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George Moore and William Butler Yeats Typescript

 Collection — Box: VMF 11, Folder: 1
Identifier: MS-VMF-vmf117

1900. Typescript of Diarmuid and Grania: A Play in Three Acts by Moore and Yeats. 106 pages. First performed October 21, 1901 at the Gaiety Theatre, Bullin by the F. R. Benson Company at the request of the Irish Literary Theatre.

1951 April-June. Photocopy of first publication, Dublin Magazine, Volume XXVI, Number 2 (New Series). Title page reads `Diarmuid and Grania. A play in three acts, by George Moore and W.B. Yeats. Now first printed with an introductory note by William Becker.'  Becker states "The few complete typescripts used by the actors disappeared, leaving only a stack of haphazard manuscript notes and incomplete drafts among Yeats' private papers. Thus until the discovery of the typescript on which the present version is based, the play was commonly thought to be lost." Text is annotated in red ink by unknown former departmental staff member, comparing typescript (above) to first published text. Difference primarily in punctuation and grammar. One minor character added.  21 pages

Dates

  • Creation: 1900-1951

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Conditions Governing Use

Users of the collection must read and agree to abide by the rules and procedures set forth in the Materials Use Policies.

Providing access to materials does not constitute permission to publish or otherwise authorize use. All publication not covered by fair use or other exceptions is restricted to those who have permission of the copyright holder, which may or may not be Washington University.

If you wish to publish or license Special Collections materials, please contact Special Collections to inquire about copyright status at (314) 935-5495 or spec@wumail.wustl.edu. (Publish means quotation in whole or in part in seminar or term papers, theses or dissertations, journal articles, monographs, books, digital forms, photographs, images, dramatic presentations, transcriptions, or any other form prepared for a limited or general public.)

Extent

2.00 items

1 folders

Biographical Information

George Augustus Moore (February 24, 1852 – January 21, 1933) was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist.  Although Moore's work is sometimes seen as outside the mainstream of both Irish and British literature, he is as often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist.  Born in Moore Hall, near Lough Carra, County Mayo where Moore’s family has lived for almost a century.  In 1873, he moved to Paris to study art. While still in Paris his first book, a collection of lyric poems called The Flowers of Passion, was self-published in 1877.

He was forced to return to Ireland in 1880 and while here he decided to abandon art and move to London to become a professional writer. There he published his second poetry collection, Pagan Poems, in 1881. These early poems reflect his interest in French symbolism and are now almost entirely neglected. In 1886, Moore published Confessions of a Young Man, a lively and energetic memoir about his 20s spent in Paris and London among bohemian artists.

During the 1880s, Moore began work on a series of novels in a realist style. His first novel, A Modern Lover (1883) was a three-volume work, as preferred by the circulating libraries, and deals with the art scene of the 1870s and 1880s in which many characters are identifiably real. The circulating libraries in England banned the book because of its explicit portrayal of the amorous pursuits of its hero. As with A Modern Lover, his two next novels, A Mummers Wife and A Drama in Muslin, were banned.

In 1901, Moore returned to Ireland to live in Dublin becoming involved in the efforts to establish the Irish Literary Theatre. Moore published two books of prose fiction set in Ireland around this time; a second book of short stories, The Untilled Field (1903) and a novel, The Lake (1905). The stories were originally written for translation into Irish, in order to serve as models for other writers working in the language. The tales are recognized by some as representing the birth of the Irish short story as a literary genre. In 1911, Moore returned to London, where, with the exception of frequent trips to France, he was to spend the rest of his life.

William Butler Yeats (June 13, 1865 – January 28, 1939) was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms. Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and, along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and others, founded the Abbey Theatre, where he served as its chief during its early years. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature as the first Irishman so honored. Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers who completed their greatest works after being awarded the Nobel Prize; such works include The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1929).

While Yeats' early poetry drew heavily on Irish myth and folklore, his later work was engaged with more contemporary issues, and his style underwent a dramatic transformation. His work can be divided into three general periods. The early poems are lushly pre-Raphaelite in tone, self-consciously ornate, and, at times, according to unsympathetic critics, stilted. Yeats began by writing epic poems such as The Isle of Statues and The Wanderings of Oisin. His other early poems are lyrics on the themes of love or mystical and esoteric subjects. Yeats' middle period saw him abandon the pre-Raphaelite character of his early work and attempt to turn himself into a Landor-style social ironist.

Yeats' later work found new imaginative inspiration in the mystical system he began to work out for himself under the influence of spiritualism. In many ways, this poetry is a return to the vision of his earlier work. The opposition between the worldly-minded man of the sword and the spiritually-minded man of God, the theme of The Wanderings of Oisin, is reproduced in A Dialogue Between Self and Soul.

His most important collections of poetry started with The Green Helmet (1910) and Responsibilities (1914). In imagery, Yeats' poetry became sparer, more powerful as he grew older. The Tower (1928), The Winding Stair (1929), and New Poems (1938) contained some of the most potent images in twentieth-century poetry.

Yeats' mystical inclinations, informed by Hindu Theosophical beliefs and the occult, provided much of the basis of his late poetry, which some critics have judged as lacking in intellectual credibility. The metaphysics of Yeats' late works must be read in relation to his system of esoteric fundamentals in A Vision (1925).

Method of Acquisition

Accession 1258. Purchase

Processing Information

Processed July 1969 and March 1971 by Holly Hall

Title
George Moore and William Butler Yeats Typescript
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
eng

Revision Statements

  • 2021 March 17: Resource record updated in ArchiveSpace by Sarah Schnuriger.

Collecting Area Details

Part of the Manuscripts Collecting Area

Contact:
Joel Minor
Olin Library, 1 Brookings Drive
MSC 1061-141-B
St. Louis MO 63130 US
(314) 935-5495