Deane, Seamus

(1940- )

   Born in Derry, Ireland, he was educated at Queen's University, Belfast, and gained his Ph.D. at Cambridge University. He taught literature at University College in Dublin for many years and is currently professor of Irish studies at the University of Notre Dame. He is also director of the Field Day Theater and Publishing Company. He has written on Irish studies, including the poets Jonathan Swift and James Joyce (see entries), but his focus is on Irish literary modernism. He is the author of Celtic Revivals: Essays in Modern Irish Literature 1880-1980 (1985); A Short History of Irish Literature (1986); and The French Enlightenment and Revolution in England 1789-1832 (1988). His awards include the Æ Award (1973), and he was short listed for the Booker Prize for his novel Reading in the Dark (1996). He lives in Dublin. His poetry publications: Gradual Wars, 1972. Rumours, 1977. History Lessons, 1983. Selected Poems, 1988. Some of his poems: "A Burial," "Derry," "Fording the River," "Guerillas," "Reading Paradise Lost in Protestant Ulster 1984," "Roots," "The Brethren."

   Sources: Bitter Harvest: An Anthology of Contemporary Irish Verse. John Montague, ed. Scribner's, 1989. Contemporary Irish Poetry: An Anthology. Anthony Bradley, ed. University of California Press. New and rev. ed., 1988. Department of English, University of Notre Dame, Faculty Bios (http://www.nd.edu/Deane, Seamusenglish/Faculty-Bios.html). Ireland in Poetrt. Charles Sullivan, ed. Harry N. Abrams, 1990. Poets from the North of Ireland. Frank Ormsby, ed. The Blackstaff Press, 1990. Biography of Seamus Deane, Reading Group Centre (http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/ read/reading/deane.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. Seamus Deane, ed. Faber and Faber, 1991. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).