Tom Paulin
Tom Paulin
Thomas Neilson Paulinis a Northern Irish poet and critic of film, music and literature. He lives in England, where he is the GM Young Lecturer in English Literature at Hertford College, Oxford...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth25 January 1949
CountryIreland
thinking ideas flying
I think ideas should be flying about and banging into each other. It is a kind of energy. If you occupy static positions, then things sort of ossify.
thinking facts boost
I think attacks on civilians in fact boost morale.
country thinking people
I think protest and actions have to be organised against the Israelis and their backers. There needs to be a concerted high profile campaign to raise awareness of the people in this country.
jobs real thinking
I always feel freelance writers are leading a heroic life. I think that is the real writer's life. On the other hand, it's good to have another job. It gives you something to do.
thinking historical consciousness
I don't think the British carry a historical consciousness either.
answer exist fiction robust terms writer
Is the biographer an artist who can and should exist on equal terms with the dramatist, fiction writer and poet? The short and robust answer is, 'Certainly not.'
afflicts fabric intolerant north population south
Unfortunately, in the north and the south of Ireland, intolerant habits are part of the fabric of emotion, part of the identity crisis which afflicts the population of the country.
I do most of the cooking. I'm kind of domestic, untidily so.
brought family ireland lived might neighbours occasion people round shouting social talk yeats
I do think culture is an argument, and that was part of the way I was brought up. People at a social occasion in Ireland will start shouting and arguing. When the Yeats family lived in Bedford Park, they had to go round to the neighbours to say, 'You might think we are fighting, but this is the way we talk to each other.'
against apartheid british engaging figure force government high irish-poet mandela movement profile sympathy translated
This sympathy is not translated into force against the British government because it is not like the anti- apartheid movement which had a high profile here and Mandela is a more engaging figure than Yasser Arafat.
full house ireland labour listened northern party until
My parents were Northern Ireland Labour party people. We read the 'Guardian' and the 'New Statesman,' listened to the BBC. The house was full of books. We didn't get a television until 'That Was The Week That Was' started. There was nothing to do but read.
again apparently beneath eerie lurking occasions pleasant prejudices social tribal violent
Again and again, I find something eerie in many Irish occasions - the unrelenting whiteness, the emotional tribal attachments, the violent prejudices lurking beneath apparently pleasant social surfaces, the cosy smugness of belonging.
ministers
Teachers are the ministers and priests of culture, its practitioners and its emissaries.
either supports zionist
Look, you're either a Zionist or an anti-Zionist: there's no middle way. Everyone who supports the state of Israel is a Zionist.