Widely regarded as the finest poet of his generation, Seamus Heaney is
the subject of numerous critical studies, but no book-length portrait
has appeared before now. Through his own lively and eloquent
reminiscences, Stepping Stones retraces Heaney's steps from his first
exploratory testing of the ground as an infant to what he called his
moon-walk to the podium to receive the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.
It also fascinatingly charts his post-Nobel life and is supplemented
with a number of photographs, many from the Heaney family album and
published here for the first time. In response to firm but subtle
questioning from Dennis O'Driscoll, Heaney sheds a personal light on his
work (poems, essays, translations, plays) and on the artistic and
ethical challenges he faced during the dark years of the Ulster
Troubles. Combining the spontaneity of animated conversation with the
considered qualities of the best autobiographical writing, Stepping
Stones provides an original, diverting, and absorbing store of
reflections and recollections. Scholars and general readers alike are
brought closer to the work, life, and creative development of a
charismatic and lavishly gifted poet whose latest collection, District
and Circle, was awarded the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry in 2006.
