Abstract
Writers have always used tradition and every innovation in literary history seems paradoxically reflected in older, universal concerns and methods of literary creativity. Old literature can at first seem overwhelming but we need to see the liberating opportunities creativity offers via its influence. Writers are renewed by the directness and freshness found in previous works. Here The Odyssey, Caedmon and the book of Ecclesiastes are contextualised and shown as vibrant influences. The old renews in many ‘modern’ writers, as in D.H. Lawrence’s ‘[Autobiographical fragment]’, from Phoenix II. Pope, James and Kate Tempest are referenced.
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May, A. (2021). Modern Traditionalists. In: Tradition in Creative Writing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74776-3_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74776-3_2
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