Author and critic Seamus Deane dies aged 81
Updated / Thursday, 13 May 2021
11:55
News Correspondent
Tributes have been paid to the author, critic and academic Seamus Deane who has died at the age of 81.
Born in Derry in 1940, Seamus Deane was educated at Queen s University and Cambridge University. He was professor of Modern English and American Literature in University College Dublin, and had lectured extensively across Europe and the United States.
His collections of poetry included
Gradual Wars (1972), which won the AE Memorial Prize,
Rumours (1977),
History Lessons (1983) and
Selected Poems (1988). He had written numerous works of criticism on Irish literature, and a history of the French Enlightenment.
Seamus Deane: Derry-born author and poet dies
Published
The author and poet Seamus Deane has died aged 81.
Deane, an original member of the Field Day Theatre Company from Londonderry, died in hospital on 12 May.
President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins said his death would be an incalculable loss to Irish writing .
His debut novel Reading in the Dark was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won The Irish Times International Fiction Prize and The Irish Literature Prize in 1997.
In a statement, Mr Higgins said Deane was a distinguished poet, novelist and internationally acclaimed university teacher . To Derry he leaves the incomparable legacy of the life, the writing, the concerns, the despair and the hope, that he shared with its people and to which so much of the work would respond, said Mr Higgins.
Seamus Deane, Irish writer and poet, dies aged 81
Former St Columb s College student Seamus Deane, of Derry, has been described as a distinguished poet by President Michael D Higgins
Seamus Deane, third from left, at the Booker Prize shortlist photocall in 1996 (Image: MacDiarmid, Peter)
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Seamus Deane, leading Irish writer and critic, has died aged 81 Derry author best known for Reading in the Dark and Field Day Anthology of Irish Literature
Thu, May 13, 2021, 10:34 Updated: Thu, May 13, 2021, 10:52
Seamus Deane, for the past 50 years one of Ireland’s foremost writers and critics, best-known for his award-winning autobiographical novel Reading in the Dark and the landmark Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, died last night in Beaumont Hospital after a short illness. He was 81.
Arts Council chair Prof Kevin Rafter said: “A gifted writer and a profound intellect, Seamus Deane was a master of every writing form. As a critic, an editor, a poet and a novelist, Deane brought concentrated rigour and empathy to his work. An inspiring teacher and continual advocate for Irish writing, Seamus Deane leaves behind a powerful literary and cultural legacy.