Edwin Muir

Edwin Muir (born May 15, 1887, Deerness, Orkney, Scot.—died Jan. 3, 1959, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Eng.) was a literary critic, translator, and one of the chief Scottish poets of his day writing in English.

The son of a crofter, Muir received his education in Kirkwall. After his marriage (1919) to Willa Anderson, Muir went to London where he wrote literary reviews; he later taught English on the Continent.

His stature as a poet did not become widely recognized until the publication of The Voyage (1946) and The Labyrinth (1949). His Collected Poems, which reveal his meditative and myth-haunted vision, appeared in 1960. The critical works Latitudes (1924) and Transition (1927) were notable for their appreciation of D.H. Lawrence.

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Of greater influence than his criticism, however, were the translations of Kafka, done in collaboration with his wife, that appeared during the 1930s and established Kafka’s reputation in Britain. He also translated works of Sholem Asch, Hermann Broch, and Lion Feuchtwanger. Muir’s Autobiography was published in 1954.