W.B. Yeats's Robartes-Aherne Writings: Featuring the Making of His "Stories of Michael Robartes and His Friends"

Description

The figures of Michael Robartes and Owen Aherne appear throughout the writing of the great Irish poet W.B. Yeats, featuring in his poems, short fictions, dialogues and as authorities in notes to his work. Bringing together into one volume published and unpublished writings featuring these two enigmatic figures, W.B. Yeats's Robartes-Aherne Writings traces their history and the development of Yeats's mystical thought that culminated (twice) in the publication of his visionary work A Vision (1925, 1937). Including reproductions of manuscript and notebook pages as well as transcriptions and extracts from a wide range of Yeats's mystical writings and substantial commentary and annotation throughout, this book is an essential resource for scholars of Yeats's thought, his stylistic evolution and the esoteric influences on modernist writing in the early 20th century.

Wayne K. Chapman is Professor Emeritus of English at Clemson University, USA and formerly Executive Editor of Clemson University Press. He is Editor Emeritus of the South Carolina Review and the author of several books, including Yeats's Poetry in the Making (2010).

A fascinating trajectory of the Robartes-Aherne characters, replete with biographical information on Yeats and commentary on their relevance for the later poems and both versions of A Vision. * Etudes Irlandaises * This meticulously edited collection frames a large portion of canonical Yeats through the development of the literary personas of Michael Robartes and Owen Aherne ... An invaluable collection for any student of Yeats, particularly those interested in his more overtly occult inspired works. * Irish Studies Review * The editor does a fantastic job of documenting, detailing, and describing the uses, interactions, and character development of these two literary creations throughout Yeats's published and unpublished output, providing the reader with a unique glimpse into the intricate mind of one of the greatest writers in recent history. * American Reference Books Annual * In this volume, Chapman brings together the many pieces through which we see them in a fine patchwork. Including both crafted wholes and unpolished fragments, part of the charm lies in the disparateness of the elements, and it gives a more complete picture of this aspect of the phantasmagoria than has been possible before. * International Yeats Studies *