Frank O'Connor
Encyclopedia
Frank O’Connor (17 September 1903 – 10 March 1966) was an Irish author of over 150 works, best known for his short stories
and memoirs.
, the only child of Minnie O'Connor and Michael O'Donovan, he attended school in the famous North Monastery CBS
. O'Connor's early life was marked by his father's alcoholism
, debt, and ill-treatment of his mother. O'Connor's childhood was shaped in part by his mother, who supplied much of the family's income because his father was unable to keep steady employment due to his drunkenness.
and served in combat during the Irish War of Independence
. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty
of 1921 and joined the Anti-Treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War
, working in a small propaganda unit in Cork City. He was one of twelve thousand Anti-Treaty combatants who were interned by the government of the new Irish Free State
, O'Connor's imprisonment being in Gormanston, County Meath
between 1922 and 1923.
in Dublin, founded by William Butler Yeats
and other members of the Irish National Theatre Society. In 1937, he became managing director of the Abbey. Following Yeats's death in 1939, O'Connor's long-standing conflict with other board members came to a head and he left the Abbey later that year. In 1950, he accepted invitations to teach in the United States, where many of his short stories had been published in The New Yorker
and won great acclaim.
while teaching at Stanford University
in 1961, and later died from a heart attack
in Dublin, Ireland on 10 March 1966. He was buried in Deans Grange Cemetery
on 12 March 1966.
) : they had two sons and a daughter. They divorced in 1953. O'Connor married secondly Harriet Rich of Baltimore, whom he met while lecturing at Northwestern University
. They had one daughter.
From the 1930s to the 1960s he was a prolific writer of short stories, poems, plays, and novellas. His work as an Irish teacher complemented his plethora of translations into English of Irish poetry, including his initially banned translation of Brian Merriman
's Cúirt an Mheán Oíche ("The Midnight Court"). Many of O'Connor's writings were based on his own life experiences — notably his well-known The Man of the House in which he reveals childhood details concerning his early life in County Cork. The Sullivan family in this short story, like his own boyhood family, is lacking a proper father figure. Also, evocative descriptions of the Irish countryside are featured in this bitter-sweet tale. In other stories, his character Larry Delaney, in particular, is reminiscent of events in O'Connor's own life. O'Connor's experiences in the Irish War of Independence
and the Irish Civil War
are reflected in The Big Fellow, his biography of Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins
, published in 1937, and one of his best-known short stories, Guests of the Nation (1931), published in various forms during O'Connor's lifetime and included in Frank O'Connor — Collected Stories, published in 1981.
O'Connor's early years are recounted in An Only Child, a memoir
published in 1961 which has the immediacy of a precocious diary. U.S. President John F. Kennedy
remarked anecdotally from An Only Child at the conclusion of his speech at the dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center in San Antonio on November 21, 1963: "Frank O'Connor, the Irish writer, tells in one of his books how, as a boy, he and his friends would make their way across the countryside, and when they came to an orchard wall that seemed too high and too doubtful to try and too difficult to permit their voyage to continue, they took off their hats and tossed them over the wall--and then they had no choice but to follow them. This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space and we have no choice but to follow it."
O'Connor continued his autobiography through his time with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, which ended in 1939, in his book, My Father's Son, which was published in 1968, after O'Connor's death.
The festival has hosted readings by : Richard Ford
, Julia O'Faolain
, James Lasdun
, Alasdair Gray
, Dan Rhodes, Eugene McCabe, Bernard MacLaverty
, Desmond Hogan
, James Plunkett
, Lyudmila Ulitskaya
, Rebecca Miller, Anne Enright
, Mike McCormack
, Etgar Keret
, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne
, Cónal Creedon, Samrat Upadhyay
, Philip Ó Ceallaigh
, Rachel Sherman, David Marcus
, Panos Karnezis
, Nisha da Cunha, William Wall
, Bret Anthony Johnston
, David Means
, Claire Keegan
, Miranda July
, Rick Moody
, Jhumpa Lahiri
, Yiyun Li
, Julie Orringer
, ZZ Packer
, Simon Van Booy
, Wells Tower
, Charlotte Grimshaw
and Kevin Barry
among others. It also has a tradition of encouraging younger writers at the start of their career, Jon Boilard for example.
