Edwin Muir
Encyclopedia
Edwin Muir was an Orcadian poet
, novelist and translator born on a farm in Deerness on the Orkney Islands
. He was remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry in plain language with few stylistic preoccupations.
. In quick succession his father, two brothers, and his mother died within the space of a few years. His life as a young man was a depressing experience, and involved a raft of unpleasant jobs in factories and offices, including working in a factory that turned bones into charcoal. "He suffered psychologically in a most destructive way, although perhaps the poet of later years benefited from these experiences as much as from his Orkney 'Eden'." In 1919, Muir married Willa Anderson, and the two moved to London
. About this, Muir wrote simply 'My marriage was the most fortunate event in my life'. They would later collaborate on highly acclaimed English translations of such writers as Franz Kafka
, Gerhart Hauptmann
, Sholem Asch
, Heinrich Mann
, and Hermann Broch
.
Between 1921 and 1923, Muir lived in Prague
, Dresden
, Italy
, Salzburg
and Vienna
; he returned to the UK in 1924. Between 1925 and 1956, Muir published seven volumes of poetry which were collected after his death and published in 1991 as The Complete Poems of Edwin Muir. From 1927 to 1932 he published three novels, and in 1935 he came to St Andrews
, where he produced his controversial Scott and Scotland (1936). From 1946-1949 he was Director of the British Council
in Prague and Rome
. 1950 saw his appointment as Warden of Newbattle Abbey College (a college for working class
men) in Midlothian
, where he met fellow Orcadian poet, George Mackay Brown
. In 1955 he was made Norton Professor of English at Harvard University
. He returned to Britain in 1956 but died in 1959 at Swaffham Prior
, Cambridge
, and was buried there.
A memorial bench was erected in 1962 to Muir in the idyllic village of Swanston
, Edinburgh
, where he spent time during the 1950s.
to Muir, while his family's move to the city corresponded in his mind to a deeply disturbing encounter with the "fallen" world. The emotional tensions of that dichotomy shaped much of his work and deeply influenced his life. His psychological distress led him to undergo Jungian analysis in London. A vision in which he witnessed the creation strengthened the Edenic myth in his mind, leading him to see his life and career as the working-out of an archetypal fable. In his Autobiography he wrote, "the life of every man is an endlessly repeated performance of the life of man...". He also expressed his feeling that our deeds on earth constitute "a myth which we act almost without knowing it." Alienation, paradox, the existential dyads of good and evil, life and death, love and hate, and images of journeys, labyrinths, time and places fill his work.
His Scott and Scotland advanced the claim that Scotland can only create a national literature by writing in English, an opinion which placed him in direct opposition to the Lallans
movement of Hugh MacDiarmid
. He had little sympathy for Scottish nationalism
.
In 1965 a volume of his selected poetry was edited and introduced by T. S. Eliot
. Many of Edwin and Willa Muir's translations of German novels are still in print.
The following quotation expresses the basic existential dilemma of Edwin Muir's life:
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, novelist and translator born on a farm in Deerness on the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
. He was remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry in plain language with few stylistic preoccupations.
Biography
Muir was born in Deerness, where his mother was also born, at Hacco, remembered in his autobiography as "Haco". In 1901, when he was 14, his father lost his farm, and the family moved to GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. In quick succession his father, two brothers, and his mother died within the space of a few years. His life as a young man was a depressing experience, and involved a raft of unpleasant jobs in factories and offices, including working in a factory that turned bones into charcoal. "He suffered psychologically in a most destructive way, although perhaps the poet of later years benefited from these experiences as much as from his Orkney 'Eden'." In 1919, Muir married Willa Anderson, and the two moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. About this, Muir wrote simply 'My marriage was the most fortunate event in my life'. They would later collaborate on highly acclaimed English translations of such writers as Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, Gerhart Hauptmann
Gerhart Hauptmann
Gerhart Hauptmann was a German dramatist and novelist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.-Life and work:...
, Sholem Asch
Sholem Asch
Sholem Asch, born Szalom Asz , also written Shalom Asch was a Polish-born American Jewish novelist, dramatist, and essayist in the Yiddish language.-Life and work:...
, Heinrich Mann
Heinrich Mann
Luiz Heinrich Mann was a German novelist who wrote works with strong social themes. His attacks on the authoritarian and increasingly militaristic nature of pre-World War II German society led to his exile in 1933.-Life and work:Born in Lübeck as the oldest child of Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann...
