Irish fiction is full of secrets, guilty pasts, divided identities. It is no wonder that there is such a rich tradition of Gothic writing in a nation so haunted by history.
Terry EagletonThe German philosopher Walter Benjamin had the curious notion that we could change the past. For most of us, the past is fixed while the future is open.
Terry EagletonAs far as belief goes, postmodernism prefers to travel light: it has beliefs, to be sure, but it does not have faith
Terry EagletonI say that virtue is really all about enjoying yourself, living fully; but of course it is far from obvious what living fully actually means.
Terry EagletonThe most common mistake students of literature make is to go straight for what the poem or novel says, setting aside the way that it says it. To read like this is to set aside the ‘literariness’ of the work – the fact that it is a poem or play or novel, rather than an account of the incidence of soil erosion in Nebraska.
Terry Eagleton