Rudi Holzapfel
Encyclopedia
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, died 6 February 2005 in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) was an Irish poet and teacher.
His father, Rudolf Melander Holzapfel (1900-1982), was a Shakespeare scholar, expert on Old Master paintings, and art dealer
Art dealer
An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
. His mother, Mona Trew Holzapfel (1914-1998), was an original member of the renowned Bluebell Girls at the Folies Bergère. The Parisian dance troupe, founded in 1932 by the Dublin born Margaret Kelly (1910-2004), continues to perform elaborate shows at the Lido de Paris. The family relocated to America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, living in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
between 1946 to 1956, where Rudi Holzapfel graduated from Santa Barbara Catholic High School. From 1956 to 1970, Holzapfel worked various jobs in England and Ireland, and studied - attaining a M. Litt. with his thesis "Irish Literary Periodicals from 1900 to the Present Day" (1964) - at Trinity College
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, Dublin, where he edited Icarus
Icarus (magazine)
Icarus is a student literary magazine based in Trinity College, Dublin. It publishes three issues per academic year and accepts submissions of poetry, prose and drama from students, staff and alumni of Dublin University. It was founded in 1950 by Alec Reid and has been published with regularity...
. It was during these years that Holzapfel began to identify with Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and the cause of Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
; he has said he would like to be considered a true inheritor of the spiritual legacy of the Gaelic Bards. He began a lifelong study and appreciation of James Clarence Mangan
James Clarence Mangan
James Clarence Mangan, born James Mangan was an Irish poet.-Early life:Mangan was the son of a former hedge school teacher who took over a grocery business and eventually became bankrupt....
(1803-1849), the greatest Irish poet before Yeats. In 1969, Holzapfel published James Clarence Mangan: A Checklist of Printed and Other Sources (Dublin: Scepter).
From 1970 to the late 1980s, Holzapfel lived in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, teaching English and Literature, especially at the Emil-Fischer-Gymnasium in Euskirchen
Euskirchen
Euskirchen is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted town-status in 1302....
. Holzapfel has published more than twenty-five books of poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, some under his own imprint, Sunburst Press (Blackrock, County Dublin). An early book of poetry, Cast a Cold Eye, was written with Brendan Kennelly
Brendan Kennelly
Brendan Kennelly is a popular Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. He is now retired and occasionally tours the USA as university lecturer.-Early life:...
(Dolmen Press, 1959). Holzapfel has published with other Irish authors, including Oliver Snoddy and John Farrell
John Farrell
Jonn Farrell may refer to:*John Farrell , Mayor of Peterborough 1974/75*John Farrell , Irish Victoria Cross winner*John Farrell , United States skater...
, and his work has been anthologized in the Penguin Book of Irish Verse and Modern Irish Poets. With a circle of other Mangan scholars, including Jacques Chuto, Peter Van de Kamp
Peter van de Kamp
Piet van de Kamp , known as Peter van de Kamp in the United States, was a Dutch astronomer who lived most of his life in the United States. He was professor of astronomy at Swarthmore College and director of the college's Sproul Observatory from 1937 until 1972...
, Peter MacMahon, and Ellen Shannon-Mangan, Holzapfel has edited selections of Mangan's prose and poems for the Irish Academic Press.
Rudi Holzapfel died in Bonn, Germany, on 6 February 2005. His grave is to be found at the Poppelsdorfer Friedhof. His final book of Sonnets, "A Tiger Says His Prayers", was published posthumously in 2006.
Works
- Cast a Cold Eye, 1959, with Brendan KennellyBrendan KennellyBrendan Kennelly is a popular Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. He is now retired and occasionally tours the USA as university lecturer.-Early life:...
- Romances [by "rooan hurkey"], 1960, Sunburst Press
- The Rain, the Moon, 1961, with Brendan KennellyBrendan KennellyBrendan Kennelly is a popular Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. He is now retired and occasionally tours the USA as university lecturer.-Early life:...
- The Dark About Our Loves, 1962, with Brendan KennellyBrendan KennellyBrendan Kennelly is a popular Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. He is now retired and occasionally tours the USA as university lecturer.-Early life:...
- Poems: Green Townlands (Leeds), 1963, with Brendan KennellyBrendan KennellyBrendan Kennelly is a popular Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. He is now retired and occasionally tours the USA as university lecturer.-Early life:...
- Transubstantiations, 1963
- The Leprechaun [by "R. Patrick Ward"], 1963
- Why Hitler is in Heaven (satirical ballad), 1964
- Nollaig by Rudi Holzappel [sic] and Oliver Snoddy, 1964
- Translations From The English, 1965, The Museum Bookshop, Dublin
- The Rebel Bloom, Leeds, 1967
- For Love of Ireland (Broadsheet with 9 poems), [the author], Leeds, 1967
- No Road beyond Vallombrosa, 1968
- Parasites Lost, (Rudi Patrick Sebastian Holzapfel and John Joseph Conleth Farrell), 1970, Privately Printed, Cork
- Soledades, n.d., [1974], Sunburst Press
- Whom a Dream Hath Possessed, 1975, Sunburst Press
- A Smile Dies, 1978, Sunburst Press
- Repeat after me [with Hermann Brunken], 1980, Woodway Press, Euskirchen
- Poems Written Swiftly, 1982, Sunburst Press
- Buckshot (Aphorisms), 1983
- Turning and Manipulation, 1986, Sunburst Press
- Ask Silence Why, 1961-1982, selected poems edited by Ellen Shannon-Mangan, Dublin, 1987, Beaver Row Press
- The Light of Loss, December 1987, Sunburst Press
- And Other Poems, 1987, Pioneer Printing, New York
- White Alligators, 1991, Sunburst Press
- For Ronnie, 1993 (single leaf - to be read at the graveside)
- An Cheapach, 1993, Sunburst Press
- Dark Harvest, 1997, Sunburst Press
- Sonnets, 2001, Sunburst Press
- The Thieves of Dream, 2003, Sunburst Press
- A Tiger Says His Prayers, 2006, Sunburst Press
Bibl:
- Rudi Holzapfel A Bibliographical Checklist, foreword by Alraune Graefin Boesewicht, 1971, Triest.
Source
- http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/holzapf.htm