, and Hermann Broch
Hermann Broch
Hermann Broch was a 20th century Austrian writer, considered one of the major Modernists.-Life:Broch was born in Vienna to a prosperous Jewish family and worked for some time in his family's factory, though he maintained his literary interests privately...
.
Between 1921 and 1923, Muir lived in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
; he returned to the UK in 1924. Between 1925 and 1956, Muir published seven volumes of poetry which were collected after his death and published in 1991 as The Complete Poems of Edwin Muir. From 1927 to 1932 he published three novels, and in 1935 he came to St Andrews
St Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
, where he produced his controversial Scott and Scotland (1936). From 1946-1949 he was Director of the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
in Prague and Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. 1950 saw his appointment as Warden of Newbattle Abbey College (a college for working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
men) in Midlothian
Midlothian
Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....
, where he met fellow Orcadian poet, George Mackay Brown
George Mackay Brown
George Mackay Brown , was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist, whose work has a distinctly Orcadian character...
. In 1955 he was made Norton Professor of English at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He returned to Britain in 1956 but died in 1959 at Swaffham Prior
Swaffham Prior
Swaffham Prior is a village in East Cambridgeshire, England.Lying 5 miles west of Newmarket, and two miles south west of Burwell, the village is often paired with its neighbour Swaffham Bulbeck, and are collectively referred to as 'The Swaffhams'. Swaffham Prior was often known as Great Swaffham in...
, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, and was buried there.
A memorial bench was erected in 1962 to Muir in the idyllic village of Swanston
Swanston, Edinburgh
Swanston is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a small village lying to the south of the larger suburban area of Fairmilehead, on the south side of the Edinburgh City Bypass off Oxgangs Road, and five miles from the city centre. The name is also used to encompass some of the more modern housing...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, where he spent time during the 1950s.
Work
His childhood in remote and unspoiled Orkney represented an idyllic EdenGarden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
to Muir, while his family's move to the city corresponded in his mind to a deeply disturbing encounter with the "fallen" world. The emotional tensions of that dichotomy shaped much of his work and deeply influenced his life. His psychological distress led him to undergo Jungian analysis in London. A vision in which he witnessed the creation strengthened the Edenic myth in his mind, leading him to see his life and career as the working-out of an archetypal fable. In his Autobiography he wrote, "the life of every man is an endlessly repeated performance of the life of man...". He also expressed his feeling that our deeds on earth constitute "a myth which we act almost without knowing it." Alienation, paradox, the existential dyads of good and evil, life and death, love and hate, and images of journeys, labyrinths, time and places fill his work.
His Scott and Scotland advanced the claim that Scotland can only create a national literature by writing in English, an opinion which placed him in direct opposition to the Lallans
Lallans
Lallans , a variant of the Modern Scots word lawlands meaning the lowlands of Scotland, was also traditionally used to refer to the Scots language as a whole...
movement of Hugh MacDiarmid
Hugh MacDiarmid
Hugh MacDiarmid is the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve , a significant Scottish poet of the 20th century. He was instrumental in creating a Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century...
. He had little sympathy for Scottish nationalism
Scottish independence
Scottish independence is a political ambition of political parties, advocacy groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and become an independent sovereign state, separate from England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
.
In 1965 a volume of his selected poetry was edited and introduced by T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
. Many of Edwin and Willa Muir's translations of German novels are still in print.
The following quotation expresses the basic existential dilemma of Edwin Muir's life:
"I was born before the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, and am now about two hundred years old. But I have skipped a hundred and fifty of them. I was really born in 1737, and till I was fourteen no time-accidents happened to me. Then in 1751 I set out from Orkney for Glasgow. When I arrived I found that it was not 1751, but 1901, and that a hundred and fifty years had been burned up in my two day's journey. But I myself was still in 1751, and remained there for a long time. All my life since I have been trying to overhaul that invisible leeway. No wonder I am obsessed with Time." (Extract from Diary 1937-39.)
Works
- We moderns: enigmas and guesses, written with the pseudonym Edward Moore, London, G. Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1918
- Latitudes, New York, B. W. Huebsch, inc., 1924
- First poems, London, Hogarth Press, 1925
- Chorus of the newly dead, London, L. & V. Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1926
- Transition: essays on contemporary literature, London, L. and V. Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1926
- The marionette, London, L. & V. Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1927
- The structure of the novel, London, L. & V. Woolf, 1928.
- John Knox: portrait of a Calvinist, London, J. Cape, 1929.
