1903-1966 [pseudonym of Michael O’Donovan]; b. 17 Sept., Cork, only son of Minnie O’Connor, a household servant, who was raised in an orphanage and later worked for the Barry family in Cork, forming strong attachments to the dg. Alice, and to Mr. Barry; m. ‘Big Mick’, a soldier in the British army, often absent, Frank born during his father’s absence; family moved to more squalid part of the city on the return of his father; ed. St. Patrick’s National School (CBS), where Daniel Corkery arrived as a teacher in 1912; moved to North Monastery (CBS), 1913-1916; after a period at the Technical (Trade) College commenced work on Great Southern & Western Railway, aged 14; read widely in public library and was guided by Daniel Corkery, who introduced him to Irish language and culture; joined Irish volunteers [IRA] and served in the Civil War as a republican soldier cum war-reporter; arrested and imprisoned at Gormanstown, 1923, teaching Irish and German there; Corkery secured him a job through Robinson in the Carnegie Libraries, progressing from North of Ireland to Dublin, Sligo, then Wicklow; befriended by George Russell (AE), and began publishing in The Irish Statesman as ‘Frank O’Connor’ with a translation, ‘Suibhne Geilt Aspires’, and subsequently contributed some 75 pieces; studied Old and Middle Irish, and sought assistance on linguistic matters from Daniel Binchy, a close friend; while serving as librarian in Wicklow, using his family mother’s name; met Yeats through Russell; moved back to Cork, contrary to Russell’s advice, serving as Cork City Librarian 1925-28, involved in Cork Drama Group; Pembroke [Carnegie] Library, Ballsbridge, 1928-38; founder-member of Irish Academy of Letters and Medals with Yeats, AE and others, 1926; following demise of Irish Statesman his story ‘Guests of the Nation’ appears in Atlantic Monthly, 1930; issued first collection, Guests of the Nation (1931), a generally romantic account of the period, excepting the title story; spoke up for Jim Gralton, the Roscommon socialist deported to America by the Fianna Fáil Government, at the Rotunda Meeting held in 1932; published translations from Irish as The Wild Bird’s Nest (1932); appt. Abbey theatre director in succession to Brinsley MacNamara, 1935; Bones of Contention (1936), second story collection; Three Old Brothers (1936), poetry collection; The Saint and Mary Kate (1936), a novel; gave graveside oration for George Russell, 1935; biography of Michael Collins as The Big Fellow (1937), expressing disaffection from the successors of the independence movement; resigned from Abbey Board on the death of Yeats in the belief that there was no longer any place for the writer in public life (‘At once I resigned from every organisation I belonged to and sat down at last to write’); m. Welsh actress Evelyn Bowen, 11 Feb. 1939, at Chester Registry Office following her divorce in Feb. 1939, and resided in Woodenbridge, Co. Wicklow; son Myles O’Connor, b. 18 July 1939; appt. founding poetry editor of The Bell, 1940, to which he contributed stories and poetry incl. his translation of The Midnight Court by Brian Merriman; issued Dutch Interior (1940), a second novel, which was banned in Ireland, copperfastening his popular association with sexual licence and anti-clericism; campaigned for preservation of Irish cultural monuments; dg. Liadain O’Connor, b. 27 Nov. 1940; issued Irish Miles (1941), a travel book in Ireland; maintained close friendship with Fr. Jim Traynor [part-model for Fr. Fogarty in several stories, of ‘pugilistic Irish face, beefy and red and scowling’]; Crab Apple Jelly (1944), stories; began long working friendhip with New Yorker editor, William Maxwell, 1945; met Joan Knape, working for the BBC in London; marital breakdown and departure of Evelyn to Wales with children Myles, Liadain and Owen, 1949; The Common Chord (1947), stories, banned in Ireland; commenced contributing pieces to New Yorker, incl. 1949 essay on ‘Ireland’; Traveller’s Samples (1951), stories, banned in Ireland; wrote on Ireland for US magazine Holiday, giving account of the murder of illegitimate babies by Irish girls, a dozen of whom he had seen sentenced in a morning at Green St. Court, and later claimed that the Irish News Agency sought to discredit him for this reason; accepted lecturing posts in America, 1951; m. Harriet Rich, 5 Dec. 1953; returned on frequent visits to Ireland from 1956; issued Domestic Relations (1956), nostalgic stories, some related by Cork boy Larry, and The Mirror in the Roadway (1956), a collection of criticism; dg. Hallie-Og, b. 25 June 1958, Dublin; also Kings, Lords and Commons (1959), translations in the form of an anthology, with an introduction acknowledging the help of Yeats and noting the poet’s borrowings from same; returned Ireland 1960, but including his translation of Merriman and therefore banned in Ireland; issued The Lonely Voice (1962), on the short story, and emphasising the recurrent theme his own fiction; appt. lect. in English, TCD, 1963; gave oration at centenary W. B. Yeats centenary celebrations, in Sligo, 1965; continued writing review for New York Review of Books; d. 10 March, Dublin; funeral oration delivered by Brendan Kennelly; issued The Backward Look (1967), based on lectures given at TCD, and amounting to a synthesising of Irish and Anglo-Irish traditions, using a title-phrase taken from Ferguson; his criticism against the absence of a chair in Anglo-Irish literature in Ireland in same resulted in the establishment of such a chair at UCD; ed. with David Greene, A Golden Treasury of Irish Verse Poetry AD 600-1200 (1967); posthum. publication of Collection Three (1969), stories and specially stories of Irish priests, introduced by Harriet O’Donovan and published in America as A Set of Variations (1969); papers held at Mugar Library, Boston University, and the University of Florida, Gainsville as well as in Harriet [now Sheehy’s] home in Dalkey; a biography was issued by James H. Matthews (1983), and another by Jim McKeon (1998), the latter with Harriet’s endorsement. NCBE DIB DIW DIL OCEL KUN FDA HAM OCIL WJM
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Works
Short story collections, Guests of the Nation (London: Macmillan 1931); Bones of Contention and Other Stories (London: Macmillan 1936) [12 stories incl. ‘In the Train’, ‘Michael’s Wife’, and ‘The Majesty of the Law’]; Three Tales (Dublin: Cuala 1941); Crab Apple Jelly (London: Macmillan 1944) [12 stories incl. Michael’s Wife’, ‘The Bridal Night’, and ‘Uprooted’, mainly set in Cork]; The Common Chord (London: Macmillan 1947), 227pp. [twelve stories on theme of love; banned in Ireland]; Traveller’s Samples: Stories and Tales (London: Macmillan 1951), rep. from New Yorker [and banned in Ireland]; The Stories of Frank O’Connor (NY: Alfred A. Knopf 1952; London: Hamish Hamilton 1953) [his own selection of best stories incl. five not prev. published in book form]; More Stories of Frank O’Connor (NY: Alfred A. Knopf 1954, 1967); also Selected Stories (Dublin: Maurice Fridberg 1956); Domestic Relations (NY: Alfred A. Knopf; London: Hamish Hamilton 1957) [rep. from New Yorker Magazine]; Collection Two (London: Macmillan 1964; rep. 1990) [incl. ‘The Face of Evil’; ‘The Procession of Life’; ‘The Man of the House’; ‘Judas’; ‘The Custom of the Country’; ’The Mad Lomasneys’; ‘A Great Man’; ‘Masculine Protest’ ‘An Out-and-Out Gift’]; Collection Three (London: Macmillan 1969), published in US as A Set of Variations: Twenty Seven Stories (NY: Alfred A. Knopf 1969); The Cornet Player Who Betrayed Ireland (Dublin: Poolbeg 1981) [title story and ‘War’; ‘There is a Lone House’; ‘A Case of Conscience’; ‘Hughie’, et al.]; Ruth Sherry, ed., [O’Connor] with Hugh Hunt, Moses’ Rock (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe; Washington: Catholic Univ. of America 1983); The Collar: Stories of Irish Priests, Harriet O’Donovan Sheehy (Belfast: Blackstaff 1993), 216pp. [contains ‘Uprooted’; ‘News for the Church’; ‘The Sentry’; ‘Achilles Heel’; ‘The Frying Pan’’An Act of Charity’; ‘The Mass Island’]; Larry Delaney: Lonesome Genius (Killeen 1996), 160pp. [13 vintage stories featuring episodically arranged].
