Earth-Moon:
A Ted Hughes Website
View of Mytholmroyd from Heights Rd. Mytholmroyd is the small town in Yorkshire, where Ted Hughes was born in 1930.
NEWS Archive 1996-98
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Apparently, sometime in 1998 The Gehenna Press has published a limited
edition of 120 copies of Howls And Whispers, a book of eleven poems
withheld from the trade edition of Birthday Letters, illustrated with
eleven original etchings by Leonard Baskin.
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A commemorative poem by W. S. Merwin is accessible at nyebooks.com (supplied
by S. Finnegan).
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Ted Hughes died on October 28 1998 aged 68. He was born on August 17, 1930. More extensive coverage in: The Times, October 30; The Guardian, October 30; The BBC News, October 29.
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»The Offers«, Ted Hughes' last Birthday Letters poem
was published in The Sunday Times. October 18 1998.
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The updated Ted Hughes bibliography by Keith Sagar and Stephen Tabor has
been published by Cassell. Ted Hughes: A Bibliography, 1946-1995 496pp,
ISBN: 0720123372 .
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A new selection of translated poems has been published under the title Der
Tiger toetet nicht. Ausgewählte Gedichte. The poems were translated
by Jutta & Wolfgang Kaussen. This is a bi-lingual edition! Insel Verlag,
ISBN: 345816930X.
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Longman have just published a new study on Ted Hughes' work by Paul Bentley: The
Poetry of Ted Hughes. Language, Illusion & Beyond (ISBN 0-582-22775-5,
approx. 130 pages). It is divided into chronologic sections: Introduction,
Early Hughes, Crow, Gaudete, Cave Birds, Later Hughes, and Hughes as Laureate.
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The Guardian (July 12 1998) reported on a new translation of Racine's »Phèdre« to
be performed by The Almeida Theatre. Jean Racine: Phèdre: A New
Version by Ted Hughes has been published by Faber & Faber. ISBN : 0571196055
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Faber/Penguin Audiobooks have published an outstanding new recording of Crow, read by Ted Hughes. The two tapes for the first time include parts of the unpublished link narrative referred to in interviews and several works of criticism (Faas, Sagar, et al) , and Hughes has made some very interesting changes to the sequence of poems, including poems like »Bride and Groom« (which appeared in Cave Birds and Moortown), thus linking Crow directly to other works. Highly recommended for classroom use/students as the link narrative clarifies several poems, as well as their place and relationships within the sequence and within Ted Hughes' work as a whole. Most strongly rewcommended. ISBN: 0-14-086405-9 Sadly, as with other Faber/Penguin tapes, there is no index on the tape cover. However, you will find a listing on the Audio Books pages.
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Faber have published a new children's book by Ted Hughes, Shaggy and
Spotty, in which two dogs discover they can fly! It is a picture book
illustrated by David Lucas. Delightful! The details: Ted Hughes: Shaggy
and Spotty, Faber & Faber, ISBN 0-571-19887-1, Hardback.
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In August 1998 Ted Hughes was awarded the Order of Merit.
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According to The Observer from 02 August 1998, Ted Hughes was involved in an initiative aiming at the establishement of a Laureateship for children's literature: »[...] he believes that children's literature should be recognised as a genuine art form, not a staging post for the grown-up version.« This article mentions that »the judging panel will include ›users‹ - parents, teachers and possibly children. Candidates must show a ›lifetime's achievement‹. The early favourite is Anne Fine, whose work centres on real life. Boggle Eyes, for example, deals with a youngster coming to terms with mum's new boyfriend. Other front-runners include Dick King-Smith, author of Sheep Pig, and veteran illustrators Shirley Hughes, Babette Cole, Quentin Blake and Raymond Briggs. Strong outsiders include Alan Garner of Owl Service fame, who famously hates to be pigeon-holed as a children's writer.« (many thanks to Ann Skea for this)
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In October 1998 Birthday Letters won the Forward Prize for Poetry.
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A German translation of Birthday Letters has been published by Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt. Unfortunately it contains only the German translations, not the English originals. The title is Birthday Letters. ISBN 3627000153
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Seamus Heaney published one of the most insightful reviews of Birthday Letters in The Irish Times, 29-i-1998.
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On January 17, 1997 The Times started serializing material from Ted Hughes' last major publication, Birthday Letters. Choose »Resources« --> »Library« and read under »Britain« in the editions from January 17, 1998 and January 19, 1998. There was more material in The Times, January 20th - January 26th. (many thanks to Keith Sagar for this).
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Ted Hughes' Tales from Ovid won the 1997 Whitbread Award.
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Joanny Moulin has set up a page from which you can access his three on-line essays: »History and Reason in the Work of Ted Hughes« (talk originally given at University of Cairo, December 1994), »Hughes with Barthes: Mytho-poetic Icons« (originally a contribution to the E.S.S.E. Conference in Glasgow, September 1995) and »KROGON & MOA; Ted Hughes's Philosophical Approach to Logos« (a talk originally given in Athens, March 1996).
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Ann Skea, author of Ted Hughes. The Poetic Quest, has published several essays on-line: »Ted Hughes and British Bardic Tradition« (a talk originally given at the University of Cairo, December, 1994), »Wolf-Masks: From Hawk to Wolfwatching« (first published in Scigaj, L (ed.), Critical Essays on Ted Hughes, 1992). On Ann's pages you will also find »Regeneration in Ted Hughes' Remains of Elmet«, a review of Difficulties of a Bridegroom, and more.
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There is a long interview with Frieda Hughes in The Guardian (Saturday,
November 8. 1997) together with one of her poems: »Readers«..
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Ted Hughes' poem the »The City« was published in The Times, October 26, 1997, Book Section, Page 8-4. Apparently, it has been excluded from the on-line version of the paper.
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The Sunday Times of November 10, 1996 contains the poem »Platform One«. It can be accessed at The Times (just search the archives, it appeared in the Books section).
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On the occasion of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Ted Hughes wrote a short poem, as most of you will probably already know. It has been reprinted in quite a few newspapers (like The Daily Telegraph).
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Emory University in Atlanta have acquired an extensive collection of manuscripts and other material by Ted Hughes to be housed in their Woodruff Library. However, the material is currently not publicly available. As soon as it is I'll include the information here. If you'd like to read the announcement from the Emory Newsletter you will find a transcript on this site. Thanks to Keith Sagar and Steve Enniss for supplying information.
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The August 05. 1996 issue of the New Yorker contains two poems by Ted Hughes.
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Apparently, Ted Hughes' The Iron Man was chosen by Warner Brothers for production as an animated movie. However, the film will be based on Pete Townsend's musical version, which was quite a departure from the original text. The production should by now be finished. (Thanks to Sylvia Paul for this).
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