author
Edwin Muir
1887–1959
A major Scottish poet of the 20th century, he wrote in clear, haunting language that often turns ordinary scenes into something dreamlike and unsettling. He is also widely remembered for helping bring Franz Kafka to English-language readers through his translations with his wife, Willa Muir.
1 Audiobook
We Moderns: Enigmas and Guesses
by Edwin Muir
About the author
Born in Deerness, Orkney, on May 15, 1887, he grew up in a rural world that stayed central to his imagination. After his family left Orkney for Glasgow in 1901, that sharp change from island life to industrial city life became one of the deep tensions in his writing.
He worked as a journalist and critic before becoming known as a poet, novelist, and essayist. His poems are often praised for their plain style, moral seriousness, and visionary feeling, and books such as Scott and Scotland helped make him an important voice in modern Scottish literature.
With Willa Muir, whom he married in 1919, he also translated major European writers, most famously Franz Kafka. Later in life he taught and held academic posts, including at St Andrews and Harvard, and he died on January 3, 1959, leaving behind a body of work that is both intimate and far-reaching.