I wouldn't agree that the "writer" and "citizen" occupy two separate
ontological realms. And in any case I think he has them the wrong way
round. Art makes truths that are *less* complex than reality. What he
is doing in standing up for what he thinks is right is producing a
truth. Most people would recognise that his denunciations of Bush and
Blair are simplifications of reality, rhetorical triangulations. They
may allow a truth to be grasped, but they are art-works as much as
they are acts of citizenship. There isn't that much of a difference
between the acceptance speech and the poems. There is quite a
difference, and it is a difference in terms of art, between both and
the plays.
Dominic
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