SWEENEY ASTRAY

Sweeney Astray is Seamus Heaney's version of the medieval Irish work Buile Suibne. Its here, Mad Sweeney, undergoes a series of purgatorial adventures after he is cursed by a saint and turned into a bird at the Battle of Moira. Heaney's translation not only restores to us a work of historical and literary importance but offers the genius of one of our greatest living poets to reinforce its claims on the reader of contemporary literature. Seamus Heaneyreceived the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. He lives in Dublin and he regularly teaches at Harvard University. His many other books includeOpened Ground,Electric Light,Beowulf, andFinders Keepers. Sweeney Astrayis Seamus Heaney's version of the medieval Irish workBuile Suibnethe first complete translation since 1913. Its hero, Mad Sweeney, undergoes a series of purgatorial adventures after he is cursed by a saint and exiled to the trees at the Battle of Moira. The poetry spoken by this mad king is among the richest and most immediately appealing in the whole canon of Gaelic literature. Heaney's translation not only restores to us a work of historical and literary importance but offers the genius of one of our greatest living poets to reinforce its claims on the reader of contemporary literature. "It takes a superb poet to capture, in translation from the Irish, the full range of pain and beauty in Sweeney's poetry. Seamus Heaney has produced an exhilarating version of this most unusual story poem."Brendan Kennelly,The New York Times Book Review "In this spirited version, Heaney delivers all the drama of the hero 'on the run,' an unforgettable figure, like Icarus, Lear, and Stephen Dedalus."James Finn Cotter,The Hudson Review "Heaney's highly charged descriptions of the natural world and its elemental forces drive much of the beauty in the poem."David St. John,The Washington Post Book World