The Cork City - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
, is awarded to the best short fiction collection published in English anywhere in the world in the year preceding the festival. The prize is also open to translated works and in the event of a translation winning the prize is divided equally between author and translator. The award is described as "the richest prize for the short story form" and at €35,000 in 2010 is one of the most valuable literary prizes for any category of literature.
's award winning film The Crying Game
was inspired in part by O'Connor's short story, Guests of the Nation
. The story is set during the Irish War of Independence
and chronicles the doomed friendship between the members of an I.R.A. unit and the two British Army
hostages whom they are guarding.
Short 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...
and memoirs.
Early life
Raised in CorkCork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
, the only child of Minnie O'Connor and Michael O'Donovan, he attended school in the famous North Monastery CBS
The North Monastery
The North Monastery is a collection of primary, secondary and a Gaelcholáiste schools located at Our Lady's Mount, Cork City, Republic of Ireland.-History:...
. O'Connor's early life was marked by his father's alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, debt, and ill-treatment of his mother. O'Connor's childhood was shaped in part by his mother, who supplied much of the family's income because his father was unable to keep steady employment due to his drunkenness.
Irish nationalism
In 1918 O'Connor joined the First Brigade of the Irish Republican ArmyIrish 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...
and served in combat during the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
of 1921 and joined the Anti-Treaty IRA during 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....
, working in a small propaganda unit in Cork City. He was one of twelve thousand Anti-Treaty combatants who were interned by the government of the new Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
, O'Connor's imprisonment being in Gormanston, County Meath
Gormanston, County Meath
Gormanston or Gormanstown is a village in County Meath, Ireland. It is near the mouth of the River Delvin and the northern border of County Dublin.-Access:Gormanston is near the M1 Dublin-Belfast road...
between 1922 and 1923.
Literary career
Following his release, O'Connor took various positions including that of teacher of Irish, theatre director, and librarian. In 1935, O'Connor became a member of the Board of Directors of the Abbey TheatreAbbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...
in Dublin, founded by William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
and other members of the Irish National Theatre Society. In 1937, he became managing director of the Abbey. Following Yeats's death in 1939, O'Connor's long-standing conflict with other board members came to a head and he left the Abbey later that year. In 1950, he accepted invitations to teach in the United States, where many of his short stories had been published in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
and won great acclaim.
Death
Frank O'Connor had a strokeStroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
while teaching at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in 1961, and later died from a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in Dublin, Ireland on 10 March 1966. He was buried in Deans Grange Cemetery
Deans Grange Cemetery
Deans Grange Cemetery, or more commonly known today as Deansgrange Cemetery, is situated in the suburban area of Deansgrange in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown part of the former County Dublin, Ireland. Since it first opened in 1865, over 150,000 people have been buried there...
on 12 March 1966.
Family
In 1939 O'Connor married Evelyn Bowen ( who had previously been married to the actor Robert SpeaightRobert Speaight
Robert Speaight was a British actor and writer, and the brother of George Speaight the puppeteer.He was an early performer in radio plays. He came to prominence as Becket in the first production of T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. He went on to Shakespearean roles, and to direct.He also...
) : they had two sons and a daughter. They divorced in 1953. O'Connor married secondly Harriet Rich of Baltimore, whom he met while lecturing at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. They had one daughter.
Work
O'Connor was perhaps best known for his varied and comprehensive short stories but also for his work as a literary critic, essayist, travel writer, translator and biographer. He was also a novelist, poet and dramatist.From the 1930s to the 1960s he was a prolific writer of short stories, poems, plays, and novellas. His work as an Irish teacher complemented his plethora of translations into English of Irish poetry, including his initially banned translation of Brian Merriman
Brian Merriman
Brian Merriman or in Irish Brian Mac Giolla Meidhre was an Irish language poet and teacher. His single surviving work of substance, the 1000-line long Cúirt An Mheán Oíche is widely regarded as the greatest comic poem in the history of Irish literature.-Merriman's life:Merriman appears to have...
