“The Silence of Animals… points to a ‘new’ Gray: mollified, curiously quieter and gentler, and most certainly warranting renewed attention.”
The Times Higher Education Supplement

The philosopher, sceptic and writer John Gray is “one of the most consistently interesting and unpredictable thinkers in Britain” (The Observer). In a career spanning forty years, he has at various times championed and excoriated both Thatcherism and Blairism, and a contrarian streak runs through all his work. Gray is a fierce opponent of ‘-isms’, utopian ideals of all colours that often lead to oppression. His 2002 book Straw Dogs, a devastating attack on liberal humanism, cemented his reputation as a public intellectual, and his latest book, The Silence of Animals, draws on the work of Conrad, Borges and Freud to help us reimagine our place in the world. A trenchant and clear-sighted thinker, with a talent for sparkling aphorisms, Gray is an indispensable analyst of contemporary life. In this unique event for Dublin Writers Festival he talks to John Banville about his life, work and the evolution of his ideas.