Elaine Feinstein

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

(born Elaine Cooklin; 24 October 1930 – 23 September 2019) was an English poet, novelist, short-story writer, playwright, biographer and translator. She joined the Council of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

in 2007.

Early life

Born in

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England, Feinstein grew up in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. Her father had left school at 12 and had little time for books, but he was a great storyteller. He ran a small factory making wooden furniture through the 1930s. She wrote, "An inner certainty of being loved and valued went a long way to create my own sense of resilience in later years spent in a world that felt altogether alien. I never altogether lost my childhood sense of being fortunate."Couzyn (1985), p. 114. Feinstein was sent to Wyggeston Grammar School for Girls by her mother, "a school as good as Leicester could provide". She wrote poems from the age of eight, which were published in the school magazine. At the end of the war Feinstein's sense of childhood security was shattered by the revelations of the Nazi

extermination camps Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...

. She noted, "In that year I became Jewish for the first time." A recent critic commented: "Alive to her family origins in the

Russian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...

diaspora, she developed a close affinity with the Russian poets of this and the last century." Michael Schmidt, ''Lives of the Poets'', London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2007, p. 856. Feinstein excelled at school work from then on. After

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, she read for the bar, worked at Hockerill Training College, and then as a university lecturer at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

(1967–1970), appointed by

Donald Davie Donald Alfred Davie, FBA (17 July 1922 – 18 September 1995) was an English Movement poet, and literary critic. His poems in general are philosophical and abstract, but often evoke various landscapes. Biography Davie was born in Barnsley, ...

Literary career

Feinstein married and had three sons with her husband, Arnold Feinstein. As she resumed writing she "came to life again", keeping journals, enjoying the process of reading and writing poetry, composing pieces to help her make sense of experience.Couzyn (1985), p. 115. She commented that she wanted "plain propositions, lines that came singing out of poems with a perfection of phrasing like lines of music." She was inspired by the poetry of

Marina Tsvetaeva Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva ( rus, Марина Ивановна Цветаева, p=mɐˈrʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə tsvʲɪˈta(j)ɪvə, links=yes; 31 August 1941) was a Russian poet. Her work is some of the most well-known in twentieth-century Russ ...

to translate some of her poetry. These poems were published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

in 1971. She received three translation awards from the

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

. After 1980, when she was made a Fellow of the

, she became a full-time writer. In 1990, she received a

Cholmondeley Award The Cholmondeley Awards ( ) are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has bee ...

for Poetry and an Honorary D.Litt. from the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

. She visited Russia occasionally to research her books and visit friends, who included

Yevgeny Yevtushenko Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko (; 18 July 1933 – 1 April 2017) was a Soviet and Russian poet, novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, publisher, actor, editor, university professor, and director of several films. Biography Early lif ...

. Her writings included 14 novels, many radio plays, television dramas, and five biographies, including '' A Captive Lion: the Life of Marina Tsvetaeva'' (1987) and ''Pushkin'' (1998). ''

Ted Hughes Edward James Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He wa ...

: The Life of a Poet'' (2001) was shortlisted for the biennial Marsh Biography Prize. Her biography of

Anna Akhmatova Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; , . ( – 5 March 1966), better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova,. ...

, ''Anna of all the Russias'', appeared in 2005 and was translated into twelve European languages, including Russian. Her first novel, ''The Circle'' (1970), written under Tsvetayeva's influence, is "a study of a marriage, mostly through the wife's mind."Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy: ''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present'' (

Batsford Batsford is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. The village is about north-west of Moreton-in-Marsh. There is a falconry centre close to the village ...

: London, 1990), p. 361. Several novels concern her Jewish roots: ''The Survivors'' (1982), spans the generations before and after the Holocaust, while ''The Border'' (1984) tells of an old woman in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and her "painful, mysterious... escape from Vienna with her husband in 1939". Feinstein's poetry was influenced by

Black Mountain poets The Black Mountain poets, also called projectivist poets, were a group of mid-20th-century American ''avant-garde'' or postmodern poets based at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Historical background and definition Although it lasted ...

