Barry MacSweeney, The Book of Demons, 1997, Bloodaxe.

`a poet through and through' is how MacSweeney describes himself in
this book and it is to the credit of `The Royal Literary Fund' and `The
Society of Authors' that they believed him and supplied funds for his
detoxification from alcohol addiction which resulted in this marvellous
book.

I have now read it three times, the last time after a heavy dose of
Kronenbourg in the pub, and will now turn it over to Fred Beake.
(It only arrived in Bath yesterday).

The book is in two sections. Firstly `Pearl', which I thought most
inferior to Ranter (Slow Dancer Press, 1985) when I first read the
pamphlet from Equipage. But now, in its correct place, as a warm-up
for the main section `Book of Demons' it is a pleasant piece of
work. Running through it are two words on MacSweeney's brain: `borage'
and `argent'. They crop up again and again.

The main section `The Book of Demons' is a chronicle of MacSweeney's
sad drying-out. The fluid brilliant language proceeds at a tremendous
pace keeping pace with his fertile brain. It is a tour de force as
slabs of poetry are chopped up into poems. There is even one orthodox
poem on Anne de Bretagne `When the candles wre lit' worthy of a place
in the anthologies. But the impact is from the continual energy of
MacSweeney's language which never flags.

After thirty years this must be counted his first mainstream book,
and a Poetry Book Society Recommendation to boot. Ignoring the early
flurries back in the 60s. The Prince of Sparty Lea has gained his
recognition. I hope that he can continue to write as well without
the alcohol. But he has the Irish genes.

And a word about what makes a poet of MacSweeney's class. (And there
are very few of his quality in these islands.) A world is invented
in the head and obsession over a generation hammers it home. It plays
word games within the skull and evokes similarities to Richard Wagners'
leitmotifs. This world is then written down in bits and pieces evoking
an alternative reality into which the reader may wander. It stretches
from earliest childhood to the present. The themes are everpresent.
It is only when the poets work is viewed as a whole that the vast
picture created is revealed. It is best to tag onto these poets early
so that the vision can unfold over a lifetime. I have followed MacSweeney
for thirty years and am always being rewarded. So few poets have this
vision. His work is all of one piece. He is the Prince of Sparty Lea.
And I am from Durham.



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