James Fenton

James Fenton (born April 25, 1949 in Lincoln ) is an English poet , literary critic and journalist . He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2007 .

Life and work

Fenton, whose father was an Anglican priest, grew up in Lincolnshire and Staffordshire and went to school in Durham and Repton . He studied at Magdalen College , Oxford and won the Newdigate Prize while studying.

In 1972 he received the Eric Gregory Award for his first collection of poems and used the prize money for a trip to Southeast Asia, which was to have a lasting impact on his work. On his return to London in 1976 he became a correspondent for the New Statesman and worked for many years as a critic for various newspapers, including The Sunday Times , The Times and The Independent . In the 1980s, he also translated the librettos by Rigoletto and Simon Boccanegra into English for productions at the English National Opera . At the beginning of the 21st century he devoted himself increasingly to work for theater and opera. From 1994 to 1999 he was Oxford Professor of Poetry .

Fenton was often compared to WH Auden at a young age and gained an early reputation as an influential poet. He is considered to be extremely well versed in terms of style and technology, covers a wide range of topics, but shows a special interest in violent conflicts and foreign cultures. He often uses traditional forms to depict current events - especially wars - relentlessly, sadly or with a satirical undertone. One of his most important poems, A German Requiem , examines the traces of the National Socialist era in Germany's collective memory . However, his works also include more personal and love poems.

Fenton lives with the American writer Darryl Pinckney in Oxfordshire .

Works (selection)

• 1972: Terminal Moraine
• 1978: A Vacant Possession
• 1980: A German Requiem
• 1981: Dead Soldiers
• 1983: Children in Exile
• 1988: All the Wrong Places: Adrift in the Politics of Asia
• 1993: Out of Danger
• 1995: On Statues
• 2001: The Strength of Poetry
• 2003: An Introduction to English Poetry
• 2003: The Love Bomb and Other Musical Pieces
• 2006: School of Genius
• 2012: Yellow Tulips: Poems 1968–2011

literature

• Michael Hulse: "The Poetry of James Fenton", in: The Antigonish Review 58, 1984, pp. 93-102.
• Tim Kendall: Modern English War Poetry , Oxford 2006, pp. 256f.
• Ralph Pordzik: "Looking for Clues: Basic Features of a Deconstructivist Poetry Practice Using the Example of James Fenton"; “Postmodern poetry as a negative utopia: Investigations into the carnivalization of poetry using the example of James Fenton”, in: ders., Signatures of Postmodernism. Poetry as a paradigm of postmodern literature , Essen 1996, pp. 70–98, 98–122.

Web links

• James Fenton's Homepage (Engl.)
• James Fenton's poetry masterclass (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Page about Fenton at contemporarywriters.com ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ page to Fenton at poetryarchive.org
3. ^ Page on Fenton at the international literature festival berlin
4. ↑ Article in the Independent