Novels, The Saint and Mary Kate (London: Macmillan 1932; rep. Blackstaff 1990); Dutch Interior (London: Macmillan 1940; rep. Blackstaff 1990), banned; poetry Three Old Brothers and Other Poems (London: Nelson 1936); The Big Fellow [life of Michael Collins] (London: Nelson 1937).
Plays, In the Train (Abbey 1937), and Moses’ Rock (Abbey 1938); with Hugh Hunt, The Invincibles, ed. Ruth Sherry (Newark: Proscenium 1980); ‘Rodney’s Glory’, ed. Ruth Sherry, in Irish University Review, 22 (Autumn Winter 1993), pp.219-41 [one-act play];
Autobiographies, An Only Child (NY: Alfred A. Knopf 1961; London: Macmillan 1962; rep. Blackstaff 1993); My Father’s Son (London: Macmillan 1968; NY: Alfred A. Knopf 1969).
Reprint editions, An Only Child (London: Macmillan 1962) [copyright Harriet O’Donovan; title-page verso citing prev. copyrights in favour of Frank O’Connor, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961].
Translation anthologies, Fountain of Magic (London: Macmillan 1939) [with assistance of W. B. Yeats]; Midnight Court [trans. from Brian Merriman] (Dublin: [New Frontiers] 1945) [publ. by Maurice Friedman; banned in Ireland]; The Wild Bird’s Nest (Dublin: Cuala 1932); Lords and Commons (Dublin 1938); Kings, Lords, & Commoners: Irish poems from the seventh to the nineteenth century, trans. with a preface by Frank O’Connor (NY: Alfred A. Knopf 1959) [incl. ‘The Midnight Court’]; Do., (London:[Macmillan] 1963); The Little Monasteries: Poems translated from the Irish] (Dublin 1963, rep. 1976); ed., with David W. Greene, A Golden Treasury of Irish Poetry 600-1200 (London 1967); also ed., A Book of Ireland (London: Collins 1959, & num. edns. incl. Belfast: Blackstaff 1991) [infra].
Criticism, Towards an Appreciation of Literature (Dublin: Metropolitan Publ. Co. 1945); The Art of the Theatre (Dublin & London: Maurice Fridberg 1947); The Road to Stratford (London: Methuen 1948), enlarged and reissued as Shakespeare’s Progress (Cleveland: World 1960); The Mirror in the Roadway (NY: Alfred A. Knopf 1956; London: Hamish Hamilton 1957) [on the novel]; The Lonely Voice (Cleveland: World 1962; London: Macmillan 1963) [on the short story; see infra]; The Backward Look: A Survey of Irish Literature (London: Macmillan 1967), published in US as A Short History of Irish Literature (NY: Putnam 1967) [infra].
Miscellaneous, Irish Miles (London: Macmillan 1941); sel. and intro., Classic Irish Short Stories [1st edn. as Modern Irish Short Stories 1957] (OUP 1985, NY: rep. OUP 1992) [nfra]; ‘The Gaelic Tradition in Literature’, Ireland Today, 1, 1 & 2 (July 1936), pp.21-40; Chap. on ‘Synge’, in The Irish Theatre, ed. Lennox Robinson (London: Macmillan 1939); ‘The Future of Irish Literature’, Horizon, 25, 5 (Jan 1942), pp.55-63; "Discovery and Rediscovery Within the Covers of a Book" [orig. ‘The Modesty of Literature’], New York Times Book Review (15 Jan 1961), p.3; trans. by Tomás de Bhaldraithe, ‘Darcy in Tír na nÓg', Éire-Ireland, 3, 2 (Summer 1968), pp. 57-62; Michael Steinman, ed., A Frank O’Connor Reader (Syracuse UP 1994) [17 stories and poetry, concluding with his 1949 article on ‘Ireland’ and interview by Larry Morrow from The Bell, March 1951, here pp.305-09]; also ‘Democracy and the Gaelic Tradition’, Irish Academy of Letters (Lecture), 3 March 1935; ‘Frank O’Connor on Censorship’, The Dubliner (March 1962), pp.39-44, rep. in Banned in Ireland, Censorship & the Irish Writer, intro. and ed. Julia Carlson [for Article 19] (Georgia UP; London: Routledge 1990); ‘The Future of Irish Literature’, in Horizon (Jan. 1942), giving an account of the significance of Yeats’s passing; also a personal portrait of Yeats in The Bell, 1. 5 (Feb. 1941), both cited in Roy Foster, ‘When the Newspapers Have Forgotten Me ...’, in Yeats Annual 12, 1996, where the latter is called ‘unforgettable’, with quotation on his character as a ‘rabid Tory’ [see under Yeats]; A gambler’s Throw: Memories of W. B. Yeats (Edinburgh: Tragara Press 1975) [ltd. edn. 95]; also Leinster, Munster, and Connaught [q.d.].
Letters, Michael Steinman, The Happiness of Getting it Down Right: Letters of Frank O’Connor to William Maxwell 1945-1966 (Alfred A. Knopf [1996]), 282pp. [incl. bibl. of New Yorker stories].
Bibliographical details
Classic Irish Short Stories, ed. and intro. by Frank O’Connor, [1st Edn. 1957] (OUP 1985) [Oxford Paperbacks] 356pp. Contents, Introduction; George Moore, ‘Home Sickness’; E. O. Somerville & Martin Ross, ‘Lisheen Races’, ‘Second-hand’; Daniel Corkery, ‘The Awakening’; James Joyce, ‘The Dead’; James Stephens, ‘A Rhinoceros, Some Ladies and a Horse’; ‘The Fairy Goose’; Liam O’Flaherty, ‘Three Lambs’, ‘Going into Exile’; L. A. G. Strong, ‘Prongs’; Sean O’Faolain, ‘Unholy Living and Half Dying’; Sean O’Faolain, ‘The Trout’; Frank O’Connor, ‘Guest of the Nation’, ‘My Oedipus Complex’; Eric Cross, ‘The Jury Case’; Michael McLaverty, ‘The Poteen Maker’; Bryan MacMahon, ‘Exile’s Return’; Mary Lavin, ‘The Will’; James Plunkett, ‘The Eagles and the Trumpets’; Elizabeth Bowen, ‘Summer Night’. [0-19-281918-6; £5.99].
