Philip Hobsbaum - poet and critic. Eric Hobsbawm - Marxist historian. It's quite
possible Heaney read Eric Hobsbawm's 'Primitive Rebels' and 'Captain Swing' (or
anything else by him), but Philip Hobsbaum was the one who convened 'The
Group'. A minor point maybe, by the standards of this. I wrote my paragraph
early on in response to an invite from John Tranter. I was pointing out what I
thought were anomalies or oddities in Heaney's remarks, in a spirit of trying to
make sense of them. I don't really want to be quoted as slagging off Heaney. I
think he's a brilliant poet and entitled to his opinions. As of course are Jeffrey
Side, Desmond Swords and Peter Riley's Aunt Edith's pet warthog - entitled to
their opinions, that is. I felt a bit sorry for Jamie McKendrick, who must now
think anyone interested in 'avant-garde' poetry is a complete tosser: I would.
But it's easy to get carried away in a context where there are apparently no
standards. I wrote another short note to Jacket, which John Tranter was kind
enough not to publish. He's an excellent, generous editor.
Anyway.
John
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/writingprog/warwickreview/dec20
08/jmpoor/
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