Edmund Keeley
Encyclopedia
Edmund Leroy Keeley is an author, translator, and Charles Barnwell Straut Professor Emeritus of English at Princeton University
. He is a prize-winning novelist and a noted expert on Greek poets C. P. Cavafy, George Seferis, Odysseus Elytis and Yannis Ritsos, and on post-Second World War Greek history.
He spent his childhood in Canada, Greece, and Washington, D. C. before earning his B.A. from Princeton University
in 1949. In 1952 he received a doctorate in Comparative Literature from Oxford University where he studied with a fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
.
He served twice as president of the Modern Greek Studies Association
from 1970 to 1973 and 1980 to 1982, and as president of PEN American Center
from 1992 to 1994.
He retired from a long career of teaching English, Creative Writing, and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University in 1994.
His fiction and non-fiction are often set in Greece, where he spends part of each year, but also in Europe and the Balkans, where he has frequently traveled, and in Thailand and Washington, D. C.. He has lived with his wife Mary in Princeton, N. J., since 1954.
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. He is a prize-winning novelist and a noted expert on Greek poets C. P. Cavafy, George Seferis, Odysseus Elytis and Yannis Ritsos, and on post-Second World War Greek history.
Life
His father was the American diplomat James Hugh Keeley, Jr.James Hugh Keeley, Jr.
James Hugh Keeley, Jr. was an American diplomat. He graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1931. He served in the United States Foreign Service from 1920 until his retirement in the early 1960s, most notably as the United States' second envoy to the newly independent nation of...
He spent his childhood in Canada, Greece, and Washington, D. C. before earning his B.A. from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1949. In 1952 he received a doctorate in Comparative Literature from Oxford University where he studied with a fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation is a private non-profit foundation based in Princeton, New Jersey. It administers programs that support leadership development and build organizational capacity in education. Its current signature program is the...
.
He served twice as president of the Modern Greek Studies Association
Modern Greek Studies Association
The Modern Greek Studies Association is a scholarly organization for modern Greek studies in North America. It was founded in 1968.It is interdisciplinary, covering language, history, politics, economics, society, and the arts of modern Greece, broadly defined.The MGSA sponsors the Journal of...
from 1970 to 1973 and 1980 to 1982, and as president of PEN American Center
PEN American Center
PEN American Center , founded in 1922 and based in New York City, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. The Center has a membership of 3,300 writers, editors, and translators...
from 1992 to 1994.
He retired from a long career of teaching English, Creative Writing, and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University in 1994.
His fiction and non-fiction are often set in Greece, where he spends part of each year, but also in Europe and the Balkans, where he has frequently traveled, and in Thailand and Washington, D. C.. He has lived with his wife Mary in Princeton, N. J., since 1954.
Awards
- Rome PrizeRome PrizeThe Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists and to 15 scholars The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists...
, American Academy of Arts and Letters (1959) - New Jersey Authors Award:
- (1960) For the novel The Libation (Citation)
- (1968) For George Seferis: Collected Poems, 1924-1955
- (1970) For the novel The Impostor
- Guinness Poetry Award selection, 1962
- National Book AwardNational Book AwardThe National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
in Translation (finalist) 1973 - P.E.N.-Columbia University Translation Center Prize (1975)
- Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, Academy of American Poets (1980)
- Howard T. Behrman Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Humanities (1982)
- PEN/National Endowment for the Arts Fiction Syndicate Award (1983)
- Pushcart Prize Selection (1984–85)
- First European Prize for Translation of Poetry (1987)
- National Translation Award (Citation) (1992)
- Honorary Doctorate, University of Athens (1994)
- Academy Award in Literature (1999)
- PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation (2000)
- Criticos Prize London Hellenic Society (2000)
- Commander of the Order of the Phoenix (2001)
- The Yale Review Prize (2003)
- Trustees’ Annual Award, Gennadius Library (2003)
- Phidippides Award (2004)
- Honorary Doctorate, Richard Stockton College (2006)
- Dido Sotiriou Cultural Prize, Hellenic Authors' Society (2008)
- Lord Byron Award, Hellenic CollegeHellenic CollegeThe Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology are an Orthodox Christian liberal arts college and seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts.-History:...
, (2008) - Honorary Doctorate, University of CyprusUniversity of CyprusThe University of Cyprus is a public coeducational university established by the Republic of Cyprus in 1989. It admitted its first students in 1992 and has currently approximately 6000 students .-History:...
