Seamus Deane was born in 1940 in Derry and educated at Queen’s University, Belfast, and the University of Cambridge. He taught in Derry, lectured in America, and is now a lecturer at University College, Dublin. Next year he will publish his Essays in Modern Irish Literature (Faber and Faber) and The Literature of Ireland (Hutchinson). In 1973 he won the A. E. Memorial Award. (updated 1983)