Life
1924- ; b. 21 Aug. in Cork City, the grandson of a Jewish refugee from
Lithuania; ed. Presentation Brothers, UCC, law, and King’s Inns;
abandoned religion in teens; prevented from studying Arts by his father;
called to bar, 1945; practiced for some years in Dublin; his trans. “The Yellow Bittern” published in The Irish Times after chance encounter
with Frank O’Connor; trans. “The Midnight Court” of Brian Merriman (Dolmen 1953), following
banning of O’Connor’s version earlier; in partnership with Terence
Smith, sub-ed. Cork Examiner, and financial backing from Jewish
community, est. Irish Writing, 1946, editing it up to 1954 when
succeeded by Sean J. White to cessation 1957; first issue contribs. from
Frank O’Connor, Sean O’Faolain, James Stephens, Edith Somerville,
Bryan MacMahon, Mary Lavin, Liam O’Flaherty, Benedict Kiely and Samuel
Beckett; To Next Year in Jerusalem (Macmillan 1954); fnd. Poetry
Ireland as a supplement to Irish Writing, 1948, ed. with John
Jordan until 1954, and then independently to 1955; sold out to Liam Miller
and moved to London, working in insurance for 13 years after the rejection
of his second novel; recalled to Dublin by his brother Louis in 1967;
freelanced for The Irish Press and Radio Éireann;
literary editor for The Irish Press from April 1968 est. ‘New
Irish Writing’ page; retired from Irish Press in order to
concentrate on his own writing, 1986; m. Ita Daly, 1972; involved in setting
up Poolbeg Press with Philip McDermott, 1976, publishing Michael McLaverty,
Bryan MacMahon, Benedict Kiely, Helen Lucy Burke, Emma Cooke, Gillman
Noonan et al.; edited Collected Stories of Michael MacLaverty (1978);
two successful novels, A Land Not Theirs (1986), and A Land
in Flames (1987), both novels reflecting the experience of the community
of 400 Cork Jews to which he was born, now dwindled to 14; completed but
jettisoned a third novel; ed. numerous collections of Irish stories; issued
Who Ever Heard of An Irish Jew?, stories; autobiography as Oughtobiography
(Sept. 2001), and fictional sequel, Burided Memories (2004), employing the character and persona of Aaron Cohen, ‘Cork’s last Jew’. IF2 DIW DIL/2
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Works
Novels, To Next Year in Jerusalem (London: Macmillan/NY:
St. Martin’s 1954), 297pp.; A Land Not Theirs (London: Bantam/Corgi 1986), 480pp., and do. [rep] (Dublin: Poolbeg 1993), 480pp.; A Land in Flames (London: Bantam
1987), 351pp.
Short Fiction, Who Ever Heard of an Irish Jew? and Other Stories (London: Bantam 1988), 125pp.; and Do. [another edn.] (London: Corgi Books 1990) 125pp.
Poetry, Six Poems (Dublin: Dolmen 1952), [6]pp. [250 copies]; trans., Cúirt an mheadhon oidhche / The Midnight Court, by Bryan Merriman; newly translated into English by David Marcus (1953; reps. 1966, 1969, 1975), ill. Michael Biggs [engrav.].
Autobiography, Oughtobiography: Leaves from the Diary of a Hypenated Jew (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 2001), xiv, 281pp.; Buried Memories (Cork: Mercier Press 2004), 192pp. [given as story of ‘Aaron Cohen’].