's Cúirt an Mheán Oíche ("The Midnight Court"). Many of O'Connor's writings were based on his own life experiences — notably his well-known The Man of the House in which he reveals childhood details concerning his early life in County Cork. The Sullivan family in this short story, like his own boyhood family, is lacking a proper father figure. Also, evocative descriptions of the Irish countryside are featured in this bitter-sweet tale. In other stories, his character Larry Delaney, in particular, is reminiscent of events in O'Connor's own life. O'Connor's experiences in the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
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....
are reflected in The Big Fellow, his biography of Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins
Michael Collins (Irish leader)
Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...
, published in 1937, and one of his best-known short stories, Guests of the Nation (1931), published in various forms during O'Connor's lifetime and included in Frank O'Connor — Collected Stories, published in 1981.
O'Connor's early years are recounted in An Only Child, a memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
published in 1961 which has the immediacy of a precocious diary. U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
remarked anecdotally from An Only Child at the conclusion of his speech at the dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center in San Antonio on November 21, 1963: "Frank O'Connor, the Irish writer, tells in one of his books how, as a boy, he and his friends would make their way across the countryside, and when they came to an orchard wall that seemed too high and too doubtful to try and too difficult to permit their voyage to continue, they took off their hats and tossed them over the wall--and then they had no choice but to follow them. This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space and we have no choice but to follow it."
O'Connor continued his autobiography through his time with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, which ended in 1939, in his book, My Father's Son, which was published in 1968, after O'Connor's death.
Frank O'Connor Festival and Prize
Since 2000, The Munster Literature Centre in O'Connor's hometown of Cork has run a festival dedicated to the short story form in O'Connor's name. The longest established annual festival dedicated to the short story form in an English-speaking country, it regularly hosts readings, workshops and masterclasses for contemporary practitioners of the form, as well as celebrating the work of O'Connor and other local short fiction writers such as Elizabeth Bowen, Seán Ó Faoláin and William Trevor.The festival has hosted readings by : Richard Ford
Richard Ford
Richard Ford is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories.-Early...
, Julia O'Faolain
Julia O'Faolain
Julia O'Faolain is an Irish novelist and short story writer. Her parents were Irish writers Seán Ó Faoláin and Eileen Gould....
, James Lasdun
James Lasdun
James Lasdun is an English author, poet and academic. Lasdun was one of the judges for the 2008 Griffin Poetry Prize.-Career:...
, Alasdair Gray
Alasdair Gray
Alasdair Gray is a Scottish writer and artist. His most acclaimed work is his first novel Lanark, published in 1981 and written over a period of almost 30 years...
, Dan Rhodes, Eugene McCabe, Bernard MacLaverty
Bernard MacLaverty
Bernard MacLaverty is a writer of fiction. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 14 September 1942, and lived there until 1975 when he moved to Scotland with his wife, Madeline, and four children...
, Desmond Hogan
Desmond Hogan
Desmond Hogan is an Irish writer.Hogan was born in Ballinasloe in east County Galway, Ireland. His father was a draper. Educated locally at St. Grellan’s Boys’ National School and St. Josephs’s College, Garbally Park...
, James Plunkett
James Plunkett
James Plunkett Kelly, or James Plunkett , was an Irish writer. He was educated at Synge Street CBS.Plunkett grew up among the Dublin working class and they, along with the petty bourgeoisie and lower intelligentsia, make up the bulk of the dramatis personae of his oeuvre...
, Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Lyudmila Evgenyevna Ulitskaya is a critically acclaimed modern Russian novelist and short-story writer. She was born in the town of Davlekanovo in Bashkiria on February 21, 1943...
, Rebecca Miller, Anne Enright
Anne Enright
Anne Enright is a Booker Prize-winning Irish author. She has published essays, short stories, a non-fiction book and four novels. Before her novel The Gathering won the 2007 Man Booker Prize, Enright had a low profile in Ireland and the United Kingdom, although her books were favourably reviewed...
, Mike McCormack
Mike McCormack (Irish writer)
Mike McCormack is an Irish author. He has published a collection of short stories, Getting It In The Head, and two novels - Crowe's Requiem and Notes From A Coma....
