John mcgahern goodreads
- •
‘One of the great writers of the 20th century’
Frank Shovlin, Professor of Irish Literature in English at the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool, told David Hennessy about his book the Letters of John McGahern and his forthcoming biography of the literary great.
John McGahern is often described as one of the great Irish writers and in the same breath as James Joyce and Samuel Beckett.
Born in 1934, McGahern was raised in Leitrim.
Having trained to be a teacher, like his mother who died when he was nine, but was dismissed from a teaching post when his second novel, The Dark, was banned by the Irish Censorship Board in 1965 for obscene content.
McGahern would go on to write six novels and four short story collections.
He was shortlisted for the 1990 Booker Prize for Amongst Women and awarded the Irish PEN Awards, the Prix Ecureuil de Littérature Etrangère and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
When he died in 2006 at the age of 71, the Guardian described him as ‘arguably the most important Irish novelist since Samuel Becke
- •
Navigation
1It is quite likely that John McGahern will remain better known for his longer fiction than for his short stories. After all, it was his second novel, The Dark (1965), which first turned him into a celebrity. The cause was the notorious scene that depicts a priest’s sexual advances towards a teenage boy. The church, which controlled the educational system in Ireland at the time, saw to it that the young writer who dared to blacken the reputation of her servants was dismissed from his position as a schoolteacher and thus McGahern became a victim of Irish censorship and, at the same time, he achieved fame. Amongst Women (1990), arguably his best novel, further contributed to the novelist’s reputation since it was shortlisted for the 1990 Booker Prize. Although the book did not win, its author was praised for “the relentless accuracy of his prose, and the graceful portrayal of his characters” (Callil/Tóibín 114). Despite this public acknowledgement of the longer texts it is the carefully crafted short stories, their prose exhibiting the same quality of timeless beauty
- •
John McGahern
Irish writer
John McGahern | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1934-11-12)12 November 1934 Dublin; raised at Corramahon, Ballinamore, County Leitrim, Ireland |
| Died | 30 March 2006(2006-03-30) (aged 71) Mater Hospital, Dublin, Ireland |
| Resting place | St Patrick's Church, Aughawillan |
| Pen name | Sean |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Citizenship | Irish |
| Period | 20th – 21st century |
| Genre | Novel, short story |
| Notable works | The Barracks The Dark The Leavetaking The Pornographer Amongst Women That They May Face the Rising Sun |
| Spouse | Annikki Laaksi (married 1965, divorced 1969); Madeline Green (married 1973)[1] |
| Children | Joseph John Kelly, born on 07 January 1964 at Dulwich Hospital, London |
John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006) was an Irish writer and novelist.
Known for the detailed dissection of Irish life found in works such as The Barracks, The Dark and Amongst Women, he was hailed by The Observer as "the greatest living Irish novelist"[2] and in its obituary
Copyright ©peacafe.pages.dev 2025