Finders Keepers

"I could happily have chosen any of his books, but I went for this collection of essays because I don’t want to be accused of being negative about the whole cult of celebrity. Seamus Heaney is part of my redress against this. One positive thing celebrities can do for us is to dramatise those values and meanings which we think of as important and commendable. They can do that in the tormented way of a gossip magazines or the admirable, generous-hearted but always accurate way which you find in Seamus Heaney’s collections of both poems and essays. [enail] Heaney dramatises the key value of distinctive individuality. We all want to be our own person and Heaney is someone whose individuality is highly distinctive, which comes out not only in his writing but also in the way he lives. He is supremely alive to the conditions of life in the early 21st century. If you are going to be an individual he is a very good one to be. He is known, of course, as Famous Seamus and I think you see this heroic individuality in him, without any of the grislier aspects of fame."