A Book of Ireland, edited by Frank O’Connor [gen. ed., J. B. Foreman] (London & Glasgow: Collins 1959),384pp. [ded. In Memoriam: A E. Coppard]. CONTENTS: HISTORY: The Fighting Race - J. C. Clarke [65]; Who'll Carve The Pig? - Anon. [67]; The Death of Mess Gegra - Anon: The Siege of Howth [69]; On Baile's Strand - Anon. [71]; The Viking Terror - Anon. [74]; The Origin of the Battle of Clontarf AD 1014 - Geoffrey Keating (History of Ireland) [74]; The Return from Fingal, AD 1014 - Geoffrey Keating (History of Ireland) [76]; Kincora - Attributed to Mac Liag [79]; The Unforgiven Crime - W. B. Yeats (The Dreaming of the Bones) [ 81]; Dark Rosaleen - Anon. [82]; Hugh Maguire Eochy O'Hussey [85]. THE JACOBITE WAR: (1) Jacobite: Patrick Sarsfield - Anon. [87]; (2) Williamite: The Boyne Water - Anon. [89]; A Wild Hope - Anon. [91]; Last Lines - Egan O'Rahilly [91]; The Irish Problem Solved - Jonathan Swift (A Modest Proposal) [92]; The New Nation - Jonathan Swift (The Drapier's Fourth Letter) [94]; The Querist (1735) - George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne [95]; The Wearing of The Green - Anon. [96]; The Irish Anthem - Rudyard Kipling (Humorous Tales) [97]; The Shan Van Vocht - Popular Song [99]; The First French Invasion, 1796 Theobold Wolfe Tone (Journal) [100]; Slievenamon - Anon. [107]; The French Land, 1798 recorded by Richard Hayes (The Last Invasion of Ireland) 108]; Last Words, 1803 - Robert Emmet [110]; When He Who Adores Thee - Thomas Moore [111]; She is Far From The Land - Thomas Moore [112]; The Famine - John Mitchel [113]; The Uncrowned King - R. Barry O'Brien (The Life of Charles Stewart Parnell) [114]; The Dead King - James Joyce (Portait of The Artist as a Young Man) [115]; Parnell - W. B. Yeats (Collected Poems) [118]; The Englishman in Ireland: Galway Gaol, 1888 - Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (Poems) [118]; Poblacht Na hEireann: The Provisional Government of the Irish Republic to the People of Ireland, 1916 [119]; Easter 1916 - W. B. Yeats (Collected Poems) [121]; A Dublin Ballad: 1916 - Sir Arnold Bax [Dermot O'Byrne] [123]; The Death of Collins, 1922 - Frank O'Connor (The Big Fellow) [125]. PASTORAL & TOWN LIFE: Irish Hospitality- 1: Le Chevalier de la Tocnaye [128]; [2: Asenath Nicholson (The Bible in Ireland) [129]; ]; The Old Woman of the Roads - Padraic Colum [131]; Boy in Ireland - Patrick Gallegher (Paddy the Cope) [132]; The Hiring - Fair Patrick Gallegher (Paddy the Cope) [134]; After the Storm - Asenath Nicholson (The Bible in Ireland) [136]; A Drover Padraic Colum [137]; Four Ducks on a Pond - William Allingham [139]; Merry Christmas, 1778 - Sir Jonah Barrington (Personal Sketches) [139]; The Tragedy of Sir Kit - Maria Edgeworth (Castle Rackrent) [144]; ]; At the Show E. OE. Somerville & Martin Ross (Experiences of an Irish R. M.) [148]; Sport - E. OE. Somerville & Martin Ross (Experiences of an Irish R. M.) [150]; ]; The Roscarberry Foxhounds - Judgement by Lord O'Brien of Kilfenora (Irish Law Records), 1907 [154]; The Master of Hounds - Anthony Trollope (The Land Leaguers) [155]; The Deserted Village - Oliver Goldsmith (The Deserted Village) [159]; A Bold Peasantry - Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (The Canon of Aughrim) [161]; 17th Century Dublin - Richard Head [164]; Dublin Street Cries - Jonathan Swift (An Examination of Certain Abuses) [165]; Cockles and Mussels - Anon. [167]; Going to the Dogs - Brian O'Nolan [Flann O'Brien (The Bell) [168]; the Yellow Bittern - Cathal Buidhe MacElgun [171]; After Hours - Brian O'Nolan [Flann O'Brien] (The Bell) [172]. PEOPLE GREAT & SMALL: A Fair People - Samuel Johnson (Boswell's Life of Johnson) [176]; These Irish - Rinucinni [176]; These Friendly Irish - William Makepeace Thackeray (Irish Sketch Book) [176]; Nice But- Antliony Trollope (Autobiography) [177]; Decent People Anon. - Letter, 1825 [178]; Temperament - Anthony Trollope (Autobiography) [178]; Carolan - Oliver Goldsmith (Prose Works) [180]; Oliver Goldsmith - William Makepeace Thackeray (English Humorists) [182]; Sir Boyle Roche Sir Jonah Barrington (Personal Sketches) [183]; The Forgetful Poet - Sydney Smith - Letter to Thomas Moore [186]; A Loyalist - George Borrow (Lavengro) [186]; A Man of the World - J. M. Synge (In Wicklow and West Kerry) [188]; Richard Adams, Limerick County Court Judge - A. M. Sullivan (Old Ireland) [189]; Adams Again - Maurice Healy (The Old Munster Circuit) [192]; A Parson - Anthony Trollope (The Land Leaguers) [192]; Miss Martin of Connemara - Maria Edgeworth (Tour in Connemara) [193]; Miss Makebelieve of Dublin - James Stephens (The Charwoman's Daughter) [196]; A Language Enthusiast - George Moore (Hail and Farewell) [199]; A. E., Yeats, Synge and Moore - James Stephens (The Charwoman's Daughter) [201]; Yeats - Máire Nic Shiubhlaigh & Edward Kenny (The Splendid Years) [203]; ]; Synge - Máire Nic Shiubhlaigh & Edward Kenny Máire Nic Shiubhlaigh & Edward Kenny (The Splendid Years) [205]; George Moore - James Stephens (Radio Broadcast, 1949) [206]; George Moore - W. B. Yeats (Dramatis Personae) [210]. THE GREAT LADY & THE GREAT MAN: (1) Lady Gregory - The Journals [212]; (2) Sean O'Casey - Inishfallen, Fare Thee Well [214]; (3) Lady Gregory - The Journals [215]; (4) Sean O'Casey - Inishfallen, Fare Thee Well [216]; The Storyteller Frank O'Connor (Leinster, Munster and Connacht) [216]; A Telephone Operator - ROBERT GIBBINGs (Lovely is the Lee) [220]; Epitaphs (1) Jonathan Swift [221]; (2) George Moore by W. B. Yeats (Dramatis Personae) [221]; (3) W. B. Yeats - Under Ben Bulben [221]. HUMOUR, ROMANCE & SENTIMENT: Righteous Anger - James Stephens (Collected Poems) [222]; The Brewer's Man - L. A. G. Strong (Dublin Days) [222]; Smart Boy - James Stephens (Irish Writing) [223]; The Night Before Larry Was Stretched - Anon. [228]; The