He survived electroshock treatments and the threat of lobotomy to become one of Ireland’s most popular poets. The Irish Times called him a “literary phenomenon.”
As an author (often blurring the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction), a film director, a lyricist and a host of TV and radio shows, he sought to capture his epoch.
Poetry and translation are both about picking the just-right word. But reading multiple translations makes an implicit case for celebrating abundance and variety.