John McGahern
Encyclopedia
John McGahern was one of the most important Irish authors of the latter half of the twentieth century. Before his death in 2006 he was hailed as "the greatest living Irish novelist" by The Observer
.
, Co Leitrim, John McGahern was the eldest child of seven. His mother brought up the family on a small farm which she presumably ran with outside help as she was also the local primary school teacher. His father lived some 20 miles away in the police barracks at Cootehall in County Roscommon
. He was the Garda
sergeant of the village. When John was around nine or ten his mother became ill with cancer and died.
The family then moved to Cootehall to live with their father. John completed his primary schooling there, and won a sholarship to the Presentation Brothers
secondary school in Carrick-on-Shannon
. He traveled there daily and again won the county scholarship in his Leaving Certificate enabling him to continue his education to third level.
He was offered a place in teacher-training at St Patrick's College of Education in Drumcondra
. Upon graduation he began his career as a primary schoolteacher at Scoil Eoin Báiste (Belgrove) primary school in Clontarf
where, for a period, he taught the eminent academic Declan Kiberd
before turning to writing full-time. He was first published by the legendary London arts review, X
, founded by the painter Patrick Swift
and the poet David Wright
: "The extract in X attracted interest from a number of publishers. Fabers, among other publishers, wrote to me. T. S. Eliot was working at the firm then.”
McGahern's novel The Dark was banned in Ireland
for its alleged pornographic content and implied sexual abuse by the protagonist's father. In the controversy over this he was dismissed from his teaching post. He subsequently moved to England where he worked in a variety of jobs (including on building sites) before returning to Ireland to live and work on a small farm near Fenagh
in County Leitrim
, located halfway between Ballinamore
and Mohill
.
He died from cancer in the Mater Hospital
in Dublin on 30 March 2006, aged 71. He is buried in St Patrick's Church Aughawillan alongside his mother.
covers life in a rural Garda barracks especially from the point of view of the sergeant's second wife, Elizabeth Reegan. She is dying from cancer, just as McGahern's mother died. The author lived in the Garda barracks in Cootehall from the age of 10 until he left home for higher education and work. His father, was also the sergeant and did marry a second time, although not during his time as a policeman.
His second book, The Dark
covers the teenage experiences of a young scholarship student in rural Ireland. The main character, Mahony junior, has to contend with his father - who beats him and the other children - as well as indecision about what to do with his life after secondary school. McGahern's (real) father was also a difficult character. He lived on a farm after his retirement - by which time the author had left home - and also treated his children harshly including administering dangerous beatings. Mahony junior's attitude towards his father evolves over the timespan covered by the novel from fear and hatred towards greater accpetance.
In 1979, The Pornographer was published. The protagonist who writes pornography for a living is now living in Dublin. He has a sexual relationship with Josephine and she becomes pregnant. The "pornographer" is not keen on keeping the baby, or his connection with its mother. The novel again covers the subject of death by cancer - the writer's aunt in this case is dying in hospital - as well as visits to rural Ireland.
, the story of Michael Moran, an IRA
veteran of the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War
, who now dominates his family in the unforgiving farmlands of Co. Leitrim
, near Mohill
. The book is remarkable for its detailed and understanding portrayal of a hardened, and unapologetically idealistic protagonist. An ex-IRA commander, Moran detests the 'small-minded gangsters' who now run the country for which he fought. Though Moran's presence surely dominates the novel, the positive attributes of his stern moralism (Moran doesn't touch alcohol, for one) and sense of self-worth are passed on to his children, who become successful adults (both emotionally and financially) in both Dublin and London.
This is a return to Roscommon/Leitrim setting after two Dublin/London books.
Once again, it seems to fit into a sequence, with the "McGahern" character most closely reflected by Luke, who left home, emigrated to London, and refuses to get close his father again. Unlike Luke, McGahern did return home from Dublin for visits, but his difficult relationship with his father did make such visits awkward. He is portraying the house he left behind with the remaining kids being brought up by his father, his father's remarriage, and his young brother's struggles with his father and school.
His final novel That They May Face the Rising Sun (published in the United States as By the Lake) is an elegiac portrait of a year in the life of a rural lakeside community. McGahern himself lived on a lakeshore and drew on his own experiences whilst writing the book. Lyrically written, it explores the meaning in prosaic lives. He claimed that "the ordinary fascinates me" and "the ordinary is the most precious thing in life". The main characters have - just like McGahern and his wife - returned from London to live on a farm. Most of the violence of the father-figure has disappeared now, and life in the country seems much more relaxed and prosperous than in The Dark
, or Amongst Women
.