Old Orange Flute - Anon. [230]; Eating English Halfpence - Jonathan Swift (The Drapier's Fourth Letter) [232]; The Tailor on Culture - Eric Cross (The Tailor and Ansty) [233]; The Tailor and Chronology - Eric Cross (The Tailor and Ansty) [235]; ]; Mr. Lightfoot in the Green Isle - A. E. Coppard (Fishmonger's Fiddle) [237]; Jealousy - Anon. [241]; A Learned Mistress - Anon. [241]; To Tomaus Costello at the Wars - Anon. [242]; The Swimmer - Anon. [245]; Into Exile - Anon. [246]; The Heart's A Wonder - J. M. Synge (The Playboy of the Western World) [246]; Legal Aid - Maurice Healy (The Old Munster Circuit) [249]; The End of Deirdre - Anon. [250]; Grief - Anon. [252]; Tragedy and Triumph - Lady Gregory (The Gaol Gate) [252]. CUSTOMS & BELIEFS. Irish Courtship (1): Anon. [257]; Irish Courtship (2): Bernard Shaw - letters to Florence Farr [257]; Irish Courtship (3): W. B. Yeats - Letters to Florence Farr [258]; Wintry Marriage Conrad Arensberg (The Irish Countryman) [259]; Innocent Amusement, 1783 Sir Jonah Barrington (Personal Sketches) [262]; A Landlord's Amusement - Arthur Young (Tour in Ireland) [264]; The Irish Election, I8th Century - Maria Edgeworth (Castle Rackrent) [265]; Carlyle Observes the Savages: (i) Catholic - Thomas Carlyle (Reminiscences of My Irish Journey) [269]; Protestant Thomas Carlyle (Reminiscences of My Irish Journey) [271]. ]; ]; ]; ]; The Art of Perjury - Maurice Healy (The Old Munster Circuit) [272]; The Perfurer Purged - Maurice Healy (The Old Munster Circuit) [273]; Style - Matthew Arnold (The Study of Celtic Literature) [275]; Scholars Anon. [276]; The Student - Anon. [277]; Crow Street Theatre - Sir Jonah Barrington (Personal Sketches) [ 278]; First Night at the Abbey Máire Nic Shiubhlaigh and Edward Kenny (The Splendid Years) 281]; The American Wake Liam O'Flaherty (Going Into Exile) [284]; Aran Funeral - J. M. Synge (The Aran Islands) [287]; Dublin Funeral (1): Bernard Shaw - Music in London [289]; Dublin Funeral (2): Sean O'Casey (Inishallen, Fare Thee Well) [292]; Tombstones - Seumas Murphy (Stone Mad) [295]. POEMS, SONGS & BALLADS: The Scholar and His Cat - Anon. [298]; Liadain - Anon. [299]; The Old Woman of Beare - Anon. [300]; The Sweetness of Earth - Anon. [304]; Woodlore - Anon. [305]; She Is My Dear - Anon. [307]; I Shall Not Die for Thee - Anon. [3)8]; Dear Dark Head - Anon. [309]; Raftery the Poet - Anthony Raftery [310]; The Orphan - Anon. [310]; My Grief on the Sea - Anon. [311]; Ringleted Youth of My Love - Anon. [312]; The Outlaw of Loch Lene - Anon. [313]; Pearl of the White Breast - Anon. [314]; The Poor Girl's Meditation - Anon. [316]; The Lament for Yellow-Haired Donogh - Anon. [317]; Let Us Be Merry Before We Go - John Philpot Curran [315]; At The Mid Hour of Night Thomas Moore [319]; The Nameless One - J. C. Mangan [320]; Twenty Golden Years Ago - J. C. Mangan [322]; The Song of Wandering Aengus - W. B. Yeats (Collected Poems) [324]; A Prayer for My Daughter - W. B. Yeats (Collected Poems) [325]; ]; On Behalf of Some Irishmen Not Followers of Tradition - George Russell [A.E.] (Selected Poems) [327]; Non Dolet - Oliver St. John Gogarty (Collected Poems) [329]; John-John - Thomas MacDonagh (Poems) [329]; Last Lines, 1916 - Padraic Pearse [313]. RELIGIOUS & PHILOSOPHICAL: The Bridge of Glass - Anon. (Voyage of Maelduin) [342]; The Fairies (1): Conrad Arensberg (The Irish Countryman) [344]; The Fairies (2): William All1ngham [347]; The Stolen Child - W. B. Yeats (Collected Poems) [349]; To the Leanan Sidhe - Thomas Boyd [350]; The Warrior - Anon. [352]; Generosity - Anon. [354]; Gaelic Comes to England - The Venerable Bede [354]; Ireland v. Rome (1): Anon. [355]; Ireland v. Rome (2): The Venerable Bede [355]; Mo Chua and His Three Treasures - Geoffrey Keating (History of Ireland) [361]; Irish Missionaries: Seventh Century - The Venerable Bede [362]; The Priest - Anon. [363]; Thoughts - Anon. [365]; An Old Flame - Anon. [366]; The Penal Laws - Sydney Smith (Selections from Writings of the Rev. Sydney Smith) [368]; And More Law - Sydney Smith (Selections from Writings of the Rev. Sydney Smith) [371]; To a Boy - Anon. [374]; Prayer at Dawn Diarmuid O'Shea [374]. Epilogue: Joy Be With Us - James Stephens (Collected Poems) [376]; Principal Dates In Irish History [377]; Index of Authors, Sources, First Lines [379].
The Backward Look: A Survey of Irish Literature (1967), 264pp. CONTENTS: Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Early Ireland; 2. The beginning of Poetry; 3. Early Irish Story-telling; 4. Primary Literature; 5. Sagas and Pseudo-sagas; 6. The Norse and After; 7. Romanesque and Gothic; 8. The Renaissance in Ireland; 9. Anglo-Irish Literature; 10. Eighteenth-century Literature in English; 11. The Background of Modern Irish Literature; 12. The Beginning of Modern Literature; 13. Death and Transfiguration; 14. William Butler Yeats (I); 15. William Butler Yeats (II); 16/ All the Olympians; 17. Antithesis (I); 18. Antithesis (II); 19. Transition; 20. And now that our story …’; APPENDIX: Early Irish Story-telling [pp.231-256]; Selected Bibliography [257-60]. [TEXT 1-256]. INDEX: Abbey Theatre, 168, i69-70, 178-9, 180, 193; Absentee, The (Edgeworth), 123; Adomnán, St., 56, 236, 243; ‘Adventures of Nera, The’, 237; Aed mac Ainmire, 57; Aedagán, Abbot of Louth, 21; Aeneid, 32, 34, 49, 236, 248, 249; ‘After the Race’ (Joyce), 176, 196; ‘Aideen’s Grave’, 150; Ailill, 32, 33, 34-35, 37-38, 39, 250-5; Ailill Anguba, 43; Alspach, Professor Russell, 122, 123, 124, 12S, 127, 129; An Cleamhnas (Hyde), 176; Anluan, 50, 51, 249; Annals of the Four Masters (Zeuss), 156; ‘Apocryphal Gospel of St. Thomas’, 53-55; Aran Islands, The (Synge), 171; Aristotle, 200-1; Arnold, Matthew, 41, 154, 156-60, 206; Athirne the Exacting, 3, 244; ‘Bardic Poetry’ (Bergin), 12-13; Barrington, Sir Jonah, 127; Beare, Nun