An Autobiography (Canongate Classic) [Paperback]

Edwin Muir (Author)

Book Description

Series: Canongate Classic | Publication Date: December 1993

Edwin Muir was born in a small island community at the end of the last century. From his sheltered childhood in rural Orkney to the turmoil of industrial Glasgow at the turn of the century, Muir offers a startling vision of Scotland and the creative process during an era of unprecedented change. Witness to the most traumatic years and events of our modern age, Edwin Muir, in his life as in his art, was haunted by the symbolic "fable" which he longed to find beneath the surface "story" of mere events. From his dream notebooks to his travels in Eastern Europe, Muir paints an unforgettable picture of the slow and sometimes painful growth of a poet's sensibility as he comes to terms with his own nature amidst the terror and confusion of the 20th century. A peronal memoir by George Mackay Brown is also included.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Pub Ltd (December 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0862414237
• ISBN-13: 978-0862414238
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #519,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Muir - Translator. Poet, Dreamer, March 3, 2011

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Sr A. M. House "dominican" (Cambridge, U.K.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An Autobiography (Canongate Classic) (Paperback)

One of the best ways to understand the work of Muir is to meet him in this Autobiography. The hardships of his childhood and later life are quickly sketched in; his appreciation of the world as he encountered it in his European travels is sharply delineated, and his generous view of the many thinkers, writers, and teachers he knew gives us a picture not only of them but of Muir himself - a shy but perceptive man, ready to befriend and help.
The book gives us, too, an introduction to Willa Muir, Edwin's wife and collaborator; it is refreshing to read of so happy a marriage!