James Stephens (writer)

Stephen Potter (left), James Stephens (in the middle), Christopher Hassall (right) Photo by Lady Ottoline Morrell

James Stephens (born February 2, 1882 in Dublin , † December 26, 1950 in London ) was an Irish writer who wrote poems and short stories. Stephens himself gave his birthday as February 2, 1882, but February 9, 1880 is also given.

Life

Stephens grew up in a slum of Dublin, never attended school and reading and writing brought an autodidact in. Even before the First World War, he wrote short stories and poems while making a living doing office work. His first published book, which came about through Stephens' friendship with George William Russell , was a volume of poems called Insurrections in 1909 . His novella Crock of Gold from 1912 received the Polinac Prize the following year. A selection from his volume of poetry The Hill of Vision was included by Edward Marsh in the Georgian Poetry 1911–1912 collection. In Georgian Poetry 1913–1915 a selection from the volume Songs from the Clay and in Georgian Poetry 1916–1917 a selection from The Adventures of Seumas Beg appeared .

Stephens studied Irish literature and mythology, researched Gaelic and worked as a journalist. He supported Sinn Féin and edited anthologies of Irish literature. In 1916 he published a report under the title The Insurrection in Dublin on the Easter Rising . Stephens not only takes up an Irish theme in his novella Crock of Gold , he also recounts Irish legends in the volume Irish Fairy Tales (1920).

From 1920 to 1924, Stephens worked as a registrar for the Irish National Gallery. After that he lived in London and Paris. From 1925 to 1935, Stephens traveled regularly to America for readings. In 1927 his friendship began with James Joyce . In 1932 he was one of the founders of the Irish Academy of Letters . From 1937 until his death in 1950 he worked regularly for the BBC .

German editions

• Fionn the hero and other Irish sagas (translated by Ida Friederike Görres ), Herder Verlag: Freiburg 1936.
  • Reprinted by J. Chr. Mellinger Verlag: Stuttgart 1981.
• Gods, people, goblins. An Irish tale (translated by Herta Hartmannshenn), Hartmannshenn Verlag: Wiesbaden 1947 ( The Crock of Gold ).
  • New edition: Der goldene Hort (translated by Joachim Kalka), Klett-Cotta: Stuttgart 1985.
• The demigods (translated by Annemarie Horschitz-Horst ), Occident Verlag: Zurich 1949 ( The Demi-Gods ).
• Deirdre (translated by Frederik Hetmann ), Diederichs Verlag: Cologne 1985 ( Deirdre ).

literature

• Werner Huber: Studies on the history and aesthetics of the reception of James Stephens' early novels: "The charwoman's daughter" (1912), "The crock of gold" (1912) and "The demi-gods" (1914) . Dissertation, University of Mainz. Mainz 1980 (edition in bookstores: James Stephens' early novels. Reception - Text - Intention, 1982).

Web links

• Works by James Stephens in the Gutenberg project
• Georgian Poetry 1911–12 in the Gutenberg project
• Georgian Poetry 1913–15 in the Gutenberg project
• Georgian Poetry 1916–17 in the Gutenberg project