O’Toole brings Irish wit and insight to Labyrinth

By Dan Aubrey

Fintan O’Toole is a man of his word — make that words, and too many to count.

In addition to being a Princeton University faulty member and chair of the Fund for Irish Studies, the Dublin-raised opinion columnist for the Irish Times is also the author of more than a dozen books dealing with theater, Irish culture, and social-economic issues.

That includes his latest, the critically acclaimed “We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958.”

Starting with the year of the author’s birth and following his nation’s trajectory from a seemingly unbreakable past to a dizzying present, the paperback edition just released in U.S. weighs in at a hefty 620 pages.

If that’s not a persuasive indication of verbiage, mix in a tall stack of theater reviews penned over decades for Irish and American publications — more on that later — and his regular contributions to the New York Review of Books.

Then page through some current magazines and linger over some topically fresh articles like “Beware Prophecies of Civil War,” The Atlantic piece based on his own experiences of living in a divided and fearful nation and the power of self-fulfilling beliefs; “Cancel Culture Is Turning Healthy Tensions Into Irreconcilable Conflicts,” the Prospect magazine examination of an issue jeopardizing democracy; and “John le Carré’s Final Twist: Dying as an Irishman,” a story on the British novelist’s expatriation for the Guardian.

Now, those wanting to get a fresh word or two or even more from the writer will have the opportunity to do so when the author speaks up at Labyrinth Books on Wednesday, April 12.

O’Toole will lead a discussion with the Institute for Advanced Study’s Wendy Brown on her new book, “Nihilistic Times: Thinking with Max Weber.”

The book picks up on the late 19th and early 20th century German’s humanistic approach to examining society, politics, and economics.

According to promotional materials, the book “analyzes the nihilism degrading and confounding political and academic life today and proposes ways to counter nihilism’s devaluations of both knowledge and political responsibility.”

Taking up the topic of nihilism and politics during our discussion, O’Toole says, “The two great problems of our time are climate change and inequality. Both tell us you have to have very strong public institutions. If you let market forces run by themselves, you’re all done. We have to develop a version of capitalism that is restrained for the common good. It doesn’t happen out of the blue. The only thing that can do that is democracy.

“The great lesson of the 20th century is that you can’t authorize equality,” a reference to the atrocities produced by Stalin and Mao.

O’Toole then points to the growth of inequality in the United States that began to accelerate during the presidency of Ronald Regan and says, “The U.S. is a wonderful place, but you’re struck by the levels of inequality.”

Demonstrating a pragmatic optimism, the father of two grown sons, as well as a grandfather, says, “I’ve become interested over the years about the science of early childhood. So much of our potential and personalities is formed in the first few years of their life. If you give kids some security and some love, they’re resilient. The science is kind of scary to show how those years affect us. It you invest in early childhood and make changes, the rewards are staggering. Every dollar you spend on early childhood, it gives you back more” — including people who earn more and pay more taxes.

Additionally, he says, there is a need to support the middle class and provide opportunities.

To illustrate that point, O’Toole says, “I write because when I was young, there was a move toward equality.”

The son of working-class parents who saw few opportunities for social mobility, O’Toole says “I get to do things because I was the beneficiary of good political decisions.”

That includes funding for public education — he graduated from University College, Dublin, with a BA in English and philosophy.

Also important is support for the arts. And in O’Toole’s case, support for theater — an art form that shaped O’Toole’s career as an internationally known writer.

The story starts like this:

O’Toole’s father was both a conductor on a Dublin bus and a lover of books and theater. A woman regularly using the bus noticed him reading between stops, struck up a conversation, and learned about his interests. She also happened to be the press manager for the Abbey Theater and offered him free tickets for nights when the house wasn’t full. O’Toole, then 13, decided to accompany him.

“I couldn’t believe that they were doing this,” he says of seeing the actors perform. “And I started writing about it.”

He was also editing and writing for student newspapers and eventually became the theater reviewer for In Dublin magazine in 1980. Eight years later he joined the Irish Times as a reviewer and columnist. And, thanks to being recruited by noted New York City journalist and editor Pete Hammill, O’Toole came to the U.S. in late 1990s to review theater for the New York Daily News, then returned to Ireland.

“It was a great training,” O’Toole says of

See O’TOOLE, Page 11