of, 58, 65-67; Bede, Venerable, 9, 53, 158; Behan, Brendan, 229; Bell, The, 224; Belloc, Hilaire, 158; ‘Bells of Shandon, The’ (Mahony), 145; Bergin, Osborn, 12-13, 97, 98; Berkeley, Bishop, 123; Beside the Fire (Hyde), 169, 188; Binchy, Professor D. A., 8, 14, 31; ‘Blackbird, The’, 79, 89; B1áthmacc, 53; Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen, 125 [‘Canon of Aughrim’], 183, 184, 191; Boann, 43, 44, 240; Book of Drumsnaught, 249; Book of the Dun Cow, 21; Book of Leinster, 33, 39, 250, 251; Borstal Boy (Behan), 229; Boyd, Thomas, 212, 213; ‘Boyish Feats of Cil Chulainn’ 1, 6, 36, 234-5, 252, 254; ‘Bricriu’s Feast’, 71; Brooke, Charlotte, 6, 130; Browning, Robert, 232; Buckley, Timothy, 14, 225, 227; ‘Burial of King Cormac, The’ (Ferguson), 150; Callanan, Jeremiah Joseph, 144-5; Campbell, Joseph, 176; ‘Canon of Aughrim, The’ (Blunt), 125; Carew, Ellen, 107-8; Carleton, William, 134, 137-8, 139-40, 143, 146, 148-9; Carney, Professor James, 51, 53, 55, 79, 99, 235, 236; Castle Rackrent (Edgeworth), 123, 126-7; Cathleen ni Houlihan (Yeats), 17; ‘Cattle Raid of Cooley, The’, 2, 4, 15, 30-31, 32-40, 46, 47, 48, 55, 70, 71, 95, 233, 234-5, 236, 237, 239, 241, 242, 250-5; ‘Cattle Raid of Froech, The’, 235, 237; Cé1echar, Bishop of Clonmacnois, 21; Cet mac Mágach, 3, 50; Charlemagne, 48; Charwoman’s Daughter, The (Stephens), 213, 214-16; Chrètien de Troyes, 155; Ciarán, St., 56, 232; ‘Cin Dromma Snechta’, 84; Clanricarde, Marquis of, 12; Clarke, Austin, 224, 227-8, 229; Clothru, 45; Collegians, The (Griffin), 139, 146-7; Colmán mac Lénéni, 23-25, 26; Colum, Padraic, 175, 176, 212; Colum Cille, St., 24-26, 31, 236, 243; Conall Cernach, 3, 31, 50, 51, 242, 244-6, 247-8; Conchobar mac Nessa, 3-4, 46, 48, 234-5, 237, 240, 255; Congal, 50-51; Conn the Almoner, 21; Corkery, Daniel, 114, 170; Cormac Connlongas, 34, 255; Cormac MacCarthy, 83; Cormac mac Cuileannáin, 80; Costello, Tomas, 99, 100; Countess Cathleen, The (Yeats), 171, 173, 180; ‘Créd’s Lament’, 58, 59-60; ‘Crock of Gold, The’ (Stephens), 213, 216; Cross, Eric, 225; Crunnchu mac Agnoman, 237-9; Cú Chonnacht O’Clery, 98, 103; Cú Chulainn, 6, 7, 30, 31, 32, 35-36, 37, 39, 45-46, 49-50, 130, 173, 170, 180, 234-5, 239, 247-9, 252, 253 254-5; Cuirithir, 1277-8; 145; Cummíne, St., 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66; Curran, John Philpot; Dafydd Ap Gwilym; Dallan Forgaill; ‘Dark Rosaleen’ (Mangan); Davis, Thomas Osborne, 7; ‘Death of Conchobar, The’; ‘Death of Cú Chulainn, The’ [3, 49-50, 236, 247-8, 249]; ‘Death of Derbfhorgaill, The’, 236; ‘Death of Nath Í, The’, 232; Deevey, Teresa, 179; Deirdre of the Sorrows’ (Synge), 176; ‘Denis O’Shaughnessy Going to Maynooth’ (Carleton), 139-40, 148-9; Derdriu, 46-47, 48; Dervorgilla, 45-46, 84, 192-3; Dervorgilla (Gregory), 171, 174, 191-3; ‘Description of the Day of Judgement, A’, 55, 232; ‘Description of the Resurrection, A’, 55, 232; Description of the Western Isles of Scotland (Martin), 13; ‘Deserted Village, The’ (Goldsmith), 122, 123-5; Desmond, Gerald, Earl of, 5, 11, 90, 91, 92-96, 97, 98; ‘Destruction of Dá Derga’s Hostel, The’, 4, 55, 233; ‘Destruction of Dinn Rig, The’, 236; Diarmait 0 Duibne, 80, 92; Diarmuid MacCarthy, 92, 94; Dínertach, 58; Domnall, King of Tara, 24; Donn, 51, 249; Dostoevsky, Fyodor, 207; ‘Downstream’ (Kinsella), 229; Drapier’s Letters (Swift), 120; ‘Dream of Oengus, The’, 237; Dreaming of the Bones, The (Yeats), 192; Drennan, William, 129; Dublin Penny Journal, 151; Dubliners (Joyce), 196, 198, 199, 203, 222; Duffy, Gavan, 154, 155, 156; Dúnchad, Bishop of Clonmacnois, 21; Edgeworth, Maria, 123, 126-7; Edwards, Professor Philip, i, 8; Égertach, 21; Eithne, 43, 240; Elcmar, 42, 43, 240, 242; Eochaid Airem, 43-44; Eochaid Allfather, 43, 240-2; Eogan, 21; Étain Echraide, 43-44, 48, 241-2; Erc mac Cairbre, 49, 247; ‘Eveline’ (Joyce), 176, i96, 197 Exiles (Joyce), 207, 208; Fay, Frank, 169; Fear Flatha Ó Gnimh, 13; Feidelm Noichride, 36, 252; Feidilmid mac Crimthainn, 56-57, 232; Fer Diad, 39, 254; Fergus mac Roich, 15, 30, 32, 34, 35, 37-38, 39-40, 46, 234-5, 252, 253, 254, 255; Ferguson, Sir Samuel [from whom the title], 6, 7, 131, 145, 146, 149-51, 157, 165, 173, 194, 222, 230; Finnegan’s [sic index; Finnegans: text] Wake (Joyce), 211; Fionn mac Cumhaill, 31, 85; Fitzgibbon, John, Earl of Clare, 133; Flanagan, Professor Thomas, 122, 123; 124, 127, 151; ‘Flight to Africa’ (Clarke), 228; Four Plays for Dancers (Yeats), 178-180; Frost, Robert, 145, 177; Fuamnach, 43, 241, 242; ‘Gaol Gate, The’ (Gregory), 171, 188, 190-1; Gárlach Coileánach, 14; Gerald, Earl of Desmond, 5, 11, 90, 91, 92-96, 97, 98; ‘Germans and their Neighbouring Tribes, The’ (Zeuss), 156; Gilbert, Stuart, 204, 205-6; Giolla Bride Mac Conmhidhe, 87-88, 89, 91; Gisippus (Griffin), 146; Gogarty, Oliver St. John, 168, 207; ‘Going into Exile’ (O’Flaherty), 222-23; Goldsmith, Oliver, 115, 122-5; Gonne, Maud, 164, 166, 173, 177, 178; Gorman, Abbot of Louth, 21; ‘Grace’ (Joyce), 203; ‘Grace before Death’ (Mael Ísu Ó Brolchán), 80; Grammatica Celtica (Zeuss), 156 Grania, 80, 82; Grattan, Henry, 120, 133, 134; ‘Great Hunger, The’ (Kavanagh), 224; ‘Green Helmet, The’ (Yeats), 176; Greene, Professor David, i, 8, 26, 33, 36-37, 50, 51, 74, 243; Greene, Professor David H., 184; Gregory, Lady, 146, 160, 166, 167, 168, 169, 171, 173, 174, 176, 178-9, 183, 184, 186, 188, 189-93, 194, 217 Griffin, Gerald, 122, 139, 143, 146-8 Griffith, Arthur, 17S, 186; Guaire, King of Aidne, 58, 60; Gulliver’s Travels (Swift), 40; Hackett, Father, 107-8; Hail and Farewell! (Moore), 173, 176, 187 n.; Hardy, Thomas, 9, 41, 147 Hauser, Arnold, 158; Healy, Maurice, 127; Herne’s Egg, The (Years), 182 Higgins, F. R., 163; History of the English Church (Bede), 9, 158; Hogan, Professor James, 226; ‘Home Sickness’ (Moore), 197; Hopkins, Gerard Manley, 75; Horizon, 