. Several collections were published as well as Love of the World, a collection of non-fiction essays. His autobiography, Memoir (All Will be Well: a Memoir in the US), was published in 2005 a year before his death.
His work has influenced a younger generation of writers, such as Colm Tóibín
. Some of his works have been translated into Japanese and other languages.
McGahern is generally thought to have exhausted the tradition of rural Irish modernism, although many younger writers continue to copy his detached and knowing style.
McGahern was a member of the Irish Arts honorary organization Aosdána
and won many other awards (including the Irish-American Foundation Award, the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, and the Prix Etranger Ecureuil). He taught at universities in Ireland, England, the United States and Canada. In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate of Trinity College, Dublin
. He was also a farmer, although he liked to joke that it was the writing that kept the farm (rather than the farming revenue allowing him to write)!
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
.
Life
Born in the townland of Knockanroe about half a mile from BallinamoreBallinamore
Ballinamore is a small town in County Leitrim, Ireland, from the border with Northern Ireland. It is located on the R202 regional road where it is joined by the R199 and R204. means "mouth of the big ford", and the town is so named because it was the main crossing point of the Yellow River,...
, Co Leitrim, John McGahern was the eldest child of seven. His mother brought up the family on a small farm which she presumably ran with outside help as she was also the local primary school teacher. His father lived some 20 miles away in the police barracks at Cootehall in County Roscommon
County Roscommon
County Roscommon is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county...
. He was the Garda
Garda
Garda may refer to:* An Garda Síochána, the national police of the Republic of Ireland* Lake Garda, a lake in northern Italy.* Garda , a commune on the shores of the Italian Lake Garda in the province of Verona....
sergeant of the village. When John was around nine or ten his mother became ill with cancer and died.
The family then moved to Cootehall to live with their father. John completed his primary schooling there, and won a sholarship to the Presentation Brothers
Presentation Brothers
The Congregation of Presentation Brothers is an international Catholic congregation of laymen founded in 1802 in Waterford, Ireland, by a local businessman, Edmund Ignatius Rice, now Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice....
secondary school in Carrick-on-Shannon
Carrick-on-Shannon
Carrick-on-Shannon is the county town of County Leitrim in Ireland. It is also the smallest main county town in the country . It is situated on a strategic crossing point of the River Shannon and is the largest town in the county. The population of the town was 3,163 in 2006. It is in the barony...
. He traveled there daily and again won the county scholarship in his Leaving Certificate enabling him to continue his education to third level.
He was offered a place in teacher-training at St Patrick's College of Education in Drumcondra
Drumcondra
Drumcondra is the name of several places:* Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland, a residential area on the Northside of Dublin.** Drumcondra railway station** Drumcondra F.C., former football club...
. Upon graduation he began his career as a primary schoolteacher at Scoil Eoin Báiste (Belgrove) primary school in Clontarf
Clontarf, Dublin
Clontarf is a coastal suburb on the northside of Dublin, in Ireland. It is most famous for giving the name to the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, in which Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, defeated the Vikings of Dublin and their allies, the Irish of Leinster. This battle, which extended to districts...
where, for a period, he taught the eminent academic Declan Kiberd
Declan Kiberd
Declan Kiberd is an Irish writer and scholar. He is known for his literary criticism of Irish literature in Irish and English, and his contributions to public cultural life....
before turning to writing full-time. He was first published by the legendary London arts review, X
X (magazine)
X, A Quarterly Review was a British arts review published in London which ran for seven issues between 1959-1962. It was founded and co-edited by Patrick Swift and David Wright...
, founded by the painter Patrick Swift
Patrick Swift
Patrick Swift was an artist born in Dublin, Ireland. Patrick Swift was a painter and key cultural figure in Dublin and London before moving to the Algarve in southern Portugal, where he is buried in the town of Porches...
and the poet David Wright
David Wright (poet)
David John Murray Wright was an author and "an acclaimed South African-born poet".-Biography:Wright was born in Johannesburg, South Africa 23 February 1920 of normal hearing....
: "The extract in X attracted interest from a number of publishers. Fabers, among other publishers, wrote to me. T. S. Eliot was working at the firm then.”