, Etgar Keret
Etgar Keret
Etgar Keret is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for film and television.-Personal Life:Keret was born in Ramat Gan, Israel in 1967. He is a third child to parents who survived the Holocaust. He lives in Tel Aviv with his wife, Shira Geffen, and...
, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne
Eilis Ni Dhuibhne
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne is an Irish novelist and short-story writer who writes both in Irish and English. She is also known as Elisabeth O'Hara.-Biography:...
, Cónal Creedon, Samrat Upadhyay
Samrat Upadhyay
Samrat Upadhyay is a Nepalese writer who writes in English. Upadhyay is a professor of creative writing as well as Director of Graduate Studies at Indiana University. He is the first Nepali-born fiction writer writing in English to be published in the West. He was born and raised in Kathmandu,...
, Philip Ó Ceallaigh
Philip Ó Ceallaigh
-Biography:Ó Ceallaigh has spent much of his life living in Eastern Europe, including many years in Romania. He has also lived in Russia during the early nineties, America thereafter, and then his first stint in Romania beginning in 1995. He spent two years in Galway, Ireland before returning to...
, Rachel Sherman, David Marcus
David Marcus
David Marcus was an Irish Jewish editor and writer who was a lifelong advocate and editor of Irish fiction.- Life and times :...
, Panos Karnezis
Panos Karnezis
Panagiotis Karnezis is a Greek writer. Born in Greece in 1967, he moved to England in 1992 to study Engineering. He was later awarded a M.A. in Creative Writing by the University of East Anglia. His first collection of stories, Little Infamies, was published in 2002...
, Nisha da Cunha, William Wall
William Wall
William "Bill" Wall is an Irish novelist, poet and short story writer. He was born in Cork City in 1955, but grew up in the coastal village of Whitegate. He received his secondary education at the Christian Brothers School in Midleton. He progressed to University College Cork where he graduated in...
, Bret Anthony Johnston
Bret Anthony Johnston
Bret Anthony Johnston is an American author best known for his multi-award winning debut story collection, Corpus Christi: Stories. He is also the editor of the bestselling Naming the World and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer.-Career:...
, David Means
David Means
David Means is an American writer based in Nyack, New York. His short stories have appeared in many publications, including Esquire, The New Yorker, and Harper's. They are frequently set in the Midwest or the Rust Belt, or along the Hudson River in New York.-Biography:Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...
, Claire Keegan
Claire Keegan
Claire Keegan is an Irish short story writer. She was born in County Wicklow in 1968, the youngest of a large Roman Catholic family. She travelled to New Orleans, Louisiana when she was seventeen and studied English and Political Science at Loyola University...
, Miranda July
Miranda July
Miranda July is a performing artist, writer, actress and film director. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger, she works under the surname of "July," which can be traced to a character from a "girlzine" Miranda created with high school friend Johanna Fateman, called Snarla.- Background :Miranda...
, Rick Moody
Rick Moody
Rick Moody is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel The Ice Storm, a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, which brought widespread acclaim, became a bestseller, and was made into a feature film of...
, Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri is a Bengali American author. Lahiri's debut short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies , won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and her first novel, The Namesake , was adapted into the popular film of the same name. She was born Nilanjana Sudeshna, which she says are both...
, Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li is a Chinese American writer. Her debut short story collection A Thousand Years of Good Prayers won the 2005 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and her second collection Gold Boy, Emerald Girl was shortlisted for the same award...
, Julie Orringer
Julie Orringer
Julie Orringer , is an American writer and lecturer born in Miami, Florida. Her first book, How to Breathe Underwater, was published in September 2003 by Knopf Publishing Group...
, ZZ Packer
ZZ Packer
ZZ Packer is an African-American author, notable for her works of short fiction.-Life:She grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and Louisville, Kentucky. "ZZ" was a childhood nickname; her given name is Zuwena...
, Simon Van Booy
Simon Van Booy
Simon Van Booy is a British author who lives in the United States.. He grew up in rural Wales, but has lived in Kentucky, Paris, Athens, New York City and the Hamptons.- Novel & Short Stories :...
, Wells Tower
Wells Tower
Wells Tower is an American writer of short stories and non-fiction.-Early life, education, and early career:Tower was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, but grew up in North Carolina....
