goethe's "Auf Dem See" - Two holograph drafts with footnotes and reprint from
The Germanic Review
Box 1, Folder 25
Name of Caesar - Three holograph drafts
Box 1, Folder 26
Poet as Fool and Priest - Reprint from
ELH, A Journal of English Literary History
1956
Box 1, Folder 27
Poetry of Hugo von Hofmannsthal - Reprint from
The Hudson Review
1961
Box 1, Folder 28
Precision of the Poet's Language - Typescript with author's corrections
Box 1, Folder 29
Rhyme or Reason? - Two holograph drafts
Box 1, Folder 30
Shakespeare and Goethe - Two holograph drafts
Box 2, Folder 1
Sprache als Gestalt in Goethe's
Prometheus und
Pandora
General note
Photocopy reprint from unidentified journal. German. This article is a pared-down synthesis of what figure as the two discreet
chapters "Prometheus" and "Pandora" in Burckhardt's dissertation, "Sprache als Gestalt in Goethes Blankversdramen".
Box 2, Folder 2
Strategy of Interpretation - Holograph
Box 2, Folder 3
Swoll'n with Some Other Grief: Shakespeare's Prince Hal Trilogy - Typescript
1966
General note
Though unpublished in his lifetime, this essay appears in his posthumous collection
Shakespearean Meanings.
Box 2, Folder 4
Time in Julius Caesar II.i: or For Whom the Clock Strikes - Typescript with author's additions
ca. 1961-1962
General note
This essay is the "scholarly version" (as R. Elliott phrased it) of the essay "How Not To Murder Caesar," which appears in
the posthumous collection,
Shakespearean Meanings.
Box 2, Folder 5
What Color Was Homburg's Horse? or the Method of Interpretation - Holograph
Box 2, Folder 6
Who Was Shakespeare? - Typescript of lecture given on March 13, 1964 at the University of California, San Diego
Box 2, Folder 7
Zum Fall Des Prinzen von Homburg - Typescript with author's additions and notes
Box 2, Folder 8
Zur Theorie der Werkimmanenten Deutung and Appendix - Typescript with author's additions
Box 2, Folder 9-10
Shakespearean Meanings - Original typescripts, photocopy reprints from literary journals, and versions of original text edited by Pearce and Elliott
1967
Box 2, Folder 11
Book reviews on and publicity documents for
Shakespearean Meanings
1968 - 1969
Sprache als Gestalt in Goethes Blankversdramen Drafts
Box 2, Folder 12
Abstract - Typescript
1955 - 1956
Box 2, Folder 13
Autobiography and Misc.
1956
General note
"Misc." refers to a page numbered 223 which cannot be found to correlate with any of the Burckhardt collection. It refers
to
Faust I.
Box 2, Folder 15
IV. Dichter und Sprache: Goethe's Tasso - Two typescript drafts with author's notes and additions, holograph footnotes
1955 - 1956
General note
Although the drafts are numbered chapter IV, they do not appear as such in the final dissertation.
Box 2, Folder 16
Die Natuerliche Tochter - Two typescript drafts with author's additions, holograph footnotes
1955 - 1956
Box 2, Folder 17
III. Iphigenie - Two typescript drafts with author's additions
1955 - 1956
Box 2, Folder 18
VI. Pandora - Two typescript drafts with author's additions, plus holographic insert
1955 - 1956
Box 3, Folder 1
Prometheus - Two typescript drafts with holograph footnotes
1955 - 1956
Box 3, Folder 2
Vorwort - Two typescript drafts with author's notes, holograph footnotes
1955 - 1956
General note
On the latter of the drafts, the title "Vorwort" is crossed out by the author and EINLEITUNG is written over in pencil.
Box 3, Folder 3
Sprache als Gestalt in Goethes Blankversdramen - Completed dissertation
1956
General note
Contains six chapters: Einleitung, Prometheus, Iphigenie, Tasso, Die Natuerliche Tochter, and Pandora, and a bibliography.
In German.
Box 3, Folder 4
Transcript of Michael Kohlhaas (from an Old Chronicle) - Typescript
undated
