History is a way of interpreting, rather than, say, knowing, the past. It is usually a set of disputes between those who have access to the same sources. It depends on ideology as much as voting in an election does. Colm Toibin Read Quote
I write with a sort of grim determination to deal with things that are hidden and difficult, and this means, I think, that pleasure is out of the question. I would associate this with narcissism anyway, and I would disapprove of it. Colm Toibin Read Quote
The only routine I have is that I finish everything I start. I wake up early every day – about 6.30 A.M. – but I do not work every day. I could laze for a day or two, but I wouldn’t do it for three. Colm Toibin Read Quote
The problem is once you’ve written the opening paragraph and worked out how the rest of the story will go in your head, there’s nothing in it for you. I write in longhand using disposable fountain pens on the right-hand side of the notebook for the first draft, then I rewrite some of the sentences and paragraphs on the left-hand side. Colm Toibin Read Quote
I first went to Barcelona in 1975 after university, and I stayed for three years. I learnt Catalan because that’s what everyone speaks in the mountains. They speak English to foreigners, but what people say to each other is much more important than what they say to you. Colm Toibin Read Quote
The novel space is a pure space. I’m nobody once I go into that room. I’m not gay, I’m not bald, I’m not Irish. I’m not anybody. I’m nobody. I’m the guy telling the story, and the only person that matters is the person reading that story, the target. It’s to get that person to feel what I’m trying to dramatize. Colm Toibin Read Quote
I’ve never put Northern Ireland into a novel because it’s not my territory. I come from the South, so my imaginative territory is very much the Republic of Ireland rather than the North. Even though, if I wrote a novel about the North, it might sell more. Colm Toibin Read Quote
You have to keep writing. It’s almost like practice, almost like tennis, that actually after a few days of not writing, first of all it makes you slightly depressed and uneasy, but it also affects the style when you start up again. You need to get the show on the road. Colm Toibin Read Quote
I’m slightly influenced by sport in that I like the idea of trying, like an athlete, to keep absolutely ready. That’s an emotional thing, almost. I don’t mean physically, although I play tennis. But you try to keep yourself ready. Colm Toibin Read Quote
Solitude is good in the evening. Dublin is a quiet city when you get to a certain age, when your friends settle down and have kids. Nothing much happens here. Colm Toibin Read Quote
