Life
1954- ; b. 6 March, Cappoquin, Co. Waterford; partially raised by a blind
grandmother; ed. St. Anne’s High School, Cappoquin and at UCC (BA;
HDip.Ed), where he studied under John Montague; co-founded the Poetry
Workshop, 1973-76; Patrick Kavanagh Award, 1977; Arts Council bursary,
1978; University of Iowa International Writing Programme, 1978-79; Cork
City librarian, 1978- ; poetry collections, ed. Poetry Ireland
[1988]; poetry collections and a series of novels on a Fianna Fáil
party-political family; has taught at Iowa Writers’ School and Carleton
College (Minnesota); issued The Gardens of Remembrance (1998),
a social and literary memoir of youth in W. Waterford together with with
his American experiences and reflections on Dervla Murphy, Molly Keane
and other writers of his county, novels incl. Without Power (1990);
Asya and Christine (1991); and The Deputy (Dublin: Poolbeg
1992); trans. story for English edition of Padraic Ó Conaire
(1982). DIW DIL FDA OCIL
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Works
Poetry collections, Shattered Frost (Miros Press 1975);
Warm Circle (Miros Press 1976); The First Convention (Dublin:
Dolmen Press 1977); The Sorrow Garden (Dublin: Anvil Poetry 1978);
The Non-Aligned Story-teller (Dublin: Anvil Press 1984); Seven
Winters in Paris (Anvil 1989; withdrawn and reiss. Dedalus 1990.
Fiction, Without Power (Dublin: Poolbeg 1990; 1991); Asya and Christine (Dublin: Poolbeg 1991) [infra]; The Deputy (Dublin: Poolbeg 1992). Prose, The Gardens of Remembrance (Dublin: New Island 1998), 200pp. [memoir]; trans., ‘Marcus Beag’, in Padraic Ó Conaire (Dublin: Poolbeg 1982) [15 short stories, with other writers].
Miscellaneous, ‘Walking into America: Journal 1978’, in The North Store Review (Fall/Winter 1992), pp.132-151 [diary kept while attending Iowa Writing Programme]; contrib. short piece in Gerald Dawe and Jonathan Williams, eds., Krino [Special Issue: ‘The State of Poetry’] (Winter 1993), pp.42-43; also cited as ‘The State of Poetry’, in Agenda, Vol 22, No.3 [q.d.], pp.49-51. See also early notice of The Deputy (1992), being part of the Glenville trilogy on grass-roots politics [Books Ireland No. 156.]
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Criticism
Gerald Dawe, ‘The Suburban Night: On Eavan Boland, Paul Durcan and
Thomas McCarthy’, in Elmer Andrews, ed., Contemporary Irish Poetry:
A Collection of Critical Essays (London: Macmillan 1996), pp.168-93
[also printed in Dawe, Against Piety: Essays in Irish, Poetry
1995, p.169ff..
James Naiden, interview with Thomas McCarthy, in New Hibernia Review, Vol. 3, No. 1 (March 1999) [q.pp.]
Nick Laird, review of Thomas MacCarthy, Mr. Dineen’s Careful
Parade: New and Selected Poems (2000 Anvil), 174pp. [cover ill.of
de Valera], in Times Literary Supplement, 12 May 20090, p.26.
Theo Dorgan, RTE interview (Sunday 28 April 2002).
Notes
Andrew Carpenter & Peter Fallon, eds., The Writers:
A Sense of Place (Dublin: O’Brien Press 1980), incls. ‘Bachelard’s
Images’, pp.112-14 [with photo-port.].
Seamus Deane, gen. ed., Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing (Derry: Field Day 1991), Vol. 3, selects ‘A Meeting with Parnell’; ‘Windows’ from from The Sorrow Garden; also ‘Black Flags at a Party Meeting’, ‘The Non-Aligned Story-Teller’ from The Non-Aligned Story-Teller [1424-26]; BIOG, 1436.
