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The Flight of the Vernacular
Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott and the Impress of Dante
Series: - Cross/Cultures, Volume: 49
Author:
In this book, Dante, Seamus Heaney and Derek Walcott engage in an eloquent and meaningful conversation. Danteâs capacity for being faithful to the collective historical experience and true to the recognitions of the emerging self, the permanent immediacy of his poetry, the healthy state of his language, which is so close to the object that the two are identified, and his adamant refusal to get lost in the wide and open sea of abstraction â all these are shown to have affected, and to continue to affect, Heaneyâs and Walcottâs work. The Flight of the Vernacular, however, is not only a record of what Dante means to the two contemporary poets but also a cogent study of Heaneyâs and Walcottâs attitude towards language and of their views on the function of poetry in our time. Heaneyâs programmatic endeavour to be âadept at dialectâ and Walcottâs idiosyncratic redefinition of the vernacular in poetry as tone rather than as dialect â apart from having Dantean overtones â are presented as being associated with the belief that poetry is a social reality and that language is a living alphabet bound to the âopened groundâ of the world.
"â¦excitingâ¦complexâ¦persuasiveâ¦full of new revelationsâ¦âit helps us to better comprehend Heaney and Walcott and offers us a richer, more contemporary Dante, a Dante who is aliveâ¦" â Valeria Tinkler-Villani, in: Incontri, Anno 20 (2005), pp. 194-199
"â¦it offers significantly new perspectivesâ¦, â¦important and thoroughly scholarlyâ¦, â¦an invaluable resourceâ¦" â Lyn Innes, in: New West Indian Guide, Vol. 78, No. 3-4 (2004), pp.351-353
"â¦based on sound, indeed impeccable scholarship" â Edward Baugh, in: Research in African Literatures, Vol. 34.1 (Spring 2003), pp. 151-9
"â¦illuminating, absorbing, engaging[â¦], [of] inestimable value to the scholar." â John Ennis, in: Agenda, Vol. 39.1-3 (Winter 2002-2003), pp.323-327
"â¦it is wonderful to see someone with deep knowledge and empathy restoring tous a sense of Dante as contemporary; [it] exposes the practice of much contemporary poetic criticism that tends to be parochial in time⦠[..] Part of the pleasure of this book is its clarity: close-reading and fine judgementsâ¦" â Archie Markham, in: Wasafiri, Vol. 38 (Spring 2003), pp. 69-71
"After reading this book, it is difficult indeed to believe that Heaneyâs and Walcottâs dialogue with the medieval poet may have gone unremarked for so long. Fumagalli redresses this imbalance admirably" â Lucia Boldrini, in: New Comparison, Vol. 33-34 (Spring/Autumn 2002), pp.304-305
"â¦articulate and subtle analysisâ¦" â Piero Boitani, in: La Domenica del Sole 24Ore (20 January 2002), p. 36
"â¦it offers significantly new perspectivesâ¦, â¦important and thoroughly scholarlyâ¦, â¦an invaluable resourceâ¦" â Lyn Innes, in: New West Indian Guide, Vol. 78, No. 3-4 (2004), pp.351-353
"â¦based on sound, indeed impeccable scholarship" â Edward Baugh, in: Research in African Literatures, Vol. 34.1 (Spring 2003), pp. 151-9
"â¦illuminating, absorbing, engaging[â¦], [of] inestimable value to the scholar." â John Ennis, in: Agenda, Vol. 39.1-3 (Winter 2002-2003), pp.323-327
"â¦it is wonderful to see someone with deep knowledge and empathy restoring tous a sense of Dante as contemporary; [it] exposes the practice of much contemporary poetic criticism that tends to be parochial in time⦠[..] Part of the pleasure of this book is its clarity: close-reading and fine judgementsâ¦" â Archie Markham, in: Wasafiri, Vol. 38 (Spring 2003), pp. 69-71
"After reading this book, it is difficult indeed to believe that Heaneyâs and Walcottâs dialogue with the medieval poet may have gone unremarked for so long. Fumagalli redresses this imbalance admirably" â Lucia Boldrini, in: New Comparison, Vol. 33-34 (Spring/Autumn 2002), pp.304-305
"â¦articulate and subtle analysisâ¦" â Piero Boitani, in: La Domenica del Sole 24Ore (20 January 2002), p. 36
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Donner un sens plus pur aux mots de la tribu
âLâAlto Voloâ and the return to the real
2. Flight and Folly
Or, Dante and the megalomania of the signifier
3. Epitaph for the Young
Walcottâs apprentice years
4. The Style of Her Praise
Danteâs Vita Nuova and Walcottâs Another Life
5. Breaking the Tribeâs Complicity
Heaneyâs Field Work
6. Shabineâs alto volo and Ulyssesâ folle volo
Walcottâs âThe Schooner Flight
7. Out of Avernus: Heaneyâs Station Island
8. The Book of Change: Heaneyâs The Haw Lantern
9. A Caribbean Epic of the Self: Walcottâs Omeros
10. A Poetry of Paradise. Heaneyâs Seeing Things and The Spirit Level and Walcottâs The Bounty
Conclusion
Appendix I
Appendix II
Works Cited
Index
Introduction
1. Donner un sens plus pur aux mots de la tribu
âLâAlto Voloâ and the return to the real
2. Flight and Folly
Or, Dante and the megalomania of the signifier
3. Epitaph for the Young
Walcottâs apprentice years
4. The Style of Her Praise
Danteâs Vita Nuova and Walcottâs Another Life
5. Breaking the Tribeâs Complicity
Heaneyâs Field Work
6. Shabineâs alto volo and Ulyssesâ folle volo
Walcottâs âThe Schooner Flight
7. Out of Avernus: Heaneyâs Station Island
8. The Book of Change: Heaneyâs The Haw Lantern
9. A Caribbean Epic of the Self: Walcottâs Omeros
10. A Poetry of Paradise. Heaneyâs Seeing Things and The Spirit Level and Walcottâs The Bounty
Conclusion
Appendix I
Appendix II
Works Cited
Index