# Ian Middleton

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For the cox, see [Ian Middleton (rowing)](/source/Ian_Middleton_(rowing)).

**Ian Middleton** (26 October 1928 – 24 October 2007) was a New Zealand [novelist](/source/Novelist), who made a particular mark[1] with his books set in post-[Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) Japan. Born in [New Plymouth](/source/New_Plymouth), he was the younger brother of noted New Zealand [short story](/source/Short_story) [writer](/source/Writer) [O. E. Middleton](/source/O._E._Middleton).

Blind, he said this gave him a "special perspective but 'without limitation'", and has been attributed to the "strong metaphoric colour, sensual - often erotic - quality and lush verbal richness of his writing".[2]

A full list of his publications can be seen at the [University of Auckland](/source/University_of_Auckland)'s NZ Literature file [3] and more biographical information is at the [New Zealand Book Council](/source/New_Zealand_Book_Council)'s website.[4]

## Main works

- *Pet Shop* (Waiura: A. Taylor, 1979)
- *Faces of Hachiko* ([Auckland](/source/Auckland): Inca Print, 1984)
- *Sunflower: a Novel of Present Day Japan* ([Auckland](/source/Auckland): Benton Press, 1986)
- *[Mr Ponsonby](/source/Mr_Ponsonby)* ([Auckland](/source/Auckland): Lyndon, 1989)
- *Reiko* ([Wellington](/source/Wellington): Moana Press, 1990)
- *Harvest* ([Ōkato](/source/%C5%8Ckato): Puniho Art Press, 1995)
- *I See a Voice* ([Auckland](/source/Auckland): Flamingo, 1997)

The 'Japanese trilogy' - *Faces of Hachiko*, *Sunflower* and *Reiko* - describes a personal and complex portrayal of post-war Japan. *Pet Shop*, a novel on his early upbringing in small-town New Zealand, wartime Auckland and his experiences on a Norwegian tanker, was described by New Zealand writer Kevin Ireland as "an absorbing picture of the repressions that passed for a moral code".[5]

## References

1. [http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/middletonian.html](http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/middletonian.html)|Book [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192017/http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/middletonian.html%7CBook) 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Council entry, Middletonian

1. The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, edited by Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998)| Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature

1. ["University of Auckland file"](https://archive.today/20120906045933/http://www.nzlf.auckland.ac.nz/author/?a_id=114). Archived from [the original](http://www.nzlf.auckland.ac.nz/author/?a_id=114) on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2010.

1. [Book Council entry, Middletonian](http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/middletonian.html)

1. The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, edited by Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998)

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