Wonderful interview of Seamus Heaney by Dennis O’Driscoll.
One of my favorite excerpts from the interview:
I had no particular gift for writing what were called “compositions”, and no particular enjoyment of it. But I do remember a moment, early on at St Columb’s, when the topic was “A Day at the Seaside” and I made a connection between the performative student in me and a more inward creature, the writer-in-waiting, if you like. In the middle of the list of usual, expected activities such as diving and swimming, neither of which I could do, I wrote about going into an amusement arcade to escape from a shower and being depressed by the wet footprints on the floor and the cold, wet atmosphere created by people in their rained-on summer clothes. This had actually happened to me, so the image and the recording of it had a different feel. Something in me knew that I was on the right, intimate track – but it took me years to follow up.
And I love his bit about trying to locate it.
A new book is coming out, a compilation of interviews with Seamus Heaney (and he’s a wonderful interview, juicy, intelligent – always leaves you with something to chew on). I’ve seen him read a couple of times, once in a nearly empty classroom at NYU in the middle of the afternoon … and he’s wonderful “live”. Just wonderful. Funny, mischievous, and sharp.
