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The Story and the Fable
263 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1940
7 people want to read
About the author
Edwin Muir
143 books31 followersEdwin Muir, Orcadian poet, novelist and translator noted, together with his wife Willa Anderson, for making Franz Kafka available in English.
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).
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).
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 30, 2020
Anyone who's read the wonderful Father and Son by Edmund Gosse will hear echoes of it in this memoire by Muir, poet, critic, and son of Scottish islanders who will move to the great city of London. Gosse, of course, was trying to make sense of his emancipation from his father's world of strict religion, while Muir was trying to make sense of his identity, and his mind.
Born on a tiny island in the North of Scotland, he only moved to the mainland in his teens, only to lose his whole family within a few years. The change of world brought only tragedy, and it is easy to understand how idyliic - at times - Muir's childhood can sound.
The chief feature of these memoires is how influenced by psych0-analysis Muir was: his search for self-understanding takes root in his infancy and dreams, but the interpretation is always a psycho-analytical one, never a cultural or historical one (bar those of personal relevance). Muir, of course, knew the literary set of England at that time (1920s and on), which saw the first English translation of Freud done by one of its members (Lytton Strachey's brother) and partly edited by another - Leonard Woolf. Muir's literary sensibility, his constant questioning, his sense of space and freedom, his political ideals, add to the charm of this book, even if the repeated dream sequences and their analysis can (as in my case) seem a tad long-ish at times.
Still, the opening chapters on life on the island, how those communities lived and interacted, combined with Muir's later reflections, do make these memoires very much worth the time.
Born on a tiny island in the North of Scotland, he only moved to the mainland in his teens, only to lose his whole family within a few years. The change of world brought only tragedy, and it is easy to understand how idyliic - at times - Muir's childhood can sound.
The chief feature of these memoires is how influenced by psych0-analysis Muir was: his search for self-understanding takes root in his infancy and dreams, but the interpretation is always a psycho-analytical one, never a cultural or historical one (bar those of personal relevance). Muir, of course, knew the literary set of England at that time (1920s and on), which saw the first English translation of Freud done by one of its members (Lytton Strachey's brother) and partly edited by another - Leonard Woolf. Muir's literary sensibility, his constant questioning, his sense of space and freedom, his political ideals, add to the charm of this book, even if the repeated dream sequences and their analysis can (as in my case) seem a tad long-ish at times.
Still, the opening chapters on life on the island, how those communities lived and interacted, combined with Muir's later reflections, do make these memoires very much worth the time.
Displaying 1 of 1 review