January 08, 2014

The two worlds of Northern Ireland, Ctd Heaney and O'Brien


Conor cruise O'Brien knew in the 1990s that it was a matter of moving beyond nationalism and unionism. Fintan O'Toole explained O'Brien's philosophy for Irish politics in The Irish Times here:
"He does not accept that the really important challenge at the moment is not to move from nationalism to unionism, but to move beyond both."
Seamus Heaney said the same thing in a 1997 interview with The Paris Review here:
"But listen to what I’m saying! Protestant, Catholic—the point is to fly under or out and beyond those radar systems."
My earlier posts on Heaney here and here. My earlier posts on Conor Cruise O'Brien herehere and here.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...