The Cambridge Companion to Ted Hughes

Explores the life, work and literary significance of the late Poet Laureate.

Terry Gifford (Edited by)

9780521197526, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 June 2011

220 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.4 cm, 0.48 kg

' … offers intelligent and vital criticism on a writer whose reputation has flourished since his death over a decade ago. it [is] likely to be an essential aid for students and scholars of Hughes's writings, and one which will become the new touchstone in Hughes as the interest in his writings proliferates and becomes increasingly diverse.' The Ted Hughes Society Journal

Ted Hughes is unquestionably one of the major twentieth-century English poets. Radical and challenging, each new title produced something of a shock to British literary culture. Only now is the breadth of his literary range and cultural influence being recognised. As well as his poetry and stories, writing for children, translations and prose essays and reviews, in recent years Hughes's own letters have received great critical attention. This Companion consolidates Hughes's life, writings and reputation. International experts from a variety of literary fields here confront the key questions posed by Hughes's work. New archival evidence is provided for fresh readings of his oeuvre with close attention to language, forms and the function of myth. Featuring a chronology and guide to further reading, this book is a valuable and insightful companion for those studying and reading Hughes in the context of his role in the development of modern poetry.

Chronology
Introduction Terry Gifford
1. The problem of biography Joanny Moulin
2. The debates about Hughes Paul Bentley
3. Hughes and animals Chen Hong
4. Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath Jo Gill
5. The anthropologist's uses of myth Rand Brandes
6. Hughes's social ecology Terry Gifford
7. Hughes and feminism Tracy Brain
8. Hughes and the Classics Vanda Zajko
9. Hughes as prose writer Neil Corcoran
10. Hughes on Shakespeare Jonathan Bate
11. Class, war and the Laureateship Neil Roberts
12. Hughes and his critics Alex Davis
Guide to further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC], Literary studies: from c 1900 - [DSBH], Poetry [DC]