Statement by President Michael D. Higgins on the death of Anthony Cronin
Date: Wed 28th Dec, 2016 | 15:15
“I have learned with great sorrow of the passing of Anthony Cronin, poet, novelist, biographer of Samuel Beckett, essayist and critic.
A master of the long poem and faithful to the scholarly tradition understanding the poem, the poet and history, Anthony Cronin made an immense contribution to Irish life and sensibility.
An activist in the 1950s against censorship he worked with Peadar O’Donnell on The Bell from which he was recruited to work abroad.
His commitment to the right of artists to simply survive in the most basic sense led to his role in the establishment of Aosdaná, of which he was made a Saoí in 1993.
His version of the Republic was as one of a republic of ideas, international, informed and not bound by a single language.
A fine critic, his essay on Joyce and Modernism was an early indication of the literary insight he would bring to his seminal work on Samuel Beckett.
Committed to poetry, he introduced a new generation to iconic and often eclectic neglected works of immense beauty.
It was an immense privilege to have known him as a friend and to have friends we shared such as Peadar O’Donnell and so many others in different generations.
Sabina and I offer our deepest sympathies to his wife Anne, to his many friends in the community of letters, and all those who will miss his generous wit, contestatory humour and capacity for life in all its contradictions.”