Life
1895-? [James Leo Phelan]; b. Dublin, ed. CBS; lived as a traveller ['gypsy',
'tramp']; worked as journalist and actor; issued unclassifiable novels including
The Green Volcano (1938), set on 1916-22 and dealing with the tracking
of a govt. spy, incidentally describing the despotism of the emerging
strong farmers who form the membership of Cumann na nGaedhal; also The
Underworld (1953), Criminals in Real Life (1956), and Wagon
Wheels (n.d), and many others. IF2 DIW DIL
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Works
The Green Volcano (London: Peter Davies 1938), 280pp.; Churchill
Can Unite Ireland (1940); And Blackthorns (London: Nicholson
& Watson 1944); The Underworld (London: Harrap 1953), 192pp.
also Criminals in Real Life (1956); Wagon Wheels (n.d).
[Note three dates for And Blackthorns on file.]
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Notes
James Cahalan, Great Hatred, Little Room, The Irish Historical
Novel (1983), describes Jim Phelan’s And Blackthorns (London:
Nicholson & Watson 1944), concerning episodes during the 1920s quoting;
‘when the fanatic[s used] rifles, revolvers, shot-guns, old swords,
and Blackthorns’ (p.7) [133].
Desmond Clarke, Ireland in Fiction [Pt II] (Cork: Royal
Carbery 1985), fiction inc. The Green Volcano, Murder by Numbers; Banshee
Harvest; Moon in the River; Turf Fire Tales; Fetters for Twenty; In the
Can, and Bog Blossom Stories; gives details of Banshee Harvest (n.d.); Green Volcano (1938), set in 1916-1922, Glasgow and Dublin,
the tracking and execution of a govt. spy; also [And] Blackthorns (1946) [var. Nicholson & Watson 1943, 190pp.]; Turf Fires Tales (1947), and Bog Blossom Stories (1949). Highly rated in DIL.
Hyland Books (Cat. 224; 1998) lists Churchill Can Unite Ireland (1940) [‘one of our favorite titles’]; Green Volcano (1938)
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)