Book description
Widely regarded as the finest poet of his generation, Seamus Heaney
is the subject of numerous critical studies; but no book-length
portrait has appeared until now. Through his own lively and eloquent
reminiscences, Stepping Stones retraces the poet's steps from his
early works, through to his receipt of the 1995 Nobel Prize for
Literature and his post-Nobel life. It is supplemented with a large
number of photographs, many from the Heaney family album and published
here for the first time. In response to firm but subtle questioning
from Dennis O'Driscoll, Seamus Heaney sheds a personal light on his
work (poems, essays, translations, plays) and on the artistic and
ethical challenges he faced, providing an original, diverting and
absorbing store of reflections, opinions and recollections.
Dennis O'Driscoll's previous publications include New and
Selected Poems (2004), a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation, and
Reality Check (2007). He is editor of The Bloodaxe Book of Poetry
Quotations (2006), author of a collection of essays and reviews,
Troubled Thoughts, Majestic Dreams (2001), and a contributor to The
Cambridge Companion to Seamus Heaney(2008). He works as a civil
servant in Dublin.
