Edmund Leroy "Mike" Keeley (February 5, 1928 – February 23, 2022) was an American novelist, translator, and essayist, a poet, and Charles Barnwell Straut Professor of English at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. He was a noted expert on the Greek poets

C. P. Cavafy Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Πέτρου Καβάφης ; April 29 (April 17, Old Style, OS), 1863 – April 29, 1933), known, especially in English, as Constantine P. Cavafy and often published as C. P. Cavafy (), ...

George Seferis Giorgos or George Seferis (; gr, Γιώργος Σεφέρης ), the pen name of Georgios Seferiades (Γεώργιος Σεφεριάδης; March 13 – September 20, 1971), was a Greek poet and diplomat. He was one of the most important G ...

Odysseus Elytis Odysseas Elytis ( el, Οδυσσέας Ελύτης , pen name of Odysseas Alepoudellis, el, Οδυσσέας Αλεπουδέλλης; 2 November 1911 – 18 March 1996) was a Greek poet, man of letters, essayist and translator, regarded as th ...

, and Yannis Ritsos, and on post-Second World War Greek history.

Life and career

Keeley was born in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, on February 5, 1928, the son of the American diplomat

James Hugh Keeley, Jr. James Hugh Keeley Jr. (November 27, 1895 – January 20, 1985) was an American diplomat. Biography Keeley graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1931. He served in the United States Foreign Service from 1920 until his retirement in ...

and Mathilde (Vossler) Keeley, a homemaker. His brother was the diplomat Robert V. Keeley. He spent his childhood in Canada,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, and Washington, D.C., before earning his BA from

in 1949. In 1952 he received a doctorate in Comparative Literature from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

where he studied with a fellowship from the

Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a nonpartisan, non-profit based in Princeton, New Jersey that aims to strengthen American democracy by “cultivating the talent, ideas, ...

. Keeley served twice as president of the

Modern Greek Studies Association The Modern Greek Studies Association (MGSA) 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 G ...

from 1970 to 1973 and 1980 to 1982, and as president of

PEN American Center PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate Freedom of speech, free expression in the United States and worldwide through the ad ...

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 spent part of each year, but also in Europe and the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, where he has frequently traveled, and in Thailand and Washington, D.C.. He lived with his wife Mary Stathato-Kyris (married in 1951) in

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

, New Jersey, from 1954 until her death in 2012. Keeley died from complications of a blood clot at his home in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

on February 23, 2022, at the age of 94.

Awards

*1959

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Prizes have been awarded annually since 1921, with a hiatus ...

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

*1959

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

New Jersey Authors Award New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz Albums and EPs * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartn ...

: **1960 For the novel ''The Libation'' (Citation) **1968 For ''George Seferis: Collected Poems, 1924-1955'' **1970 For the novel ''The Impostor'' *1962 Guinness Poetry Award selection *1972 Guggenheim Fellowship *1973

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

in Translation (finalist) *1975 P.E.N.-Columbia University Translation Center Prize *1980

Harold Morton Landon Translation Award The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

, Academy of American Poets *1982 Howard T. Behrman Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Humanities *1983 PEN/National Endowment for the Arts Fiction Syndicate Award *1984-85 Pushcart Prize Selection *1987 First European Prize for Translation of Poetry *1992 National Translation Award (Citation) *1994 Honorary Doctorate,

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

*1999 Academy Award in Literature *2000

PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation The PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation, named in honor of U.S. translator Ralph Manheim, is a literary award given every three years by PEN America (the U.S. chapter of International PEN) to a translator "whose career has demonstrated a comm ...

*2000 Criticos Prize, London Hellenic Society *2001 Commander of the Order of the Phoenix *2003 The Yale Review Prize *2003 Trustees' Annual Award,

Gennadius Library The Gennadius Library ( el, Γεννάδειος Βιβλιοθήκη), also known as the Gennadeion, is one of the most important libraries in Greece, with over 110,000 volumes on Greek history, literature and art from Antiquity until modern tim ...

*2004 Phidippides Award *2006 Honorary Doctorate, Richard Stockton College *2008 Dido Sotiriou Cultural Prize, Hellenic Authors' Society *2008 Lord Byron Award,

Hellenic College Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (HCHC) is an Orthodox Christian liberal arts college and seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts. Its mission is to educate individuals for life and service in the Orthodox Christian co ...

*2010 Honorary Doctorate,

University of Cyprus The University of Cyprus (Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Κύπρου) is a public research university established in Cyprus in 1989. It admitted its first students in 1992 and has approximately 7000 students. History The University of Cyprus wa ...

