Trevor Joyce is a poet, translator and cousin of the renowned Irish poet James Joyce. With the publication of Fastness, he instantly got fame. He has translated a lot of Irish texts previously but this one shows his profound calibre. In his introduction to the book, he depicts the life and time of Spenser and also how nasty his involvement to Irish politics was. Nature's court did injustice to Mutabilitie. It was like a reopening of an old case for Joyce.
The work is actually a response to the Mutabilitie Cantos. He believed that he could make the charges of more considerable. Joyce eliminated the mysterious element which was unnecessary. He also avoided the complex poetic expressions for better understanding. However, the verdict of nature was still in Jove's favor. The success of the book deserves a close examination of syntax and diction of both the original and the recast work. Fastness is more of an interpretation than a translation.
This radical postcolonial work revives and ruins Spenser's language and diction at the same time. As a colonial officer, Spenser plotted the destruction of the Irish language, heritage, culture as well as people. Fastness is the language of Mutabilitie. It is fast in vernacular and narrative. The work also seems to denote the difference between Elizabethan and contemporary poetry.
