Fintan O'Toole
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Fintan O'Toole (born 16 February 1958) is an Irish journalist, literary editor, and drama critic for ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'', for which he has written since 1988. He was drama critic for the ''
New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'' from 1997 to 2001 and is Advising Editor and a regular contributor to ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...
''. He is also an author, literary critic, historical writer and political commentator. In 2011, O'Toole was named by ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' as one of "Britain's top 300 intellectuals", despite not being British nor living in the United Kingdom. In 2012 and 2013, O'Toole was a visiting lecturer in Irish letters at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
and contributed to the Fund for Irish Studies Series.


Early life and education

O'Toole was born in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
in a working-class family. He was educated at Scoil Íosagáin and Coláiste Chaoimhín in Crumlin (both run by the Christian Brothers) and at
University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
(UCD). He graduated from the university in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy.


Career

Soon after graduation, O'Toole became drama critic of '' In Dublin'' magazine in 1980. He joined the '' Sunday Tribune'' on its relaunch by Vincent Browne in 1983, and worked as its drama critic, literary editor, arts editor, and feature writer. From 1986 to 1987 he edited '' Magill'' magazine. O'Toole joined ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'' as a columnist in 1988 and his columns have appeared twice-weekly ever since. He took a sabbatical in 1990–1991 to work as literary adviser to the Abbey Theatre. In 1994 he was one of the presenters for the last season of BBC TV's '' The Late Show''. From 1997 to 2001 he was drama critic of the '' Daily News'' in New York. In 2011, he was appointed as literary editor of ''The Irish Times''. He also has published articles regularly in the ''
New York Review of Books New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
'', and ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''. In 2017, O'Toole was commissioned by
Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...
to write the official biography of
Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...
. O'Toole said of the process that his "one terror is that eaney'sfavourite communication mode was the fax, and faxes fade." In 2018, he was awarded the UCD Alumni Award in Arts & Humanities.


Views

O'Toole has criticised what he sees as negative attitudes toward immigration in Ireland, the state of Ireland's public services, growing inequality during Ireland's economic boom, the
Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
, and the U.S. military's use of Shannon Airport, among many other issues. In 2006, he spent six months reporting for ''The Irish Times'' in China. O'Toole's former editor, Geraldine Kennedy, was paid more than the editor of the UK's top non-tabloid newspaper, ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'', which has a circulation about nine times that of ''The Irish Times''. Later, O'Toole told a rival Irish paper, the '' Sunday Independent'':
We as a paper are not shy of preaching about corporate pay and fat cats but with this, there is a sense of excess. Some of the sums mentioned are disturbing. This is not an attack on Ms Kennedy, it is an attack on the executive level of pay. There is double-standard of seeking more job cuts while paying these vast salaries.
In June 2012, O'Toole compared the Irish Constitutional Convention to the American Citizens Union, a reformist political organisation that the New York City political machine
Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was an American political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society. It became the main local ...
did not bother to suppress so long as it did not threaten its hegemony. In August 2019, after the selection of
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...
as
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...
, O'Toole proposed to get Parliament to back an alternative Cabinet who would push back the October deadline for
Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...
to allow a trade deal to be negotiated. The proposal required seven
Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
MPs in northern Irish border constituencies to resign in favour of a pact between the four largest anti-Brexit parties in Ireland, thereby triggering by-elections at a certain date in mid-September. O’Toole believed they would result in a more hardline anti-Brexit parliamentary faction that would make a stronger case for a no-confidence vote in Johnson. The proposal was sharply criticised by Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who claimed the existing anti-Brexit factions in Parliament were strong enough without the party making too many policy concessions. A 26 June 2018 column in ''The Irish Times'' by O'Toole examined how the
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
administration's policies and public-facing communications about immigration and asylum-seekers from Mexico might be deliberately calculated to bring elements of fascism to the U.S. An April 2020 column in ''The Irish Times'' asserted that Trump's destruction of the public image and reputation of the United States culminated with his bungling of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, and that subsequently pity was the only appropriate feeling for the American people, the majority of whom had not voted for him. In a 2024 ''New York Review of Books'' essay, O'Toole rejects the common interpretation of
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's tragedies in terms of protagonists' flaws leading to their own destruction. "So what ''does'' Shakespeare teach us?" he asks, and replies: "Nothing. His tragic theater is not a classroom. It is a fairground wall of death in which the characters are being pushed outward by the centrifugal force of the action but held in place by the friction of the language. . . . We return to the tragedies not in search of behavioral education but because the wilder the terror Shakespeare unleashes, the deeper is the pity and the greater the wonder that, even in the howling tempest, we can still hear the voices of broken individuals so amazingly articulated."


