GRAVES, Robert (Von Ranke)
- GRAVES, Robert (Von Ranke)
(1895-1985)
UK poet, novelist and critic, best known for an active poetic career, extending from the beginning of WWI into the 1970s, and for such novels as I, Claudius (1934). His tendentious claim that he wrote fiction solely for commercial reasons does little to explain the high quality of all but his first novel, the RURITANIAN extravaganza No Decency Left (1932) with Laura Riding (1901-1991), together writing as Barbara Rich.The Golden Fleece (1944; vt Hercules, My Shipmate 1945 US) is an erudite fantasy of considerable power. His UTOPIAN sf novel Watch the North Wind Rise (1949 US; vt Seven Days in New Crete 1949 UK) complexly dramatizessome ideas concerning the nature of POETRY and its ideal relation to the world that he had earlier expounded in The White Goddess (1947 US), a nonfiction study. Seven Days is framed as a possible dream of its protagonist, a poet called into the future by the Poet-Magicians who rule utopian New Crete, and whose worship of the White Goddess benefits from her literal existence; but the book provides no clear-cut advocacy of the utopia it describes, and indeed it becomes clear that the Goddess has arranged for the poet's intrusion precisely so that he may - like so many visitors to utopias - unbalance what has become a sterile society. The escapist, timeless nature of New Crete, and the mediocre poetry it produces, are depicted with considerable ambivalence by RG, who allows no "winners" in his quest for a view of the world that will appropriatelybalance the opposing forces of whole-witted time-fulness and half-witted utopia.
JC
Other works: The Shout (1929 chap).
About the author: There is much critical literature about RG in general. On Seven Days in New Crete the following are useful: Fritz LEIBER's "Utopia for Poets and Witches" in RIVERSIDE QUARTERLY 4 (1970), Robert H. Canary's "Utopian and FantasticDualities in Robert Graves's Watch the North Wind Rise" in SCIENCE-FICTION STUDIES 4 (1974) and Peter Briggs's "Watch the North Wind Rise" in Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature (anth 1983) ed Frank N. Magill.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Encyclopedia.
Academic.
2011.
Look at other dictionaries:
Graves, Robert (von Ranke) — born July 24/26, 1895, London, Eng. died Dec. 7, 1985, Deyá, Majorca, Spain British man of letters. He served as an officer at the Western Front during World War I and his first three volumes of poetry were published during that time; they… … Universalium
Graves, Robert (von Ranke) — (24/26 jul. 1895, Londres, Inglaterra–7 dic. 1985, Deyá, Mallorca, España). Literato británico. Sirvió como oficial en el frente occidental durante la primera guerra mundial, y sus tres primeros volúmenes de poesía fueron publicados durante ese… … Enciclopedia Universal
Robert von Ranke-Graves — Robert Graves, im deutschen Sprachraum Robert von Ranke Graves (* 24. Juli 1895 in Wimbledon, London; † 7. Dezember 1985 in Deià auf Mallorca), war ein britischer Schriftsteller und Dichter. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werke 3 … Deutsch Wikipedia
Robert von Ranke Graves — Robert Graves, im deutschen Sprachraum Robert von Ranke Graves (* 24. Juli 1895 in Wimbledon, London; † 7. Dezember 1985 in Deià auf Mallorca), war ein britischer Schriftsteller und Dichter. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werke 3 … Deutsch Wikipedia
Graves, Alfred Perceval and Robert Van Ranke — (1846 1985) • Alfred Perceval, the father, 1846 1931 Graves was born in Dublin, son of Charles Graves, Bishop of Limerick, and educated at Windermere College and Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied classics, English literature,… … British and Irish poets
Leopold von Ranke — (December 21, 1795 – May 23, 1886) was a German historian of the 19th century, and frequently considered one of the founders of modern source based history. Ranke set the tone for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as… … Wikipedia
Leopold von Ranke — (Porträt nach Julius Schrader) … Deutsch Wikipedia
Ranke — Ranke, Leopold von * * * (as used in expressions) Graves, Robert (von Ranke) Ranke, Leopold von Leopold Ranke … Enciclopedia Universal
Graves — Graves, Robert R. * * * (as used in expressions) Graves, enfermedad de Graves, Michael Graves, Robert (von Ranke) Graves, Robert James Simcoe, John Graves … Enciclopedia Universal
von — /von/; Ger. /fawn/, unstressed /feuhn/, prep. from; of (used in German and Austrian personal names, originally to indicate place of origin and later to indicate nobility): Paul von Hindenburg. * * * (as used in expressions) Friedrich Leopold… … Universalium
Graves — /grayvz/, n. 1. Morris, born 1910, U.S. painter. 2. Robert (Ranke) /rahng keuh/, 1895 1985, English poet, novelist, and critic. /grahv/; Fr. /grddannv/, n. 1. a wine growing district in Gironde department, in SW France. 2. a dry, red or white… … Universalium
