Czech Books Edwin Muir: a Scottish poet in Prague
Literature sometimes makes for some unusual connections. What, for example, could Franz Kafka possibly have in common with the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland? To find the answer we start at the busy British Council office, just a couple of streets down from Czech Radio’s headquarters. Just after World War II, the British Council here was headed by Edwin Muir, who was born in 1887 in Orkney and grew up on the tiny island of Wyre. He is one of Scotland’s best known 20th century poets, but it is also quite possible that you will have come across his name and that of his wife Willa on the inside cover of one of Franz Kafka’s novels or stories. They translated many of his works and did much to establish his reputation in the English-speaking world. What is less well-known about Edwin Muir is the time he spent in Prague, first in the 1920s and then again between 1946 and 1949. Clarice Cloutier, who teaches literature at two Prague universities, has written about Edwin Muir’s link to this city – a link which, she tells me, is a good deal more than skin deep:
Edwin Muir
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