, Charlotte Grimshaw
Charlotte Grimshaw
-Career:Grimshaw's first book, Provocation , drew on her experience as a criminal lawyer.Her second book, Guilt , followed the lives of four characters in Auckland in 1987....
and Kevin Barry
Kevin Barry
Kevin Gerard Barry was the first Irish republican to be executed by the British since the leaders of the Easter Rising. Barry was sentenced to death for his part in an IRA operation which resulted in the deaths of three British soldiers.Barry's death is considered a watershed moment in the Irish...
among others. It also has a tradition of encouraging younger writers at the start of their career, Jon Boilard for example.
The Cork City - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award is a literary award for short story collections. At 35,000 euro for the best book of short stories it claims to be the world's largest prize for a short story collection. Each year, roughly sixty books are longlisted, with either four or six books...
, is awarded to the best short fiction collection published in English anywhere in the world in the year preceding the festival. The prize is also open to translated works and in the event of a translation winning the prize is divided equally between author and translator. The award is described as "the richest prize for the short story form" and at €35,000 in 2010 is one of the most valuable literary prizes for any category of literature.
In popular culture
Neil JordanNeil Jordan
Neil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...
's award winning film The Crying Game
The Crying Game
The Crying Game is a 1992 psychological thriller drama film written and directed by Neil Jordan. The film explores themes of race, gender, nationality, and sexuality against the backdrop of the Irish Troubles...
was inspired in part by O'Connor's short story, Guests of the Nation
Guests of the Nation
"Guests of the Nation" is a short story written by Frank O'Connor, first published in 1931, portraying the execution of two Englishmen held captive by the Irish Republican Army during the War for Independence. The story is split into four sections, each section taking a different tone...
. The story is set during the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
and chronicles the doomed friendship between the members of an I.R.A. unit and the two British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
hostages whom they are guarding.
Short story collections
- Guests of the NationGuests of the Nation"Guests of the Nation" is a short story written by Frank O'Connor, first published in 1931, portraying the execution of two Englishmen held captive by the Irish Republican Army during the War for Independence. The story is split into four sections, each section taking a different tone...
(1931), including the famous title story - Bones of ContentionBones of ContentionBones of Contention is a 1936 short story collection by Frank O'Connor featuring the following stories:*Michael's Wife*Orpheus and His Lute*Peasants*In the Train*The Majesty of the Law*Tears - Idle Tears*Lofty*The Man That Stopped...
(1936), including the story "The Majesty of Law", a short story adapted as an episode of the 1957 film The Rising of the MoonThe Rising of the Moon (film)The Rising of the Moon is a 1957 anthology film directed by John Ford. It consists of three episodes all set in Ireland:*"The Majesty of the Law", based on the short story of that title by Frank O'Connor in Bones of Contention...
. - Crab Apple JellyCrab Apple JellyCrab Apple Jelly is a 1944 short story collection by Frank O'Connor. It includes the following stories:*The Bridal Night*Old Fellows*The Grand Vizier's Daughters*Song Without Words*'The Star That Bids The Shepherd Fold'...
(1944) - The Common ChordThe Common ChordThe Common Chord is a 1947 short story collection by Frank O'Connor. It features the following stories:*News For The Church*The Custom of the Country*Judas*The Holy Door*Don Juan, Retired*The Babes in the Wood*The Frying Pan*The Miracle...
(1947) - Traveller's SamplesTraveller's SamplesTraveller's Samples is a 1951 short story collection by Frank O'Connor. It features the following stories:*First Confession*The Man of the House*The Idealist*The Drunkard*The Thief *My First Protestant...
(1951), including the classic story "First Confession" - The Stories of Frank O'ConnorThe Stories of Frank O'ConnorThe Stories of Frank O'Connor is a 1952 short story collection by Frank O'Connor featuring both old and new stories. The new stories appearing here in book form for the first time were:*My Oedipus Complex*My Da*The Pretender*First Love*Freedom...
(1952), including the first publication of perhaps his most popular story "My Oedipus Complex" - More Stories by Frank O'ConnorMore Stories by Frank O'ConnorMore Stories by Frank O'Connor is a 1954 short story collection featuring both old and new stories by the Irish writer Frank O'Connor. The new stories appearing here in book form for the first time were:*Eternal Triangle*The Face of Evil...