, and by

Objectivists Objectivism is a philosophical system named and developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive a ...

. In 1959, she wrote to

Charles Olson Charles John Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modernist United States poetry, American poet who was a link between earlier Literary modernism, modernist figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams an ...

to request permission to publish his work in her magazine ''Prospect'', becoming the first of a group of poets associated with '' The English Intelligencer'' to make contact with him. Olson's reply, on "breath prosody" and the development of his poetics since the publication of his essay " Projective Verse", has since been widely anthologised. Feinstein later became a conduit between the Cambridge poets and the Black Mountain poets. Feinstein travelled extensively, to read her work at festivals abroad, and as Writer in Residence for the British Council, first in Singapore, and then in

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

, Norway. She was a

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

Fellow at Bellagio in 1998; her poems were widely anthologised. Her ''Collected Poems and Translations'' (2002) was a

Poetry Book Society The Poetry Book Society (PBS) is a British subscription-based book club dedicated to selecting, recommending and publicising new poetry books. Every quarter, it selects two Poetry Book Society Choices and four Poetry Book Society Recommendations. ...

Special Commendation, and she was appointed to the Council of the Royal Society of Literature in 2007. She served as a judge for the Gregory Awards, the Independent Foreign Fiction Award, the Costa Poetry Prize and the Rossica Award for Literature translated from Russian, and in 1995 was chairman of the judges for the T. S. Eliot Prize.Elaine Feinstein page
Carcanet Press. Feinstein participated in the 22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in November 2010 and continued to give readings in various countries.A podcast of her interview with Robert Seatter is available a
The Poetry Trust
Recently asked in an interview with Alma Books what three books she would save if her house were on fire, she replied, "I'd take my iPad."

Death

Elaine Feinstein died of cancer in London on 23 September 2019, aged 88. She was survived by her three sons and six grandchildren.

Books

Poetry

*''In a Green Eye'' (London: Goliard Press, 1966) *''The Magic Apple Tree'' (London: Hutchinson, 1971) *''At the Edge'' (Northamptonshire: Sceptre Press, 1972) *''The Celebrants and Other Poems'' (Hutchinson, 1973) *''Some Unease and Angels:'' ''Selected Poems'' (University Center, MI: Green River Press, 1977; Hutchinson, 1981) *''The Feast of Eurydice'' (London: Faber & Faber/Next Editions, 1980) *''Badlands'' (Hutchinson, 1987) *''City Music'' (Hutchinson, 1990) *''Selected Poems'' (Carcanet Press, 1994) *''Daylight'' (Carcanet Press, 1997) *''Gold'' (Carcanet Press, 2000) *''Collected Poems and Translations'' (Carcanet Press, 2002) *''Talking to the Dead'' (Carcanet Press, 2007) *''Cities'' (Carcanet Press, 2010) *''The Clinic, Memory: New and Selected Poems'' (Carcanet Press, 2017)

Novels

*''The Circle'' (London: Hutchinson, 1970) *''The Amberstone Exit'' (Hutchinson, 1972). Translated into Hebrew (Keter 1984) *''The Glass Alembic'' (Hutchinson, 1973; New York: Dutton, 1974 as ''The Crystal Garden'') *''Children of the Rose'' (Hutchinson, 1974). Translated into Hebrew, 1987 *''The Ecstasy of Dr Miriam Garner'' (Hutchinson, 1976) *''The Shadow Master'' (Hutchinson, 1978; New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979) *''The Survivors'' (Hutchinson, 1982) *''The Border'' (Hutchinson, 1985) *''Mother's Girl'' (Hutchinson, 1988) *''All You Need'' (Hutchinson, 1991) *''Loving Brecht'' (Hutchinson, 1992) *''Dreamers'' (London: Macmillan, 1994) *''Lady Chatterley's Confession'' (Macmillan, 1995) *''Dark Inheritance'' (London,

Women's Press The Women's Press was a feminist publishing company established in London in 1977. Throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, The Women's Press was a highly visible presence, publishing feminist literature. Founding In 1977, Stephanie Dowrick cofo ...