224; Huc, E. R., 134; Hughes, Herbert, 176; Hyde, Douglas, 168, 169, 176, 188, 189, 228; In the Shadow of the Glen (Synge), 186, 187; Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger (Nicholson), 134-7, 138-9; Irish Melodies (Moore), 143-4; ‘Ivy Day in the Committee Room’ (Joyce), 161, 199, 203; Jackson, Kenneth, 72; ‘John O’Dwyer of the Glen’, 110-11, 118; Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 129; Joseph (confessor), 21; Joyce, James, i55, 161-2, 163, 172, 176, 186, 195-211, 212, 213, 214, 222; ‘Judgements of Blood-lyings’, 29; Juno and the Paycock (O’Casey), 219; Kavanagh, Patrick, 213, 224, 229; Keane, Sir John, 225; Keating, Geoffrey, 6; Kelly, Michael, 109; King, Archbishop, of Dublin, 115-18, 120; ‘King and Hermit’, 58, 193; King’s Threshold, The (Yeats), 176, 196; Kinsella, Thomas, 229; Knott, Eleanor, 78, 89, 90; Knox, John, 32, 256; Lake, The (Moore), 176; ‘Lament for Art O’Leary’, 11-12, 14; Laoiseach Mac An Bhaird (Lewis Ward), 103-4; Larcom, Sir Thomas Aiskew, 149; Laurence, St., 84; Lavin, Mary, 229; Lawless, Emily, 212; Lawrence, D. H., 164, 168, 187, 207; ‘Let Us Be Merry’ (Curran), 127, 145; Liadan, 58, 60-64; ‘Liadan and Cuirithir’, 16, 58, 60-64, 65, 193; Luchairán, 21; Lugaid of the Red Stripes, 45, 46, 247-48; ‘Lullaby’, 80; ‘Mac Con Clinne’s Dream’, 234, 240; Mac Dá Cherda, 58, 61; ‘Mac Dathó’s Pig’, 50, 51, 52, 248, 249; MacBride, Major John, 173, 178; MacCarthy, Sir Desmond, 109, 211; MacEgan, Tadhg, 91; Macha, 16, 31, 38, 65, 237-9; ‘MacLeod, Fiona’ (William Sharp), 167; Macpherson, James, 129-30; Mael Chiaráin, 21; Mael Fhothartaig, 50-51; Mael Ísu Ó Brolchán, 79-80; Mael Muire, 21, 83, 233; Magee, William, 18; Magennis, Professor William, 226; Maguire, Hugh, 100-1; Mahony, Sylvester, 145; Malachy, St., 83; Mangan, James Clarence, 18, l01, 131, 143, 146, 151-3, 157, 165; Martin, Martin [auth. of Description … &c.], 13; Martyn, Edward, 172, 195; Martyr, The (O’Flaherty), 222; ‘May Day’ 76, 77-78; Mayor of Casterbridge, The (Hardy), 19; Medb, Queen of Connacht, 30-31, 32, 33-35, 37-38, 39, 65, 250-5; Merryman [sic] , Bryan, 124, 130, 140, 226; Mess Gegra, 3, 50, 240, 244-6, 248; Meyer, Kuno, 50, 57, 77, 156, 193; Midir, 43, 44, 241, 242; Midnight Court, The (Merryman), 124, 130, 126; ‘Mr Hunter’s Day’ [i.e., germ of Ulysses] (Joyce), 203; Mo Chota, St. 22; Modest Proposal, A (Swift), 120-1; Mongan, 58; Monstrous Regiment of Women (Knox), 32, 256; Moore, George, 167, 168, 169, 173, 176, 184, 187n., 193, 196-7, 222, 223; Moore, Thomas, 18, 131, 143-4, 145, 157, 192; ‘Municipal Gallery Revisited, The’, (Yeats), 175; Murphy, Gerard, 72, 77; ‘Nameless One, The’, (Mangan), 151; New Songs (Russell), 176; Nicholson, Asenath, 134-7, 138-9; ‘Night before Larry was Stretched, The’, 128; Noisi, 46-47, 48; ‘Nun of Beare, The’, 58, 60, 61, 65-67; ‘O Woman of the Piercing Wail’ (Mangan), 153; O’Brien, Edna, 229; O’Carolan, Turlough, 115; O’Carroll, Margaret, 94; O’Casey, Sean, 154, 213, 216-21, 224; O’Connell, Eileen, 11-12; O’Daly, Geoffrey, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 100; O’Daly, Murrough, 17, 86, 89; O’Donnell, Rory, Earl of Tyrconnell, 102; O’Donoghue, D. J., 134; O’Donovan, Gerald, 195; O’Donovan, John, 86, 91, 149, 156; O’Dwyer, John, 110-10; O’Faolain, Sean, 158, 224, 227, 229; O’Flaherty, Liam, 222-3, 227; O’Grady, Standish, 194; O’Higgins, Kevin, 151, 223; O’Higgins, Tadhg, 89, 103; O’Hussey, Eochy, 100-2, 107, 153; O’Leary, Colonel Arthur [of ‘The Lament’], 11; O’Leary, John, 165, 166; O’Leary, Father Peter, 141-2; O’Rahilly, Egan, 113-14; O’Rahilly, T. F., 31, 97; ‘O’Rourke’s Wife’ (O’Higgins), 99-100; O’Ryan, Edmund, 111-13; ‘Ode to the Maguire’ (O’Hussey), 100-02, 146, 153; Oengus, 43, 44, 241, 242; Oengus of Clonenagh, 68-69; Old Munster Circuit (Healy), 127; On Baile’s Strand (Yeats), 41, 176, 190, 196; On the Study of Celtic Literature (Arnold), 157-60; Only Child, An (O’Connor), 228; Only Jealousy of Emer, The (Yeats), 179-80; ‘Ossian’, 129; Parnell, Charles Stewart, 134, 155, 160-61, 198; Patrick, St., 11, 20, 31, 57; ‘Pearl of the White Breast’, 145; Pearse, Patrick, 7, 178, 220; Personal Sketches (Barrington), 127; Petrie, George, 6, 35, 136, 137, 142, 145, 149, 150, 151, 194; Playboy of the Western World, The (Synge), 170, 175, 184, 187-8, 189, 193; Plough and the Stars, The (O’Casey), 219-20, 222; Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Joyce), 161-2, 172, 198, 199, 202, 203, 211; Pot of Broth, The (Yeats), 176; Pound, Ezra, 205; Pritchett, V. S., 200, 211; Pyle, Hilary, 213; ‘Red-Haired Man’s Wife, The’, 144; Reliques of Ancient Irish Poetry (Brooke), 30; Richard de Burgo, 17, 90; Riders to the Sea (Synge), 176, 187, 188, 190; Rising of the Moon, The (Gregory), 168, 171, 190, 193; Robinson, Lennox, 178, 179, 220; Rónán, 50, 57; ‘Rónán’s Kin-slaying’, 50-51, 52, 57, 236, 249; Russell, George (A.E.), 163, 164, 165, 167, 173, 176, 212, 213, 219, 223; ‘Scholar and his Cat, The’, 52; Sedulius of Liège, 51; Senchán Torpóist, 15, 30, 32; ‘September 1913’ Yeats), 177; Shadow of a Gunman, The (O’Casey), 217-18, 219, 222; Shaw, Bernard, 223, 224, 226; Short View of the State of Ireland (Swift), 119; ‘Sick-bed of Cú Chulainn, The’, 45, 57, 71, 237; ‘Siege of Howth, The’, 3, 50, 51, 236, 244-8, 249; Sigerson, Dora (Mrs. Clement Shorter), 177; Sigerson, George, 163; Silence of the Valley, The’ (O’Faolain), 227; ‘Sisters, The’ (Joyce), 176, 196; Social History of Art (Hauser), 158; Sohrab and Rustum (Arnold), 41; Songs of Uladh (Hughes), 176; Spreading the News (Gregory), 176, 188, 190, 196; Spring Sowing (O’Flaherty), 222, 223, 227; Stephen Hero (joyce), 198, 200-1; Stephens, James, 98, 213-16, 221, 222; ‘Story of Macha, The’, 237-40; Strong, L. A. G., 143; ‘Suibne Ceilt’, 78; ‘Summer’, 76-77; ‘Supernatural Songs’ (Yeats), 105; Swift, Jonathan, 115-21, 123, 126, 133; Synge, J. M., 146, 167, 168, 170, 171-2, 175-6, 177, 183-9, 191, 194; Tailor and Ansty, The (Buckley and Cross), 225-6; ‘Tempest’, 75; Tennyson, Lord, 42, 158; Teresa and other Stories (O’Faolain), 227; Thomas Muskerry (Colum), 176, 212; Thurneysen, Rudolf, 3, 4, -5, 9, 4, 15, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39, 70, 235, 239, 247, 248, 249; Tinker’s Wedding, The (Synge), 187; ‘To a Poet who would have me Praise certain Bad Poets’ (Yeats), 175; Tolstoy, Leo, 47, 164, 168; Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 117, 128, 130; Torbach, Abbot of Armagh, 21; Tracy’s Ambition (Griffin), 147-8; Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry (Carleton), 140n.; Travelling Man, The (Gregory), 171, 190; Travels in Tartary and Thibet (Huc), 134; Trevelyan, Sir Charles, 133; ‘Two Gallants’ (Joyce), 199; Ulysses (Joyce), 40, 198, 203-7, 208-211, 214; ‘Uná Bhán’, 99; Untilled Field, The (Moore), 193, 196, 222; Virgil, 32, 49, 52, 236, 249; ‘Vision of Adomnán, The’, 55, 232; ‘Voyage of Mael Dúin, The’, 42, 159, 232; ‘Wake of William Orr, The’ (Drennan), 129; Walsh, John Edward, 127, 128; Well of the Saints, The (Synge), 187; ‘Winter Night, A’, 80; With the Wild Geese (Lawless), 212; ‘Woman of Three Cows, The’, 80; ‘Wooing of Emer, The’, 55, 233; ‘Wooing of Étaín, The’, 42-45, 55, 233, 240-3; Wordsworth, William, 185-6; ‘Wreck of the Deutschland’ (Hopkins), 75; Yeats, W. B., 7, 18, 41, 80, 105, ‘14, 130, 131, 146, 149, 161, 162, 163-82, 183, 184, 185, 186, 190, 192, 194, 195-6, 197, 202, 210-11, 212, 223, 224, 229, 230; Yellow Bittern, The (Corkery), 170, 171; Zeuss, Johann Kaspar, 156; Zimmer, Heinrich, 21. NOTE also his comments on the 18thc. Ascendancy, 126. A Publisher’s Note refers to ‘new thoughts on the interpretation of the texts discussed in the chapters on early Irish story-telling [which he had hoped to incorporate in the present volume but his death, on 10 mar 1966, prevented this … Fortunately, these fresh ideas were expressed in lectures at Trinity College dublin, and at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, a few week before his death. These lectures are so significant and illuminating that, despite some repetition of material in the early chapters they are printed in their entirety as an appenedix to this volume.’ The volume is dedicated: ‘For my children /look back to look forward’.
A Set of Variations: Twenty Seven Stories (NY: Alfred A. Knopf 1969), 338pp.; Contents: A Set of Variations on a Borrowed Theme [orig. in NY]; The American Wife; The Impossible Marriage; The Cheat; The Weeping Children [orig. in NY]; The Saint; A Minority [orig. in NY]; An Out-and-Out Free Gift [orig. in NY]; Anchors; Sue [orig. in NY]; Music When Soft Voices Die [orig. in NY]; A Life of Your Own; The Corkerys [orig. in NY]; A story by Maupassant; A Great Man [orig. in NY]; The School for Wives [orig. in NY]; Androcles and the Army; Public Opinion; The Party [orig. in NY]; Achilles’ Heel [orig. in NY]; Lost Fatherlands [orig. in NY]; The Wreath; The Teacher’s Mass [orig. in NY]; The Martyr; Requiem [orig. in NY]; An Act of Charity [orig. in NY]; The Mass Island [orig. in NY]. [set in Linotype in Granjon, a new font designed George W. Jones, based on on the type used by Claude Garamond, and and named after Robert Granjon (fl.1557-62). Copyrights for the component stories extend back to 1945; stories appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s Bazaar, Harper’s Magazine, Mademoiselle, The Saturday Evening Post, and Woman’s Day; the majority first appeared in The New Yorker [as marked]. See Harriet O’Donovan’s introductory remarks, infra.)
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Maurice Sheehy, ed., Michael/Frank, Studies on Frank O’Connor (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1969) [mainly reminiscence; extensive bibliography].
Roger McHugh, ‘Frank O'Connor and the Irish Theatre', Éire-Ireland, 4, 2 (Summer 1969), pp.52-63.
Thomas F. Mahoney, review of Frank O'Connor, My Father's Son (NY: Knopf 1969) and Maurice Sheehy, ed., Michael/Frank, Studies on Frank O'Connor (NY: Knopf 1969), in Éire-Ireland, 5, 4 (Winter 1970), pp.142-44.
Murray Proksy, ‘The Pattern of Diminishing Certitude in the Stories of Frank O’Connor’, Colby Library Quarterly, 9 (1970), pp.311-21.
‘Frank O’Connor Special Number’, Journal of Irish Literature, 4, 1 (January 1975) [contains ‘Frank O’Connor Miscellany’ incl. two stories, ‘September Dawn’, and ‘Orphans’; a play, The Statues Daughter; letters, journalism, radio talks, and speeches; contribs. by J. H. Matthews; Maurice Wohlgelernter, &c.].
James H. Matthews, Frank O’Connor (Lewisburg: Bucknell UP 1976).
Maurice Wohlgelernter, Frank O’Connor: An Introduction (NY: Columbia UP 1977).
Peter Costello, The Heart Grown Brutal: The Irish Revolution in Literature from Parnell to the Death of W. B. Yeats, 1891-1939 (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan; NJ: Rowman & Littlefield 1977), pp.136ff.
Richard J. Thompson, ‘A Kingdom of Commoners: The Moral Art of Frank O’Connor’, Éire-Ireland, 13, 4 (1978), pp.65-80.
Ruth Sherry, ‘Frank O’Connor: MSS of The Backward Look’, Long Room, 16 & 17 (Spring-Autumn 1978), pp.37-38.
William Tomory, Frank O’Connor (Boston: Twayne 1980).
Ruth Sherry, ‘Frank O’Connor and Gaelic Ireland’, in P. J. Drury, ed., Irish Studies, 1 (Cambridge UP 1980), pp.35-59.
Alan Warner, ‘Frank O’Connor’, A Guide to Anglo-Irish Literature (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1981), pp.79-89.
Dorothy Averill, The Irish Short Story from George Moore to Frank O’Connor (Washington/Boston: Catholic University of America 1982).
Ruth Sherry, review of James Matthews, Voices, A Life of Frank O’Connor (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1983), Irish University Review, 14, 2 (Autumn 1984), pp.290-99.
James Alexander, ‘An Annotated Bibliography of Works about Frank O’Connor’, Journal of Irish Literature, 16 (Sept. 1987), pp.40-48.
Michael Steinman, Frank O’Connor at Work (Syracuse UP 1990).
John Cronin, ‘Frank O’Connor, ‘Dutch Interior’, in The Anglo-Irish Novel, Vol. II (Belfast: Appletree Press 1990), pp.183-90.
Michael Steinman, The Happiness of Getting It Down Right: Letters of Frank O’Connor to William Maxwell 1945-1966 (Alfred A. Knopf [1996]), reviewed by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in New York Times, ‘The Living Arts’ (30 May 1996).
Frank O’Connor: New Perspectives (Locust Hill Press 1997) [collection student essays issued from Auburn Univ. at Montgomery].
Jim McKeon, Frank O’Connor: A Life (Edinburgh: Mainstream 1998).
Benedict Kiely, ‘Frank O’Connor and the Long Road to Ummera’, A Raid into Dark Corners and Other Essays (Cork UP 1999), pp.241-47.
Conor Johnston, review of Michael Steinman, ed., A Frank O’Connor Reader (Syracuse UP 1994), Irish Literary Supplement (Fall 1995), p.15-16.
W. B. Yeats, short notice of An Only Child, rep. edn. Blackstaff 1994, quoted in Times Literary Supplement, 22 May 1994, by BK [prob. Brendan Kennelly]).
Roger McHugh, ‘Frank O'Connor and the Irish Theatre', Éire-Ireland, 4, 2, Summer 1969, pp.52-63.)
Harriet O’Donovan, Introduction to Set of Variations (1969).
Denis Ireland, From an Irish Shore, 1939), p.144 [see Denis Ireland, supra].
Benedict Kiely, quoted in H. Matthews, Frank O’Connor, 1976, p.90).
John Wilson Foster, ‘The Geography of Irish Fiction’, in Patrick Rafroidi & Maurice Harmon, eds., The Irish Novel in Our Time (Université de Lille 1975-76), pp.90-103.
John Montague, ' The Poet and his Community’, Fortnight (Jan. 1999), p.19.
Mary Campbell, review of An Only Child and My Father’s Son, reprints from Blackstaff, in Books Ireland (Summer 1995), p.165.
P. J. Kavanagh, in ‘Bywords’, Times Literary Supplement, 5 Dec. 1997.
P. J. Kavanagh, ‘Byewords’ [visit to Dunfanaghy where the critic reads James Matthews, Voices], Times Literary Supplement (5 Dec. 1997), [q.p.].
Patricia Craig, review of Jim McKeon, Frank O’Connor: A Life (Edinburgh: Mainstream 1998), 192pp., in Times Literary Supplement (20 Nov. 1998), p.32.
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Henry Boylan, Dictionary of Irish Biography (Dublin: Gill & MacMillan 1988) remarks that his Golden Treasury (1967) covers the ‘most important branch of medieval poetry [...] from the only period when Ireland was an independent country’.
Seamus Deane, gen. ed., Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing (Derry: Field Day 1991), Vol. 2, selects ‘Guests of the Nation’. Vol. 3 selects ‘The Majesty of the Law’ from Bones of Contention; also extract from An Only Child (1961) [pp.469-80]; BIOG incl. rems.: ‘O’Connor’s outspoken criticism of social and moral hypocrisy in Ireland and his own tempestuous personal life made his position difficult in Ireland and in 1951 he left for a teaching post in the United States, where he spent much of the rest of his life.’ Bibl., The Backward Look published in American as A Short History of Irish Literature (NY: Putnam 1967). Further remarks at pp.92-93, 247, 383, 481, 937, 939-41, 1133, 1312, 1353-54.
Helena Sheehan, Irish Television Drama, A Society and Its Stories (RTE 1987), lists RTÉ films, Guests of the Nation (1969), adpt. by James Douglas, dir. Brian Mac Lochlainn [113, 114], In the Train (1963), dir. Jim Fitzgerald (1963); Orpheus and His Lute (1969), adapt. John McDonnell, dir. Brian Mac Lochlainn.
Kevin Rockett, et al., eds., Cinema & Ireland (1988), lists Guests of the Nation, 60-2 [1935; 50 min. film dir. Denis Johnston, made during summers of 1934-35; shows influence of Eistenstein’s montage; Mary Manning worked on the script; her brother John on camera; Barry Fitzgerald, Shelah Richards, Denis O’Dea, Hilton Edwards, Fred Johnson and Cusack, actors], 121.
Hyland Books (Cat. 214), lists Fountain of Magic (1939), with pref. acknowledgement that Yeats ‘worked over some of the poems; one or two he has made into new poems’ [but those poems not identified in Wade]; The Road to Stratford (1948); Towards an Appreciation of Literature (1945); The Art of the Theatre (1947), 50pp.; Traveller’s Samples, Stories and Tales (1951), The Stories of Frank O’Connor (1st ed. 1953); An Only Child (1st ed. 1961); Preface to Nigel Heseltine trans. of Dafuydd Ap Gwilym, Selected Poems (Cuala Press 1944) [280 copies].
The title of O’Connor’s literary history of Ireland, published as The Backward Look: A Survey of Irish Literature (London: Macmillan 1967), echoes Sir Samuel Ferguson's idea of ‘living back in the country we live in'. The work is dedicated to the author’s children [sic]: ‘Look back to look forward’. (Cited in Patrick Rafroidi, Irish Literature in English, The Romantic Period, Vol. 1, 1980, p.149). Note that the phrase ‘backward glance’ is also employed by Seán O’Faoláin in ‘The Social Reality’ [chap.], The Irish (1947): ‘In modern Eire a good deal of lip-service is paid to the family-unit. If there is, in this, any backward glance at the old Celtic system it is wholly sentimental. In practice we owe all the legal rights and restrictions that we enjoy and accept to the ‘brutal’ Normans and the ‘brutal’ Tudors who are supposed to be responsible for the ‘seven hundred years of slavery’ about which our patriots glibly talk without knowing anything much about it. If Celtic tradition has given us anything in this field it has given us atavistic individualism ... .’ (p.41.)
O'Connor records that his teacher Daniel Corkery one day wrote something on the blackboard in a strange language - Muscail do mhisneach, a Bhanba [awaken your courage, Ireland] - after which O’Connor discovered that his grandmother knew that language. (Supplied by Maurice Harmon.)
The biography of O’Connor by Jim McKeon, a Corkman, drawing on papers made available by O’Connor’s widow Harriet O’Donovan Sheehy [May 1996]; Jim Matthews, author of the Bucknell UP biography, is also Cork-born.
A Frank O'Connor Centenary Conference was held on 12-14th September 2003 in the Máirtín Ó Cadhain Theatre of the Arts Building, Trinity College, Dublin. An opening address by Terence Brown on Friday night was followed by a programme of two-speaker panels covering the following topics: ‘O'Connor and the Abbey Theatre' (Hilary Lennon, TCD; ‘Fierce Passions for Middle-Aged Men': Frank O'Connor and Daniel Corkery' (Paul Delaney, TCD); ‘O'Connor as Translator and Interpreter' (Alan Titley, St. Patrick's/DCU); ‘Frank O'Connor and John V. Kelleher' (Charles Fanning, S. Ill. U); ‘O'Connor's “Ghosts” and American Connections' (Robert Evans, Auburn U); ‘Frank O'Connor's Autobiographical Writings' (Ruth Sherry, NUST, Trondheim). [See further under Conference Table, infra.]
Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)