Edited anthologies, ed. New Irish Writing 1: An Anthology from the “Irish Press” Series (Dublin: Dolmen Press 1970), ill. Kenneth J. Dolan; ed., Body and soul (Dublin : Poolbeg Press 1979), 160pp. [infra]; ed., The Bodley Head Book of Irish Short Stories, 1980] 379pp. [rep. as Irish Short Stories (London: Sceptre 1992), [infra]; ed Best Irish Short Stories, 2 vols. (London: Elek 1976 & 1977) [infra]; ed., The Poolbeg Book of Irish Ghost Stories (1990 1993); ed., State of the Art: An Anthology of Irish Short Stories (Sceptre 1992), 377pp. [36 authors, half of these women]; ed., Alternative Loves: Irish Gay and Lesbian Stories (Cork: Mercier 1994), 232pp. [contribs. incl. Edna O’Brien, William Trevor, and Sean O’Faolain]; ed., Modern Irish Love Stories (London: Sceptre 1994); ed. Listowel Writers’ Week Award-winning Short Stories, 1973-94 (Dublin: Marino; Chester Springs: Dufour 1995), 320[335]pp.; ed., Irish Christmas Stories (London: Bloomsbury 1995; 1996, 1997, 1998), 248pp.; ed., Irish Sporting Stories (1995); ed., Phoenix Irish Short Stories, 1996 (London: Phoenix 1996, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001); ed., Irish Christmas Stories, 2 (Bloomsbury 1997), 246pp.; Mothers and Daughters: Irish Short Stories (London: Bloomsbury 1998), 256pp. [incl. Julia O’Faolain, Michael McLaverty, Clare Boylan, Liam O’Flaherty, Mary Lavin, Mary Leland, Edna O’Brien, et al.]; ed., Phoenix Irish Short Stories (London: Phoenix 2000), incls. Cóilín O hAodha, ‘Her Blood Dripped into the Grass’ [winner of Francis MacManus Award, 1998]; Deirdre Shanahan, “Talking to my Father”; Bridget O’Toole, “This Game”; Paul Lenehan, “Great Bus Journeys of Dublin” [17, 33, 44]; also fiction by Harry Clifden; Brendan Glacken, et al.
Body and Soul, ed. David Marcus (Dublin: Poolbeg Press 1979), 160pp. [Sean O’Faolain, The Talking Trees; G. Noonan, A Sexual Relationship; John McGahern, Sierra Leone; Helen Lucy Burke, Trio; Frank O'Connor, News for the Church; T. P. Coogan, The Compromise; Edna O'Brien, Ways; John Morrow, Beginnings; Val Mulkerns, Humanae vitae: An Evening with John Joe; William Trevor, Dempsey; Kevin Casey, Priest and People; Thomas MacIntyre, An Aspect of the Rising].
The Bodley Head Book of Irish Short Stories, ed. David Marcus (London: 1980, 379pp. [rep. as Irish Short Stories (London: Sceptre 1992), contains Moore, Joyce, et al.; also Julia O’Faolain, Lynn Doyle, Seamus O’Kelly, Daniel Corkery, Bryan MacMahon, Gillman Noonan, Anthony C. West, Patrick Boyle, Des Hogan, Neil Jordan and Kate Cruise O’Brien; 1992 edn. adds Colum McCann et al.]
Best Irish Short Stories (London: Elek 1976), 180pp.; Best Irish Short Stories, 2 (London: Elek 1977, 1978), 156pp.; combined as Best Irish Short Stories (London: Elek 1976-77), 2 vols.
Miscellaneous, Na Gaeil Phrotastúnaigh (TG4 18 Jan. 2003, 8.55 p.m.).
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Criticism
Shirley Kelly, ‘A Passionate Affair: David Marcus and the Irish Short
Story’, in Books Ireland (Sept. 1994), pp.193-95 [infra].
Shirley Kelly, ‘Midwife to a Generation of Writers’ [interview], in Books Ireland (Oct. 2001), pp.245-46 [biog. as supra].
Hugh Linehan, ‘New documentary by David Marcus goes some way to dispel the misconception that all Irish Protestants view the Irish language with contempt’, in The Irish Times (18 Jan. 2003) [viz., Na Gaeil Phrotastúnaigh].
David Marcus, review of Buried Memories, in Books Ireland (Nov. 2004).
Gerry Smyth, Decolonisation and Criticism: The Construction
of Irish Literature (London: Pluto Press 1998), p.121.
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Notes
Desmond Clarke, Ireland in Fiction [Pt II] (Cork: Royal
Carbery 1985), lists To Next Year in Jerusalem (London: Macmillan
1954).
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)