Florence O’Donoghue
Let the Fools Rage
Yeats the European
By A Norman Jeffares (ed)
Colin Smythe 340pp £25
In 1925 Yeats made a speech in the Irish Senate attacking what he saw as the narrowness of the new Free State in opposing divorce. When he exalted the Anglo-Irish thinkers of the eighteenth century (‘We are the people of Swift…’) he was interrupted by the Chairman, ‘Do you think we might leave the dead alone?’ Yeats replied, ‘I would hate to leave the dead alone.’
Again and again the impact of the vitality of the dead is found in his works: in Kathleen ni Houlihan and other plays, and in the poems, of which the passionate ‘September 1913’ may be seen as the form, with the concluding couplet of each stanza:
Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,
It’s with O’Leary in the grave.
Professor Jeffares suggested the theme of Yeats the European for a conference in Monaco in the Princess Grace Irish Library and he had in mind, he writes, ‘the possible advantages of seeing Ireland’s greatest poet within a larger framework than the one with which he is usually linked.’ The collection
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Richard Flanagan's Question 7 is this year's winner of the @BGPrize.
In her review from our June issue, @rosalyster delves into Tasmania, nuclear physics, romance and Chekhov.
Rosa Lyster - Kiss of Death
Rosa Lyster: Kiss of Death - Question 7 by Richard Flanagan
literaryreview.co.uk
‘At times, Orbital feels almost like a long poem.’
@sam3reynolds on Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, the winner of this year’s @TheBookerPrizes
Sam Reynolds - Islands in the Sky
Sam Reynolds: Islands in the Sky - Orbital by Samantha Harvey
literaryreview.co.uk
Nick Harkaway, John le Carré's son, has gone back to the 1960s with a new novel featuring his father's anti-hero, George Smiley.
But is this the missing link in le Carré’s oeuvre, asks @ddguttenplan, or is there something awry?
D D Guttenplan - Smiley Redux
D D Guttenplan: Smiley Redux - Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway
literaryreview.co.uk