Jonathan Anderson celebrates the rich landscape of Irish literature, highlighting writers like Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, and Seamus Heaney as titans who have shaped literary history. He notes how many renowned writers left Ireland yet emphasizes that their roots remain impactful. Anderson also shares his admiration for Hockney's etchings inspired by Cavafy, intertwining personal anecdotes about how place influences creativity. Furthermore, he reflects on his drama training, discussing the complexities of Beckett’s 'Endgame' as a blend of performance techniques, showcasing the intricate relationship between text and performance.
Irish literature is second to none, and for me that's quite a proud thing. The writers I've chosen for Document - Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, Seamus Heaney, William Butler Yeats, Flann O'Brien and Bram Stoker - are titans of literature and they each changed literature in their own way.
Many of them left of course... But I think there's something in that too... Ireland is a country that never leaves you, no matter where you go.
In drama school I learnt two Russian theatre techniques - the Stanislavski method and the Brecht technique... Endgame is like a hybrid of both those approaches, because it's nearly all spoken outwards.
These Hockney etchings are my favourites, they're just beautiful. They were inspired by a suite of poems by the Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, who Hockney loves - he admitted he once stole a book of his poems from the library because it was out of print.
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