, 2001) *''The Russian Jerusalem'' (Carcanet Press, 2008)

Short story collections

*''Matters of Chance'' (London: Covent Garden Press, 1972) *''The Silent Areas'' (Hutchinson, 1980)

Teleplays and radio plays

*1975: ''Breath'' *1980: ''Echoes'' *1981: ''A Late Spring'' *1982: ''Lunch'' *1984: ''A Captive Lion'' *1985: ''Marina Tsvetayeva: A Life'' *1985: ''A Brave Face'' *1986: ''A Day Off'' *1987: ''If I Ever Get on My Feet Again'' *1990: ''The Man in Her Life'' *1993: ''Foreign Girls, a trilogy'' *1994: ''A Winter Meeting'' *1996: Lawrence's ''Women in Love'' (four-part adaptation) *1996: Adaptation of novel, ''Lady Chatterley's Confession Book at Bedtime''

Biographies

*''Bessie Smith: Lives of Modern Women Series'', Penguin/Viking *''A Captive Lion: The Life of

Marina Tsvetayeva Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva ( rus, Марина Ивановна Цветаева, p=mɐˈrʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə tsvʲɪˈta(j)ɪvə, links=yes; 31 August 1941) was a Russian poet. Her work is some of the most well-known in twentieth-century Russ ...

'', Hutchinson, 1987 *''Lawrence's Women'', HarperCollins, London, 1993; ''Lawrence and The Women'' New York, 1993 *''

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is conside ...

'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Ecco, U.S, 1998 *''

: The Life of a Poet'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001 *''Anna of all the Russias: A Life of Anna Akhmatova'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005; Knopf, 2006 *''Portraits'' (Carcanet Press, 2015)

Memoirs

* ''It Goes With The Territory: Memoirs of a Poet'', Alma Books, 2013

Translations

: ''Selected Poems'' (1971; 2nd ed., 1981; 3rd ed., 1986; 4th ed., 1993; 5th ed., 1999; 6th ed. 2009 as ''Bride of Ice: New Selected Poems'') * ''Three Russian Poets: Margarita Aliger, Yunna Morits,

Bella Akhmadulina Izabella Akhatovna Akhmadulina (, ; 10 April 1937 – 29 November 2010) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian poet, short story writer, and translator, known for her apolitical writing stance. She was part of the Russian New Wave literary movem ...

'', Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1976

As editor

* ''After Pushkin'', Folio Society/Carcanet Press, 1999

In anthologies

* Contributor to ''A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue Between East and West'', Gingko Library 2019.

Prizes and awards

*1970: Arts Council Grant/Award for Translation *1971: Betty Miller Prize *1979: Arts Council Grant/Award for Translation *1981: Arts Council Grant/Award for Translation *1981: Fellow of the

*1990:

*1990: Shortlisted for 1990 Los Angeles Times Fiction Prize *1992: Society of Authors Travel Award *2004: Arts Council Award

References

External links

Profile
at Poetry Archive *
Podcast interview with Elaine Feinstein at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival"Elaine Feinstein – Talking to the Dead"
7 May 2007. BBC ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme cal ...

'' (audio 9 min)
"Elaine Feinstein"
Tuesday 2 July 2002]
"She Means It When She Rhymes: Marina Tsvetaeva: Selected Poems"
. Review from ''Thumbscrew''. No 17 – Winter 2000/1
Elaine Feinstein Papers

University of Manchester Library The University of Manchester Library is the library system and information service of the University of Manchester. The main library is on the Oxford Road campus of the university, with its entrance on Burlington Street. There are also ten other ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feinstein, Elaine 1930 births 2019 deaths 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English poets 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English poets 21st-century English women writers Academics of the University of Essex Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge English women dramatists and playwrights Jewish English writers 21st-century English translators English women novelists English women poets Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Jewish poets People from Bootle Russian–English translators 20th-century English translators Writers from Merseyside