John McGahern
| John McGahern | |
|---|---|
John McGahern, by Patrick Swift, 1960
|
|
| Born |
12 November 1934 Knockanroe, County Leitrim, Ireland |
| Died | 30 March 2006 (aged 71) Mater Hospital, Dublin, Ireland |
| Resting place | St Patrick's Church, Aughawillan |
| Pen name | Sean |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | 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) |
John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006) is regarded as one of the most important Irish writers of the latter half of the twentieth century.
Known for the detailed dissection of Irish life found in works such as The Barracks, The Dark and Amongst Women, The Observer hailed him as "the greatest living Irish novelist" before his death in 2006.
Born in Knockanroe about half a mile from Ballinamore, County Leitrim, John McGahern was the eldest child of seven. Raised alongside his six young siblings on a small farm in Knockanroe, McGahern's mother ran the farm (with some local help) whilst maintaining a job as a primary school teacher in the local school. His father, a Garda sergeant, lived in the Garda barracks at Cootehall in County Roscommon, somewhat sizeable distant away from his family at the time. McGahern's mother subsequently died of cancer in 1944, when the young John McGahern was ten years old resulting in the unrooting of the McGahern children to their new home with their father in the aforementioned Garda barracks, Cootehall.
In the years following on from his mother's death, McGahern completed his primary schooling in the local primary school, and ultimately won a scholarship to the Presentation Brothers secondary school in Carrick-on-Shannon. Having travelled daily to complete his second level education, McGahern continued to accumulate academic accolades by winning the county scholarship in his Leaving Certificate enabling him to continue his education to third level.
Following on from his second level success, McGahern was offered a place at St Patrick's College of Education in Drumcondra where he trained to be a teacher. Upon graduation from third level education, McGahern 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, where he taught before returning to third level education in University College Dublin where he graduated in 1957. He was first published by the London literary and arts review, X magazine, which published in 1961 an extract from his first – abandoned – novel, The End or Beginning of Love.
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Wikipedia