*2014

PEN Award for Poetry in Translation The PEN Award for Poetry in Translation is given by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) to honor a poetry translation published in the preceding year. The award should not be confused with the PEN Translation Prize. The award is one of many ...

, for co-translator of ''Diaries of Exile'' by Yannis Ritsos

Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ''The Megabuilders of Queenston Park''. Wild River Books. 2014. * ''Requiem for Mary''. Greenhouse Review Press. 2015. *''The Problem of Time and Other Poems.'' Greenhouse Review Press. 2018.

Editor and translator

* ''Six Poets of Modern Greece'' (With

Philip Sherrard Philip Owen Arnould Sherrard (23 September 1922 – 30 May 1995) was a British author and translator. His work includes translations of Modern Greek poets, and books on Modern Greek literature and culture, metaphysics, theology, art and aesthet ...

) Alfred A. Knopf, 1961 * ''Vassilis Vassilikos, 'The Plant,' 'The Well,' 'The Angel': A Trilogy'' (With Mary Keeley) Knopf, 1964. * ''Four Greek Poets'' (With

) Penguin Books, 1965 * ''George Seferis, Collected Poems: 1924-1955'' (With Philip Sherrard) Princeton University Press, 1967 - * ''C. P. Cavafy, Passions and Ancient Days'' (with George Savidis) Hogarth Press, 1972 * ''Modern Greek Writers:

Solomos Dionysios Solomos (; el, Διονύσιος Σολωμός ; 8 April 1798 – 9 February 1857) was a Greek poet from Zakynthos, who is considered to be Greece's national poet. He is best known for writing the ''Hymn to Liberty'' ( el, Ὕμ� ...

, Calvos, Matesis,

Palamas Palamas (Greek: Παλαμάς) is a town and a municipality in the Karditsa regional unit, Greece. Population 16,726 (2011). Palamas is located south-southwest of Larissa, the capital of Thessaly, northwest of Lamia, north of Sofades, east-nort ...

Cavafy Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Πέτρου Καβάφης ; April 29 (April 17, OS), 1863 – April 29, 1933), known, especially in English, as Constantine P. Cavafy and often published as C. P. Cavafy (), was a Gree ...

, Kazantzakis,

Seferis Giorgos or George Seferis (; gr, Γιώργος Σεφέρης ), the pen name of Georgios Seferiades (Γεώργιος Σεφεριάδης; March 13 – September 20, 1971), was a Greek poet and diplomat. He was one of the most important G ...

, 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. - * ''Angelos Sikelianos, Selected Poems'' (With Philip Sherrard) Princeton University Press, 1979 * ''Odysseus Elytis, Selected Poems'' Viking-Penguin, 1981 - * ''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 - * ''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 * ''Yannis Ritsos: Repetitions, Testimonies, Parentheses'' Princeton University Press, 1991 * ''The Essential Cavafy'' (With Philip Sherrard) Ecco Press, 1995 - * ''George Seferis, Collected Poems'', (With Philip Sherrard) Princeton University Press, 1995 * ''George Seferis and Edmund Keeley: Correspondence, 1951-1971'' Princeton University Library, 1997 * ''A Century of Greek Poetry 1900-2000: Bilingual Edition'' (with Peter Bien,

Peter Constantine Peter Constantine (born 1963) is a British and American literary translator who has translated literary works from German, Russian, French, Modern Greek, Ancient Greek, Italian, Albanian, Dutch, and Slovene. Biography Constantine was born in Lo ...

, and Karen Van Dyck) Cosmos Publishing, 2004 - * ''Selected Poems Of Odysseus Elytis'' (with Philip Sherrard) Anvil Press, 2007 * ''The Greek Poets: Homer to the Present'' (co-editor) W. W. Norton, 2009 * ″Angelos Sikelianos: Selected Poems″,(with Philip Sherrard), second bilingual edition, Denise Harvey (publisher), 1996,

References

External links

Edmund Keeley Papers
* Audio
Edmund Keeley reads C. P. Cavafy's poem ''Ithaka''
* Audio
Edmund Keeley reads a poem by Semonides of Amorgos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keeley, Edmund 1928 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American novelists Alumni of the University of Oxford American translators Commanders of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece) Corresponding Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) Deaths from thrombosis Greek–English translators Novelists from New Jersey People from Damascus Princeton University alumni Princeton University faculty Fulbright alumni