Seamus Heaney and the Art of Translation

Seamus Heaney and the Art of Translation is comprised of 11 chapters that examine the Nobel prize winning poet’s translations and that situate the works within a transnational perspective. The chapters focus on the broad and varied connections Heaney makes with writers from an Irish and European background. The book contains close readings of the poet’s associations and interest in exemplars such as Dante, Virgil, Baudelaire, Blandiana and Ní Dhomhnaill, to mention but a few. Attention is also paid to broader areas of influence such as the Greek and Roman classics, Anglo-Saxon, Irish and Eastern-European literature. The volume addresses Heaney’s poetry in translation, as well as his dramatic works and prose writing. This study is broad in its approach to Heaney’s translations and offers new readings of these works from leading international scholars in the field.

Eugene O’Brien is Professor of English Literature and Theory at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. Ian Hickey is Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick.