Eugene McCabe (7 July 1930 – 27 August 2020) was a Scots-born

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

writer,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, and television screenwriter.

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Proust, via Nabokov", Banville himself maintains that W. B. Yeats and Henry J ...

said McCabe was "in the first rank of contemporary Irish novelists'.

Biography

Born to Irish emigrants in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, he moved with his family to Ireland in the early 1940s. He lived on a farm near Lackey Bridge, just outside

Clones Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to: Places * Clones, County Fermanagh * Clones, County Monaghan, a town in Ireland Biology * Clone (B-cell), a lymphocyte clone, the massive presence of which may indicate a pathologi ...

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ga, Contae Mhuineacháin) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is part of Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Cou ...

. He was educated at

Castleknock College Castleknock College ( ga, Coláiste Caisleán Cnucha) is a voluntary Vincentian secondary school for boys, situated in the residential suburb of Castleknock, west of Dublin city centre, Ireland. Founded in 1835 by Philip Dowley, it is one o ...

. His play ''King of the Castle'' caused a minor scandal when first staged in 1964, and was protested by the League of Decency. McCabe wrote his award-winning trilogy of television plays, consisting of ''Cancer'', ''Heritage'' and ''Siege'', because he felt he had to make a statement about

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

. His 1992 novel '' Death and Nightingales'' was hailed by Irish writer

Colm Tóibín Colm Tóibín (, approximately ; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet. His first novel, '' The South'', was published in 1990. '' The Blackwater Lightship'' was shortlis ...

as "one of the great Irish masterpieces of the century" and a "classic of our times" by ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

''. He defended fellow novelist

Dermot Healy Dermot Healy (9 November 1947 – 29 June 2014) was an Irish novelist, playwright, poet and short story writer. A member of Aosdána, Healy was also part of its governing body, the Toscaireacht. Born in Finea, County Westmeath, he lived in ...

, who had been negatively reviewed by

Eileen Battersby Eileen Battersby ( Whiston; 4 June 1956 – 23 December 2018) was the chief literary critic of ''The Irish Times''. She sometimes divided opinion, having been described by John Banville as "the finest fiction critic we have", while attractin ...

in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' in 2011, using the Joycean invective "shite and onions", provoking controversy in the Irish literary community.

Fintan O'Toole Fintan O'Toole (born 16 February 1958) is a polemicist, literary editor, journalist and drama critic for ''The Irish Times'', for which he has written since 1988. O'Toole was drama critic for the ''New York Daily News'' from 1997 to 2001 and is ...

noted how living in Monaghan, just across the border from

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of al ...

, informed McCabe's writing, and described him as "the great laureate of...indeterminacy, charting its inevitably tragic outcomes while holding somehow to the notion that it might someday become a blessing." Eugene McCabe died on 27 August 2020, aged 90. He is survived by his wife Margot, his four children, Ruth, Marcus, Patrick and Stephen, and thirteen grandchildren.

List of works

;Plays * ''A Matter of Conscience'' (1962) * ''King of the Castle'' (1964) * ''Pull Down a Horseman'' (1966) * ''Breakdown'' (1966) * ''Swift'' (1969) * ''Gale Day'' (1979) * ''Victims'' (1981) ;Television plays * ''Cancer'' (1973) * ''Heritage'' (1973) * ''Siege'' (1973) * ''Roma'' (1979) ;Novel * '' Death and Nightingales'' (1992) ;Novella * ''The love of sisters'' (2009) ;Short story collections * ''Victims: A Tale from Fermanagh'' (1976) * ''Heritage and Other Stories'' (1978) * ''Christ in the Fields, A Fermanagh Trilogy'' (1993) * ''Tales from the Poor House'' (1999) * ''Heaven Lies about Us'' (2005) ;Children's books * ''Cyril: The Quest of an Orphaned Squirrel'' (1987) * ''Cyril's Woodland Quest'' (2001) ;Non-fiction * ''Shadows from the Pale: Portrait of an Irish Town'' (1996)

References

External links

Eugene McCabe answers questions about ''Death and Nightingales''

Colm Tóibín reads the short story "Music at Annahullian" by Eugene McCabe

A Tribute to Eugene McCabe

Review John Banville, The Boston Globe: With the sorrowing stories of Heaven Lies About Us, Eugene McCabe gets to the heart of the Irish predicament
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCabe, Eugene 1930 births 2020 deaths Scottish people of Irish descent Irish male dramatists and playwrights Irish male short story writers People from Clones, County Monaghan 20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Irish novelists 20th-century Irish male writers Irish male novelists 21st-century Irish dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Irish novelists 20th-century Irish short story writers 21st-century Irish short story writers 21st-century Irish male writers