Heaney to Take Year Off, May Leave for Good

Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney will take the next two semesters off from the University, and some in the community speculate that he may depart for good after the 1998 academic year.

Heaney, Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory, regularly spends the fall semester writing in Ireland, and spends the spring teaching at Harvard.

"My understanding is Seamus won't be teaching here over the next year, but is still discussing his future relationship with Harvard with the Dean [of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles]," said Alex Huppe, director of public affairs for the University.

Huppe said that while he would characterize Heaney's future with Harvard as "up in the air" he "hoped that Harvard and Seamus Heaney will have a long future together."

Heaney, reached through the English Department, refused to comment yesterday and referred all questions to the Harvard News Office.

Heaney was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature making him the first Harvard professor ever to be awarded the literature prize. The prestigious prize pays $1 million.

The main topic of Heaney's work is the religious strife between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

English Department chair Leo Damrosch said that Heaney did not teach last spring as he usually does, because of commitments stemming from winning the Nobel Prize.

Heaney is teaching English Rbr, "The Practice of Poetry I" and English Sbr, "The Practice of Poetry II."

Damrosch said Heaney is teaching this fall because he did not teach last spring, and missing this upcoming year is simply a part of his normal schedule.

Damrosch said Heaney, who is a resident tutor in Adams House, has always been able to take a semester off because "he is a creative writer."