, (2010)
Editor and translator
- Six Poets of Modern Greece (With Philip SherrardPhilip SherrardPhilip Sherrard was a British author, translator, and philosopher. His work includes important translations of Modern Greek poets, and books on Modern Greek literature and culture, metaphysics, theology, art and aesthetics...
) Alfred A. Knopf, 1961 - Vassilis Vassilikos, 'The Plant,' 'The Well,' 'The Angel': A Trilogy (With Mary Keeley) Knopf, 1964.
- Four Greek Poets (With Philip SherrardPhilip SherrardPhilip Sherrard was a British author, translator, and philosopher. His work includes important translations of Modern Greek poets, and books on Modern Greek literature and culture, metaphysics, theology, art and aesthetics...
) Penguin Books, 1965 - George Seferis, Collected Poems: 1924-1955 (With Philip Sherrard) Princeton University Press, 1967 - ISBN 0-6910-1300-4
- C. P. Cavafy, Passions and Ancient Days (with George Savidis) Hogarth Press, 1972 ISBN 0-7012-0351-X
- Modern Greek Writers: Solomos, Calvos, Matesis, PalamasPalamasPalamas is a town and a municipality in the Karditsa Prefecture, Greece. Population 10,050 . Palamas is located south-southwest of Larissa, the capital of Thessaly, northwest of Lamia, north of Sofades, east-northeast of Karditsa and east-southeast of Trikala. Palamas is linked with the road...
, Cavafy, Kazantzakis, Seferis, Elytis (With Peter Bien) Princeton University Press, 1972 - C. P. Cavafy, Selected Poems (With Philip Sherrard) Princeton University Press, 1972
- Odysseus Elytis, The Axion Esti (with George Savidis) Pittsburgh University Press, 1972
- C. P. Cavafy, Three Poems of Passion (with George Savidis) Plain Wrapper Press, 1975
- C. P. Cavafy, Collected Poems (With Philip Sherrard and George Savidis) Princeton University Press, 1975, revised edition, Princeton University Press, 1992. - ISBN 0-6910-1537-6
- Angelos Sikelianos, Selected Poems (With Philip Sherrard) Princeton University Press, 1979
- Odysseus Elytis, Selected Poems Viking-Penguin, 1981 - ISBN 0-6702-9246-X
- The Dark Crystal: An Anthology of Modern Greek Poetry (With Philip Sherrard) Denise Harvey & CO, 1981
- Voices of Modern Greece: Selected Poems of C.P. Cavafy, Angelos Sikelianos, George Seferis, Odysseus Elytis, Nikos Gatsos (With Philip Sherrard) Princeton University Press, 1981 - ISBN 0-6910-1382-9
- Yannis Ritsos, Return and Other Poems Parallel Editions, 1983
- C. P. Cavafy, A Selection of Poems (With Philip Sherrard) Camberwell Press, 1985
- Yannis Ritsos, Exile and Return: Selected Poems, 1967-74 Ecco Press, 1985
- The Legacy of R.P. Blackmur: Essays, Memoirs, Texts (with Edward T. Cone and Joseph Frank) Ecco Press, 1987 - ISBN 0-8800-1152-1
- Yannis Ritsos: Repetitions, Testimonies, Parentheses Princeton University Press, 1991 - ISBN 0-6910-1908-8
- The Essential Cavafy (With Philip Sherrard) Ecco Press, 1995 - ISBN 0-6910-1491-4
- George Seferis, Collected Poems, (With Philip Sherrard) Princeton University Press, 1995
- George Seferis and Edmund Keeley: Correspondence, 1951-1971 Princeton University Library, 1997 - ISBN 0-87811-042-9
- A Century of Greek Poetry 1900-2000: Bilingual Edition (with Peter Bien, Peter ConstantinePeter ConstantinePeter Constantine is a British and American award-winning literary translator who has translated literary works from German, Russian, French, Modern Greek, Ancient Greek, Italian, Albanian, Dutch, and Slovene.-Biography:...
, and Karen Van Dyck) Cosmos Publishing, 2004 - ISBN 1-9324-5500-0 - Selected Poems Of Odysseus Elytis (with Philip Sherrard) Anvil Press, 2007 - ISBN 0-8564-6355-8
- The Greek Poets: Homer to the Present (co-editor) W. W. Norton, 2009