At last, a single volume on a major element in Heaney's (SH) work. The editors have been both judicious and wide-ranging in their choice of essays. Two of them have their own pieces in the volume. The decision to include pieces by a producer/director of SH's re-imaginings of Sophoclean drama is both wise and illuminating; one has to reread both to comprehend the sheer otherness of SH's achievement and wonder at the eloquence and humility of the contributors, Lucy Pitman-Wallace and Helen Eastman; their chapters are informative, yet still knotty, even for one who has seen both productions.
There are, in all, 14 essays, with an Introduction, and an Epilogue from Lorna Hardwick. I was privileged to be present at the genesis, as it were, of the book, as a series of presentations in Oxford, in July 2015; it is a pleasure to recognise the contributors and their themes. Nine of the chapters deal with SH's interaction with Greek literature, most notably the two plays of Sophocles; five treat SH's familiarity with Virgil, in particular the Aeneid. Indeed, the version of Aeneid VI was his last major work.
Much time is spent on that riverbank in the Underworld, but the byways are also fascinating: Neil Corcoran on SH's use of the figure of Antaeus illuminates SH's rural background, the grounding for much of his unique vision; Bernard O'Donoghue takes us to the rural/pastoral in SH, Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh and, of course, Virgil; Edith Hall peruses the notes in SH's school copy of Mackail's Aeneid for aperçus, finding much about which to speculate.
Almost every chapter is so dense that it will repay many readings; the scholars featured have devoted a great deal of time to mining SH's extensive oeuvre for relevance and meaning and discussions are wide and far-reaching (the bibliography takes up 11 pages). Moreover, SH has been interviewed extensively, especially during his later career; this material is also employed to productive effect by many of the contributors.
This relatively short compendium of essays - much more could be added to the theme - has been cleverly chosen and edited. It is fully worth the money, if you already know SH's poetry well; if not, this book will send you straight (back) to his oeuvre with renewed interest.
Open access
