top of page
Tom1AWeb.png
Tom-3xCover.png

Tom Rubens

TOM6AWGreyscale.jpg

For most of my career, I have been a teacher of English, and have derived a great deal of satisfaction from this by introducing young people to the delights and mastery of British literature. In addition to working in England, I have taught in other countries. This was mainly when I was in my early 20s, and motivated by the urge that so many young people have, especially those who have just finished university, to take the plunge into completely unknown territory. I taught in Portugal and Italy; and, in the process, gained a taste for Latin Classics. Later, in my equally experimental 30s, my teaching vocation took me further afield to Nigeria, and to the very edge of the Sahara Desert. There, the huge variety of languages and cultures deepened my thirst for knowledge about the human race as a whole: including knowledge of religious and tribal ways of life . All this was very different from anything I’d experienced in Europe.

      My growing interest in philosophical sphere has chiefly been voiced in books. The first of these was published in 1984, and has since been followed by seven more publications, as well as journal articles. These broadly reflect the outlook of people such as Grayling and Dawkins: an outlook, which is based on ideas about the nature of reality.

      While I worked on my philosophy synopsis texts, I also wanted to develop writing fiction. This project began solely as an effort to convey highly personal material, exploring the experiences of young people as they develop into adults. As my involvement in theorising grew, it increased my inspiration for writing a fictional account which further developed into the trilogy of novels, which includes many of the interesting subjects taught be Professor Dawkins.

    My latest endeavours have been to write a trilogy of novels, based in the 1960s and 70s, about young people’s experience of growing up, and their perspective in evaluating their newfound knowledge and how they interpret it. The aim of my work is to enable the reader to compare the differences between the time periods and understand better why young people make judgments and opinions today.

Into Full Sunlight

Book One

Wide Illumination: 

Book Two

Harvesting the Light: 

Book Three

About The Illumination Trilogy

The experiences of young Richard, who undergoes a physical change into adulthood as he moves into the Sixth Form. The Story follows his  journey to becoming a young adult.  Richard displays bodily courage and, in contrast, he succumbs to sexual lust. But, all the time, he never ceases to be reflective. The two main relationships he forms in this period are with an older and more mature school friend, and, at university, with a student of his own age who, while being highly intelligent, is assailed by feelings of anxiety and insecurity." 

bottom of page