CCLIB archive contains record supplied by author: b. 06/03/54, Co. Waterford; ed. St. Annes High School, Cappequin; University College Cork 1973-76 BA. HDE; University of Iowa (International Writing Programme), 1978-79; Librarian at Cork City Libraries 1978- Works, The First Convention Dolmen Press 1978) [manuscript in possession of Brigadier D.H. Fitz-Gerald, Cappoquin Co. Waterford]; The Sorrow-Garden (Anvil Poetry, September 1981) [manuscript in possession Brigadier D.H. Fitz-Gerald]; The Non-Aligned Storyteller (Anvil Poetry 1984) [manuscript with author]; Seven Winters in Paris (Anvil Poetry 1989) [withdrawn because of major print error], Do., rep. (Dedalus 1990) [manuscript with author]. Fiction, Without Power (Poolbeg Press 1991), novel, rep. (1991) [manuscript with author]; Asya and Christine (Poolbeg Press 1992) [manuscript with author]; selected among 15 years of reviewing, ‘In A Nutshell’. - Review of ‘The Faber Book of Epigrams’, Irish Times (Oct 1, 1970 [first public review]; ‘Down to Earth in a Poets Garden’ an interview with Ciarán Carty, Sunday Independent (Oct 23 1977); ‘Roethke’ [review of Harry Williams, ‘Theodore Roethke After’], Irish Times (March 24-25 1978); ‘Tides Revisited’ [review of John Montague’s Tides], Irish Times (17 June 1978); ‘Poet’s Cloak’ [review of John Montague, The Great Cloak’, Irish Times 1978; ‘Northern Voices’ [ review of Michael Longley, Echo-Gate, Irish Times (9 Feb 1990); ‘Colonial Consciousness in Commonwealth Literature’ [interview with Peter Nazareth], Somaiya Publications [?Put], Ltd Bombay/New Delhi 1984), pp.128-173; ‘Heaney’s Sweeney’ [review of Seamus Heaney, Sweeney Astray’ Connaught Tribune [December 23 1983]; ‘Recent Poetry’ [review of Paul Durcan, Gerard Smith, Desmond Egan], Irish Times (Feb 25 1984); Review of The Selected Prose of Louis MacNeice, ed. Glan Heuer (OUP), and Grandmother & Wolfe Tone by Hubert Butler [Lilliput Press 1990] in The Irish Review [n.d.; 1990]; ‘Sean Ó Faolain at the Dinner Table’ [reminiscences of Sean Ó Faolain at American Embassy Dinner], in Cork Review (November 1991); ‘Why Politics World Have Been Wrong Choice’ [interview with Helen Conghlan about fiction and politics], Waterford News and Star (September 4 1992); ‘Fine Summer Afternoons’ [autobiographical essay on writing and student life at UCC], Eire-Ireland, 26: I (Spring 1991), pps 7-18; ‘Walking into America, Journal 1978 [diary kept while attending Iowa Writing Programme], The North Store Review (Fall/Winter 1992), pp.132-151; ‘The State of Poetry’ [contribution to a feature on the state of poetry in AGENDA Vol 22 no.3 [n.d.], pp.49-51; ‘James Simmons and Martin Luther in the Larne District’, J. Simmons 60th Birthday in Larne Press; ‘Gerry Adams & Political Fictions’ [interview with Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin for Stet Magazine, Cork (December 1993). [Centre for Irish Literature & Bibliography, Coleraine]
Asya and Christine (1993) follows the
story of FF man Paudie Glenville from 1925; married to Adele Griffith
with five children, since arriving in Cappoquin in 1924; having been a
smuggler of Irregulars to the US, he retains some funds with the connivance
of the authorities; by 1943 he is a respected TD; he is called to intercede
with Eamon de Valera on behalf of a man threatened with execution at the
risk of exposing the source of his wealth, now invested; de Valera refuses;
the novel ends in remorse with the death of his own son; Aysa is the Jewish
girl who looks after their children. (See review, Fortnight, March
1993 - narrative questions concerning Christine and others unanswered.)
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)