(1954) - Domestic RelationsDomestic RelationsDomestic Relations is a 1957 short story collection by Frank O'Connor. It includes the following stories:*The Genius*The Study of History*The Man of the World*The Duke's Children*Daydreams*Private Property*A Bachelor's Story*The Pariah...
(1957) - A Set of VariationsA Set of VariationsA Set of Variations is a 1969 short story collection by Frank O'Connor. It was compiled shortly after the author's death by his widow, Harriet O'Donovan Sheehy, and includes the following stories:...
(1969) - The Cornet Player Who Betrayed IrelandThe Cornet Player Who Betrayed IrelandThe Cornet Player Who Betrayed Ireland is a compilation of previously uncollected stories by Frank O'Connor from 1981. The stories were selected by O'Connor's widow, Harriet O'Donovan Sheehy, and the Cork writer David Marcus...
(1981) - The Collected StoriesThe Collected Stories of Frank O'ConnorCollected Stories is a collection of 67 of Frank O'Connor's best-known short stories, first published in 1981.The introduction to the collection was written by celebrated literary critic Richard Ellmann....
(Edited by Richard EllmannRichard EllmannRichard David Ellmann was a prominent American literary critic and biographer of the Irish writers James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and William Butler Yeats...
) (1981) - The CollarThe CollarThe Collar: Stories of Irish Priests is a 1993 compilation of Frank O'Connor's celebrated stories about Irish clergymen.It includes one story only previously available in book form in the U.K. - "A Mother's Warning", which appeared in 1969's Collection Three....
: Stories of Irish Priests (1993) - A Frank O'Connor ReaderA Frank O'Connor ReaderA Frank O'Connor Reader is a compilation of works by the Irish writer Frank O'Connor selected and edited by Michael A. Steinman, and it includes short stories, autobiographical pieces, and essays on topics from politics to literary criticism....
(1994) - the man of the house
Poetry from the Irish
- The Wild Bird's Nest (1932)
- Lament for Art O'Leary (1940)
- The Midnight Court (1945)
- Kings, Lords, and Commons (1959)
- The Little Monasteries (1963)
Irish history
- The Big FellowThe Big FellowThe Big Fellow is a 1937 biography of the famed Irish leader, Michael Collins, by Frank O'Connor.The Big Fellow covers the period of Collins's life from the Easter Rising in 1916 to his death during the Irish Civil War in 1922...
, biography of Michael CollinsMichael Collins (Irish leader)Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...
(1937)
Criticism
- The Road to Stratford, U.S. Title: Shakespeare's Progress (196l)
- The Mirror in the Roadway: A Study of the Modern Novel (1956)
- The Lonely VoiceThe Lonely VoiceThe Lonely Voice is a study of the short story form, written by Frank O'Connor.Within the study, O'Connor expounds on some of his own major theories of the short story, as well as discussing the work of many influential short story writers....
: A Study of the Short Story (1962) - The Backward Look: A Survey of Irish Literature (1967)
Further reading
- Irish Writers on Writing featuring Frank O'Connor. Edited by Eavan BolandEavan Boland-Biography:Boland's father, Frederick Boland, was a career diplomat and her mother, Frances Kelly, was a noted post-expressionist painter. She was born in Dublin in 1944. At the age of six, Boland's father was appointed Irish Ambassador to the United Kingdom; the family followed him to London,...
(Trinity University Press, 2007).
See also
- Frank O'Connor International Short Story AwardFrank O'Connor International Short Story AwardThe Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award is a literary award for short story collections. At 35,000 euro for the best book of short stories it claims to be the world's largest prize for a short story collection. Each year, roughly sixty books are longlisted, with either four or six books...
- List of people on stamps of Ireland
External links
- THE CORK CITY - FRANK O'CONNOR SHORT STORY AWARD Non-profit arts organisation The Munster Literature Centre - Frank O'Connor House, 84 Douglas Street, Cork, Ireland.
- Frank O'Connor: Critical Essays
- Biography
- Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
- Beyond Appearances
- Interview with his wife
- Irish Writers Online page
- Frank O'Connor at the IMDB