Selected publications


Books

* * ''A Mass for Jesse James: A Journey Through 1980s Ireland'', 1990 * ''Black Hole, Green Card: The Disappearance of Ireland'', 1994 * ''Meanwhile Back at the Ranch: The Politics of Irish Beef'', 1994 * ''Macbeth & Hamlet'', 1995 * ''A Traitor’s Kiss: The Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan'', 1997 * ''The Ex-Isle of Ireland: Images of a Global Ireland'', 1997 * ''The Lie of the Land'', 1998 * ''The Irish Times Book of the Century'', 1999 * ''Shakespeare is Hard But So is Life'', 2002 * Contributor
''Granta 77: What We Think of America''
2002 * "Jubilee"
''Granta 79: Celebrity''
2002 * ''After The Ball'', 2003 * ''Post Washington: Why America Can't Rule the World'', 2005 (with Tony Kinsella) * ''White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of America'', 2005 * ''The Irish Times Book of The 1916 Rising'', 2006 (with Shane Hegarty) * ''Ship of Fools, How Stupidity And Corruption Sank The Celtic Tiger'', 2009 * ''Enough is Enough: How to Build a New Republic'', 2010 * ''Up the Republic!: Towards a New Ireland'' (editor), 2012 * '' A History of Ireland in 100 Objects'', 2013 * ''Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks'', 2016 * ''Judging Shaw'', 2017 * ''Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain'', 2018 * ''The Politics of Pain: Postwar England and the Rise of Nationalism'', 2019 * '' We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958'', 2021


Articles

* Fintan O'Toole, "The King of Little England", ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...
'', vol. LXVIII, no. 10 (10 June 2021), pp. 44–46. About
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...
. * Fintan O'Toole, "Eldest Statesmen", ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...
'', vol. LXXI, no. 1 (18 January 2024), pp. 17–19. "Biden's signature achievements as president resecuring large-scale investment in infrastructure and in the transition to a carbon-free economy... ut tere has been a relentless decline in absolute conomicmobility from one generation to the next..." (p. 18.) "With the promised bridge to a new generation as yet unbuilt, time is not on Biden's side, or on the side of American democracy." (p. 19.) * Fintan O’Toole,
The Second Coming
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...
, vol. LXXI, no. 19 (5 December 2024), pp. 1, 6, 8. "Trump’s second coming may not quite herald the end of the world, but it will hand the ship of state over to a motley crew of libertines and libertarians, control freaks and fanatics. It will stage its own spectacles of mass roundups and treason trials for the amusement of the many millions who are, it now seems abundantly clear, entertained by exhibitions of cruelty. It will be a nonstop show, its cacophonous soundtrack amplified by Elon Musk and the thriving denizens of the digital manosphere." (p. 8.)


Awards

* 1993 AT Cross Award for Supreme Contribution to Irish Journalism * 1994 Justice Award of the Incorporated Law Society * 2000 Millennium Social Inclusion Award * 2012 TV3 Tonight Show Journalist of the Year * 2013 Irish Book Awards (Best Irish Published Book of the Year), ''A History of Ireland in 100 Objects'' * 2014 National LGBT Federation GALA Journalist/Broadcaster Award * 2014 Awarded Honorary Doctorate in Letters for services to broadcasting by
Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...
* 2017 European Press Prize (Commentator Award) * 2017 Orwell Prize for Journalism * 2017 Awarded Honorary Doctorate in Laws by NUI Galway * 2017 NewsBrands Ireland Journalism Awards Broadsheet Columnist of the Year * 2018 NewsBrands Ireland Journalism Awards Broadsheet Columnist of the Year * 2018
University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
UCD Alumni Award in Arts & Humanities * 2019 Awarded Honorary Doctorate in Letters by
Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...
* 2020 NewsBrands Ireland Journalism Awards Broadsheet Columnist of the Year * 2020 Member of the
Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...
* 2021 Irish Book Awards (Odgers Berndtson Non-Fiction Book of the Year) for ''We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958'' * 2021 Irish Book Awards (An Post Irish Book of the Year) for ''We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958'' * 2022 Awarded Honorary Doctorate in Letters by Glasgow University * 2023 Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences * 2024 Robert B. Silvers Prize for Journalism * 2024 Member of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
* 2024 Eire Society of Boston Gold Medal


References


External links


The New York Review of Books: ''Fintan O'Toole''




A review of ''White Savage'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Otoole, Fintan 1958 births Living people 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Alumni of University College Dublin Irish columnists Irish journalists Irish literary critics Irish political writers Irish theatre critics The Irish Times people Magill people Members of the Royal Irish Academy New York Daily News people The New York Review of Books people People from Crumlin, Dublin Abbey Theatre European Press Prize winners Polemicists International members of the American Philosophical Society