Sweeney Astray

Product Information

Stephen Regan, “Seamus Heaney and the Making of Sweeney Astray”, p. 329. Regan highlights that Heaney had no “reservations in emphasizing the penitential qualities of Sweeney’s suffering”.

Time, March 19, 1984; February 25, 1985; October 16, 1995; March 20, 2000, Paul Gray, "There Be Dragons: Seamus Heaney's Stirring Translation of Beowulf Makes Waves on Both Shores of the Atlantic," p. 84. Declan Kiberd, Inventing Ireland: The Literature of the Modern Nation(Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1995), p. 597. Joining Ó Lionáird for the performances, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra will be under the baton of David Brophy, who conducted the National Chamber Choir of Ireland, the Dublin Orchestral Players, and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, before being appointed Principal Conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra (RTÉCO). Brophy conducted at the opening ceremony for the Special Olympics in 2012, and for the late Queen Elizabeth II in the National Convention Centre in 2011. Proceedings will be presented by Liz Nolan of RTÉ Lyric FM. The lunchtime concert in the NCH will be presented by Liz Nolan of RTÉ lyric fm and John Kelly will interview composer Neil Martin before the Kilkenny performance.

Summary

New Statesman, April 25, 1997; September 18, 1998, review of Opened Ground, p. 54; April 15, 2001, p. 53. First published by the Field Day Theatre Company in 1983 and then by Faber and Faber in 1984, Seamu (...) Sweeney is indeed astray. He lets his temper and exaggerated self-image drag him into an act against the church which is too excessive for God himself, and Sweeney must suffer. Theo Dorgan hears from Marco Sonzoghni, editor of the monumental Translations, from Colm Toibin, and there are readings of his translations by the poet himself.

Reflecting on his fate, Sweeney finds himself between life and death. In this purgatorial state, amidst the branches and the tree-tops, he is no longer firmly grounded on earth, nor has he yet reached heaven. Conclusion With Dennis O'Driscoll) Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney, Farrar Straus (New York, NY), 2008. Spectator, September 6, 1975; December 1, 1979; November 24, 1984; June 27, 1987; September 16, 1995, p. 39; September 5, 1998, review of Opened Ground, p. 36; April 6, 2002, p. 32.the road to the first school I attended. One way or another, he seemed to have been with me from the start.''