One of the more interesting pieces of literary comment during the year was Seamus Deane's lengthy essay in the New Yorker in March entitled: "The Famous Seamus" - billed as Deane recalling growing up with Heaney, Nobel laureate. Going back to when they met in St Columb's College in Derry in 1950, when Deane, who describes himself as Seamus eile, was 10 and Heaney a little older, it was a moving piece in which Deane confessed to feeling a certain emptiness as he watched Heaney get the Novel Prize, wondering: "Would we ever be as we had been?"
Now we have Heaney's response in an interview with Karl Miller published by Between the Lines publications. Reading the piece, says Heaney, was "like going through the curtains into the back room of yourself, only to find that this time there was somebody else in the room along with you". And what about being called "calm and sly" by the friend with whom he's been "in banter for a lifetime"? The problem for Deane, Heaney imagines must have been "to stay true to the affection and depth of our relationship, but not to allow that to interfere with another imperative, which was to be as objective as possible about his subject. Still, if `sly' implies calculated and deliberately self-serving moves, I would have to reject the word; but I think he means something more like the caution he speaks of, which is something I do recognise in myself."
And do the Heaneys entertain multitudes? No, it seems. "We've had the occasional big party in our time, but nothing too Gatsby-ish, I can assure you."
The small book containing the full text of this long interview can be ordered from bookshops or Between the Lines at 9 Woodstock Road, London N4 3ET, £9.50 sterling.
SADBH would dearly love to be in Boston University on October 7th to hear Conor Cruise O'Brien speak on the fascinating topic, "How to Recapture Selective Memories". The Cruiser is addressing a conference on autobiography, biography and memoir organised by the Partisan Review, the proceedings of which will be published in the influential journal in time. Given the memory loss problems certain Irish politicians and movers and shakers have been prone to in recent years, perhaps Conor Cruise O'Brien could be persuaded to give this lecture back home sometime as an aide memoir to some of those involved in the current tribunals? Hilary Spurling, Francine Du Plessix Gray and Saul Bellow are among the speakers, as well as Denis Donoghue whose forthcoming tome on T.S. Eliot will be published in January by Yale University Press.
EIGSE Michael Hartnett which opens on Friday in Newcastle West, Co Limerick, is, says county arts officer, Joan MacKernan, about rooting Hartnett "the extraordinary poet in the ordinary man" in his home town. A literary walk around the late poet's favourite haunts, plus readings by Brendan Kennelly, Rita Ann Higgins, Maire Mhac an tSaoi and others, and the presentation of the first award in Hartnett's honour are among the many highlights. Details from jmacker@limerickcoco.ie
WELL, the leaves might not be falling yet, but it's the time of year to enter Cork Campus Radio 97.4 FM's Fallen Leaves short story competition, in association with the Examiner, Cork University Press and Attic Press. There are two categories this year: under 19 and open. All shortlisted stories will be broadcast on Cork Campus Radio, and judges this year are Nuala O'Faolain and Robert McLiam-Wilson. Closing date is Friday. Entry details from 021-4902170, or e-mail radio@ucc.ie