McGahern's novel The Dark was banned in Ireland
Censorship in the Republic of Ireland
Ireland rarely exercises censorship though the state retains wide-ranging laws which allow for it, including specific laws covering films, advertisements, newspapers and magazines, as well as terrorism and pornography...
for its alleged pornographic content and implied sexual abuse by the protagonist's father. In the controversy over this he was dismissed from his teaching post. He subsequently moved to England where he worked in a variety of jobs (including on building sites) before returning to Ireland to live and work on a small farm near Fenagh
Fenagh
Fenagh is a village in County Leitrim, northwest Ireland. It is on the R202, between Ballinamore and Mohill.-History:The area was the site of the battle of Fidhnacha in 1094....
in County Leitrim
County Leitrim
County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county...
, located halfway between Ballinamore
Ballinamore
Ballinamore is a small town in County Leitrim, Ireland, from the border with Northern Ireland. It is located on the R202 regional road where it is joined by the R199 and R204. means "mouth of the big ford", and the town is so named because it was the main crossing point of the Yellow River,...
and Mohill
Mohill
Mohill is a town in County Leitrim, Ireland. The town is located in the south of the county, north of the midlands of Ireland. The town of Carrick-on-Shannon is approximately 16 km away....
.
He died from cancer in the Mater Hospital
Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin
The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital is a major teaching hospital, based at Eccles Street, Phibsboro, on the northside of Dublin, Ireland...
in Dublin on 30 March 2006, aged 71. He is buried in St Patrick's Church Aughawillan alongside his mother.
The novels
McGahern's six novels follow his own life experiences to a certain extent. Reading his autobiography, All Will Be Well: a Memoir, proves the large autobiographical content in of his novels and short stories.The early novels: The Barracks and The Dark
His first published novel, The BarracksThe Barracks
The Barracks was the first novel of the Irish author John McGahern . It was critically acclaimed when it was published in 1963, winning the AE Memorial Award from the Arts Council of Ireland and the Macauley Fellowship....
covers life in a rural Garda barracks especially from the point of view of the sergeant's second wife, Elizabeth Reegan. She is dying from cancer, just as McGahern's mother died. The author lived in the Garda barracks in Cootehall from the age of 10 until he left home for higher education and work. His father, was also the sergeant and did marry a second time, although not during his time as a policeman.
His second book, The Dark
The Dark (McGahern novel)
The Dark is the second novel by Irish author, John McGahern. It was published in 1965.-Plot introduction:The novel is set in Ireland's rural north-west, and it focuses on an adolescent and his emerging sexuality, as seen through the lens of the strained and complex relationship he has with his...
covers the teenage experiences of a young scholarship student in rural Ireland. The main character, Mahony junior, has to contend with his father - who beats him and the other children - as well as indecision about what to do with his life after secondary school. McGahern's (real) father was also a difficult character. He lived on a farm after his retirement - by which time the author had left home - and also treated his children harshly including administering dangerous beatings. Mahony junior's attitude towards his father evolves over the timespan covered by the novel from fear and hatred towards greater accpetance.
Mid-career literature: The Leavetaking and The Pornographer
The next novel, The Leavetaking introduces us to Patrick Moran, a young schoolteacher in Dublin. The novel is set during his last day in the school. He will be formally fired that night for having married a divorced non-Catholic woman during a leave of absence year. The novel is divided into two parts: both of which are essentially flashbacks. Part 1 covers the teacher's childhood up to the moment of his mother's death (again, close to autobiographical). He had promised his mother that he would become a priest and as he is unable or unwilling to do so instead becomes a schoolteacher ("the second priesthood"). Part 2 flashes back to how he met his wife, how exactly the church authorities fire him, and his actual dismissal by the church authorities (who ran most public schools). The book is a close reflection on McGahern's own experiences of being dismissed from his teaching post in the early 1960s for much the same reasons as Patrick Moran as well as the scandal caused by his second book, The Dark, with many sexual references.In 1979, The Pornographer was published. The protagonist who writes pornography for a living is now living in Dublin. He has a sexual relationship with Josephine and she becomes pregnant. The "pornographer" is not keen on keeping the baby, or his connection with its mother. The novel again covers the subject of death by cancer - the writer's aunt in this case is dying in hospital - as well as visits to rural Ireland.
