Roger Casement

In the annals of Irish history, Roger Casement stands as a complex and enigmatic figure. A British diplomat, humanitarian, and Irish nationalist, Casements life was marked by both triumph and tragedy. This collection of his poems, written during his time in prison awaiting execution for treason, offers a glimpse into the mind of a man grappling with his fate and the complexities of his own identity. Through lyrical verse, Casement explores themes of love, loss, and the indomitable spirit of the Irish people.

En los primeros años del pasado siglo numerosas noticias van llegando a Londres sobre las atrocidades que una empresa británica, la Peruvian Amazon Company, extractora de caucho, está cometiendo en la región amazónica del Putumayo. Cuando se organiza una misión comercial, Roger Casement, que entonces era cónsul en Río de Janeiro y se encontraba de vacaciones en Inglaterra, es designado por el Foreign Office para acompañar a los comisionados. Su misión secreta era elaborar un informe sobre las denuncias recibidas. Así, en julio de 1910 parte hacia Belém do Pará y, vía Manaos, a Iquitos, desde donde se internará en la vasta región amazónica. Este libro relata lo que el cónsul vio en las siguientes diez semanas.

Originally published in 1918 by the Talbot Press in Dublin, two years after his execution by the British Government for his involvement in the 1916 Easter Rising, Some Poems of Roger Casement has long been a collectors item. In life and in death, Roger Casement appears to contain many contradictions: decorated British diplomat, Irish Protestant and martyred Irish nationalist. He was a humanitarian, essayist and sometime poet, a public gentleman and a private lover.Over the years, Roger Casements ghost has been the subject of endless controversies, co-opted into both the queer liberation movement in Ireland and the Republican movement. Predator or saviour, traitor or hero, maligned martyr or gay icon? The question depends on who you ask, and what aspects of Casements life they choose to hold in focus, or to dismiss as a lie. SEAN HEWITTIncludes a specially commissioned introduction by Sean Hewitt as well as the original 1918 introduction, written by Casements cousin, Gertrude Parry.