Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : Foster, Robert Fitzroy (1949-....)
Titre(s) : On Seamus Heaney [Texte imprimé] / R. F. Foster
Publication : Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton university press, 2020
Description matérielle : 1 vol. (XIII-228 p.) ; 20 cm
Collection : Writers on writers
Lien à la collection : Writers on writers
Note(s) : Includes bibliographical references and index
"Seamus Heaney was the leading Irish poet of the second half of the twentieth century,
and, after W. B. Yeats, arguably the most significant poet in the history of Irish
literature. When he died in 2013 the public reaction in Ireland was extraordinary,
and the outpouring of feeling decisively demonstrated that he occupied an exceptional
place in national life. The words of his last message to his wife, 'Noli timere',
'Don't be afraid', appeared over and over again on social media, while key phrases
from favourite poems became and have remained canonical. In this short book, conceived
for the Writers on Writers series, historian Roy Foster offers an extended and largley
chronological reflection upon Heaney's life, work and historical context, from the
poet's origins in Northern Ireland and the publication of Death of a Naturalist in
1966, through the explosive impact of his 1975 collection North, and then into his
years as a 'world poet' and an Irish writer with a powerful influence on English literature
generally. Foster considers virtually all of Heaney's major output, including later
volumes such as The Spirit Level and Human Chain, as well as Heaney's translation
of Beowulf and his renderings from Virgil. Throughout the book, Foster conveys something
of Heaney's charismatic, expansive and subtle personality, as well as the impact of
his work in both the USA and in Europe. Certain themes emerge throughout, such as
the way Heaney maintained a deceptive simplicity throughout his writing career, his
relations with classical literature and the poetry of dissidence in Eastern Europe,
and the increasing presence of the unseen and even spiritual in his later work. Foster
also highlights Heaney's importance as a critic and the largely unacknowledged ways
in which his own trajectory echoed that of the life and work of Yeats. Though Heaney
evaded direct comparisons with his Nobel-prizewinning predecessor, he personified
the quality which he attributed to Yeats: 'the gift of establishing authority within
a culture'. Both poets made a challenging and oblique use of autobiography and personal
history in their work, and both sustained a very particular and sometimes contested
relation to the life of their country. Foster shows us that Heaney, like Yeats, came
to personify and express the Ireland of his time with unique force and resonance"
Sujet(s) : Heaney, Seamus (1939-2013) -- Critique et interprétation
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 0691211477. - ISBN 9780691211473. - ISBN 9780691174372 (erroné). - ISBN 0691174377
(erroné) (rel.)
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb466355894
Notice n° :
FRBNF46635589
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)
Table des matières : Certus ; Kinship ; The same root ; In the middle of his journey ; Alphabetical
order ; The moment of mortality ; The bird on the roof ; Clearance.