Back to the country: Amongst Women and That They May Face The Rising Sun (By The Lake)
His fifth and best known novel is Amongst WomenAmongst Women
Amongst Women is a novel by the Irish author John McGahern . The novel tells the story of Michael Moran, a bitter, ageing Irish Republican Army veteran, and his tyranny over his wife and children, who both love and fear him. It is McGahern's best known novel and is considered his masterpiece...
, the story of Michael Moran, an IRA
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
veteran of the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
, who now dominates his family in the unforgiving farmlands of Co. Leitrim
County Leitrim
County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county...
, near Mohill
Mohill
Mohill is a town in County Leitrim, Ireland. The town is located in the south of the county, north of the midlands of Ireland. The town of Carrick-on-Shannon is approximately 16 km away....
. The book is remarkable for its detailed and understanding portrayal of a hardened, and unapologetically idealistic protagonist. An ex-IRA commander, Moran detests the 'small-minded gangsters' who now run the country for which he fought. Though Moran's presence surely dominates the novel, the positive attributes of his stern moralism (Moran doesn't touch alcohol, for one) and sense of self-worth are passed on to his children, who become successful adults (both emotionally and financially) in both Dublin and London.
This is a return to Roscommon/Leitrim setting after two Dublin/London books.
Once again, it seems to fit into a sequence, with the "McGahern" character most closely reflected by Luke, who left home, emigrated to London, and refuses to get close his father again. Unlike Luke, McGahern did return home from Dublin for visits, but his difficult relationship with his father did make such visits awkward. He is portraying the house he left behind with the remaining kids being brought up by his father, his father's remarriage, and his young brother's struggles with his father and school.
His final novel That They May Face the Rising Sun (published in the United States as By the Lake) is an elegiac portrait of a year in the life of a rural lakeside community. McGahern himself lived on a lakeshore and drew on his own experiences whilst writing the book. Lyrically written, it explores the meaning in prosaic lives. He claimed that "the ordinary fascinates me" and "the ordinary is the most precious thing in life". The main characters have - just like McGahern and his wife - returned from London to live on a farm. Most of the violence of the father-figure has disappeared now, and life in the country seems much more relaxed and prosperous than in The Dark
The Dark (McGahern novel)
The Dark is the second novel by Irish author, John McGahern. It was published in 1965.-Plot introduction:The novel is set in Ireland's rural north-west, and it focuses on an adolescent and his emerging sexuality, as seen through the lens of the strained and complex relationship he has with his...
, or Amongst Women
Amongst Women
Amongst Women is a novel by the Irish author John McGahern . The novel tells the story of Michael Moran, a bitter, ageing Irish Republican Army veteran, and his tyranny over his wife and children, who both love and fear him. It is McGahern's best known novel and is considered his masterpiece...
.
Other writing
McGahern is also considered a master of the Irish tradition of the short storyShort story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
. Several collections were published as well as Love of the World, a collection of non-fiction essays. His autobiography, Memoir (All Will be Well: a Memoir in the US), was published in 2005 a year before his death.
His work has influenced a younger generation of writers, such as Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the...
. Some of his works have been translated into Japanese and other languages.
McGahern is generally thought to have exhausted the tradition of rural Irish modernism, although many younger writers continue to copy his detached and knowing style.
McGahern was a member of the Irish Arts honorary organization Aosdána
Aosdána
Aosdána is an Irish association of Artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers and with support from the Arts Council of Ireland. Membership, which is by invitation from current members, is limited to 250 individuals; before 2005 it was limited to 200...
and won many other awards (including the Irish-American Foundation Award, the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, and the Prix Etranger Ecureuil). He taught at universities in Ireland, England, the United States and Canada. In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate of Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
. He was also a farmer, although he liked to joke that it was the writing that kept the farm (rather than the farming revenue allowing him to write)!
Archives
External links
- Irish writers online profile
- Faber and Faber - John McGahern's UK publisher
- Portrait of John McGahern
- Picture of John McGahern
- Note on recent death
- Newsday interview
- Irish quarterly review Interview
- Guardian Interview
- http://www.faber.co.uk/media/documents/book_club_34551.pdfFaber reading guide for Amongst WomenAmongst WomenAmongst Women is a novel by the Irish author John McGahern . The novel tells the story of Michael Moran, a bitter, ageing Irish Republican Army veteran, and his tyranny over his wife and children, who both love and fear him. It is McGahern's best known novel and is considered his masterpiece...
] - Faber reading guide for 'That They May Face the Rising Sun'
- Etudes Britanniques Contemporaines, Special Issue on John McGahern