- The three brothers, London, W. Heinemann ltd., 1931
- Poor Tom, London, J. M. Dent & sons, ltd., 1932
- Variations on the time theme, London, J. M. Dent & sons ltd., 1934
- Scottish journey London, W. Heinemann, ltd., in association with V. Gollancz, ltd., 1935
- Journeys and places, London, J.M. Dent & sons, ltd., 1937
- The present age from 1914, London, The Cresset press, 1939
- The story & the fable, an autobiography, London, G. G. Harrap & co. ltd., 1940
- The narrow place, London, Faber and Faber, 1943
- The Scots and their country, London, published for the British council by Longmans, Green & Co., ltd., 1946
- The voyage, and other poems, London, Faber and Faber, 1946
- Essays on literature and society, London, Hogarth Press, 1949
- The labyrinth, London, Faber and Faber, 1949
- Collected poems, 1921-1951, London, Faber and Faber, 1952
- An autobiography, London : Hogarth Press, 1954
- Prometheus, Illustrated by John PiperJohn PiperJohn Piper may refer to:* John Piper , 20th century English painter and printmaker* John Piper , 20th century BBC radio host* John Piper , 19th century lieutenant-governor of Norfolk Island...
, London, Faber and Faber, 1954 - One foot in Eden, New York, Grove Press, 1956
- New poets, 1959, Edited by Edwin Muir, London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1959
- The estate of poetry, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1962
- Collected poems, New York, Oxford University Press, 1965
- The politics of King Lear, New York, Haskell House, 1970
Co-Translations
- Power, by Lion FeuchtwangerLion FeuchtwangerLion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, The Viking press, 1926 - The Ugly Duchess: a Historical Romance, by Lion FeuchtwangerLion FeuchtwangerLion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, M. Secker, 1927 - Two Anglo-Saxon Plays: The Oil islands and Warren Hastings, by Lion FeuchtwangerLion FeuchtwangerLion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, M. Secker, 1929 - Success: a Novel, by Lion FeuchtwangerLion FeuchtwangerLion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, The Viking Press, 1930 - The Trial, by Franz KafkaFranz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, 1937 and re-issued by The Modern Library, 1957 - The Castle, by Franz KafkaFranz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, M. Secker, 1930 - Metamorphosis and Other Stories, by Franz KafkaFranz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, Penguin Books, 1961. - The Sleepwalkers: a trilogy, by Hermann BrochHermann BrochHermann Broch was a 20th century Austrian writer, considered one of the major Modernists.-Life:Broch was born in Vienna to a prosperous Jewish family and worked for some time in his family's factory, though he maintained his literary interests privately...
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, Little, Brown and company, 1932 - Josephus, by Lion FeuchtwangerLion FeuchtwangerLion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, The Viking Press, 1932 - Salvation, by Sholem AschSholem AschSholem Asch, born Szalom Asz , also written Shalom Asch was a Polish-born American Jewish novelist, dramatist, and essayist in the Yiddish language.-Life and work:...
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1934 - The Hill of Lies, by Heinrich MannHeinrich MannLuiz Heinrich Mann was a German novelist who wrote works with strong social themes. His attacks on the authoritarian and increasingly militaristic nature of pre-World War II German society led to his exile in 1933.-Life and work:Born in Lübeck as the oldest child of Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann...
, translated by Edwin and Willa Muir, Jarrolds LTD, 1934 - Mottke, the Thief, by Sholem AschSholem AschSholem Asch, born Szalom Asz , also written Shalom Asch was a Polish-born American Jewish novelist, dramatist, and essayist in the Yiddish language.-Life and work:...
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1935 - The Unknown Quantity, by Hermann BrochHermann BrochHermann Broch was a 20th century Austrian writer, considered one of the major Modernists.-Life:Broch was born in Vienna to a prosperous Jewish family and worked for some time in his family's factory, though he maintained his literary interests privately...
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir,The Viking Press, 1935 - The Jew of Rome: a Historical Romance, by Lion FeuchtwangerLion FeuchtwangerLion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, Hutchinson & Co., Ltd., 1935 - The Loom of Justice, by Ernst LotharErnst LotharErnst Lothar was a Moravian-Austrian writer, theatre director/manager and producer.He was born Ernst Lothar Müller, and as Müller is common German surname, he dropped it. His brother, Hans Müller-Einigen, went the other way and added a surname.-Biography:...
, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, Putnam, 1935 - Night over the East, by Erik von Kuehnelt-LeddihnErik von Kuehnelt-LeddihnErik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn was an Austrian Catholic nobleman and socio-political theorist...
, translated and adapted by Edwin and Willa Muir, Sheed and Ward Inc., 1936