The Heart of Things: An Anthology of Memory and Lament

by Richard Holloway

Throughout his life Richard Holloway has turned to poets and writers for help in looking for answers to life's mysteries, and for solace and guidance in the face of life's challenges. In The Heart of Things he brings together those poems and words which have meant the most to him, whether they have been life-long guides or words which arrived just at the moment when they were needed most.

Here then are some lights along life's dark path, with thoughts and reflections on life, death, sadness, regret, sin, conflict and forgiveness. All interwoven with Richard's personal and philosophical consideration of what they have meant to him, offered in the hope they will help us, too. This is a book to turn to for inspiration, guidance and comfort. It offers lessons from those who, in Richard's words, 'know best how to listen and teach us to listen', all united by 'the sensual appeal of words, the pain and pleasure they impart'. It is a book to treasure.

176 pages, Hardcover

Published January 18, 2022

About the author

Richard Holloway is a Scottish writer, broadcaster and cleric. He was the Bishop of Edinburgh from 1986 to 2000 and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church from 1992 to 2000.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) This was my sixth book by Holloway, a retired Bishop of Edinburgh whose perspective is maybe not what you would expect from a churchman – he focuses on this life and on practical and emotional needs rather than on the supernatural or abstruse points of theology. His recent work, such as Waiting for the Last Bus, also embraces melancholy in a way that many on the more evangelical end of Christianity might deem shamefully negative.

Being a pessimist myself, though, I find that his outlook resonates. The title of this 2021 release, originally subtitled “An Anthology of Memory and Regret,” comes from Virgil’s Aeneid (“there are tears at the heart of things [sunt lacrimae rerum]”), and that context makes it clearer where he’s coming from. In the same paragraph in which he reveals that source, he defines melancholia as “sorrowing empathy for the constant defeats of the human condition.”

The book is in six thematic essays that plait Holloway’s own thoughts with lengthy quotations, especially from 19th- and 20th-century poetry: Passing ­– Mourning – Warring – Ruining – Regretting – Forgiving. The war chapter, though appropriate for it having just been Remembrance Day, engaged me the least, while the section on ruin sticks closely to the author’s Glasgow childhood and so seems to offer less universal value than the rest. I most appreciated the first two chapters and the one on regret, which features musings on Nietzsche’s “amor fati” and extended quotes from Borges, Housman and MacNeice.

We melancholics are prone to looking backwards, even when we know it’s not good for us; to dwelling on our losses and failures. The final chapter, then, is key, insisting on self-forgiveness because of the forgiveness modelled by Christ (in whatever way you understand that). Holloway believes in the exhortatory wisdom of poetry, which he calls “greater than the intention of its makers and [continuing] to reveal new meanings long after they are gone.” He’s created an unusual and pensive collection that will perform the same role.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[🌶 peppersocks 🧦 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reflections and lessons learned:
“Being human is complicated. However we account for its emergence, nature has endowed humans with a high intelligence and the self-consciousness that goes with it. And it has made us an object of interest to ourselves in a way that does not seem to be the case with the other animals on the planet”

Passing - mourning - warring - ruining - regretting - forgiving. An amazingly clever book dealing with loss and grief through choice poems. Quite personal in places, but this wouldn’t ring as true had it not been so. Definitely a book to gift someone hurting and wanting to try and understand parts of this - no easy cure but kind words always try and help

[Marg Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started to read Richard Holloway's books when I came across his memoir leaving Alexandria. I liked his honesty, his apparent goodness and his journey from belief in God as conventionally taught to curious about the mystery of life. The Heart of Things continues to explore that mystery in a series of essays amply illustrated by poems.

[Simon Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking and stimulating, this is a book to sit with, to contemplate and to celebrate. Despite its relative brevity, there is much wisdom within its pages. Reading this as the Russian invasion of Ukraine was commencing, I found the chapter on Warring particularly profound and moving.

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Holloway's musings on living, looking back and death along with poetry and philosophical thinking.
I found this more stilted and difficult to read than the others of his titles I've read over the years.

[Boo (Harriet) Eaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There were always endings, but I was always glad I went”. Wow I really liked this book, short and punchy reflections on life and living. An easy read but one that gives you a lot to think about

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had higher expectations and kinda boring book ngl :/