The first Irish prose fiction, in the form of legendary stories, appeared in the
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
as early as the seventh century, along with chronicles and lives of saints in Irish and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. Such fiction was an adaptation and elaboration of earlier oral material and was the work of a learned class who had acquired literacy with the coming of Latin Christianity. A number of these stories were still available in
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
s of the late medieval period and even as late as the nineteenth century, though poetry was by that time the main literary vehicle of the Irish language.
The first notable
English-language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
prose fiction in Ireland was the work of
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...
, who published ''
Gulliver's Travels
''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan ...
'' in 1726. Little of note appeared in English by any resident Irish writer until the nineteenth century, when a number of novelists came to prominence.
Modern prose fiction in Irish owes much to the
Gaelic revival
The Gaelic revival ( ga, Athbheochan na Gaeilge) was the late-nineteenth-century Romantic nationalism, national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including Irish folklore, folklore, Iri ...
at the end of the nineteenth century, when cultural nationalists made a determined effort to create the conditions for a modern literature. A substantial body of short stories and novels appeared in Irish as a result.
Irish prose fiction in English attracted worldwide attention in the course of the twentieth century. Its greatest exponent was
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
, a highly influential modernist whose only rival in Irish was
Máirtín Ó Cadhain
Máirtín Ó Cadhain (; 1906 – 18 October 1970) was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century. Perhaps best known for his 1949 novel ''Cré na Cille'', Ó Cadhain played a key role in reintroducing literary mod ...
.
Prose fiction in both languages has continued to flourish, with English being the primary vehicle. The
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 ...
has received particular attention, with a number of distinguished practitioners.
Early and medieval period
The earliest Irish prose fiction is a branch of heroic literature: stories dealing with supernatural personages and human heroes. One of the most famous is ''
Táin Bó Cuailnge'', together with its associated stories. It is thought to have been originally a seventh century text and deals with the conflict between
Connacht
Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...
and
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
in the pre-Christian period. Another well-known tale is ''Scéla Mucc Meic Dathó'', written c. 800 and dealing with the rivalries of a warrior aristocracy. ''Fled Bricrend'' is an inventive satire, recounting the conflict that follows the machinations of the malicious Bricriu. A number of famous tales are associated with narrative groupings known as the Ulster Cycle and the Cycle of the Kings. It has been noted that it is not heroic deeds per se that supply the interest of the stories, but the dramatic consequences that flow from those exploits. The stories are notable for the importance of the female protagonists.
The coming of the
Anglo-Normans
The Anglo-Normans ( nrf, Anglo-Normaunds, ang, Engel-Norðmandisca) were the medieval ruling class in England, composed mainly of a combination of ethnic Normans, French, Anglo-Saxons, Flemings and Bretons, following the Norman conquest. A sm ...
in the twelfth century brought with it new literary influences. By the fourteenth century translations were being made into Irish from other languages. Among these were ''Merugad Uilis mac Leirtis'', a prose adaptation from the
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...
via Latin, and ''Stair Ercuil agus a bhás'', a fifteenth century composition translated from the English version of a French work. Arthurian tales or works showing Arthurian influence were popular in Irish, and two English tales, ''Bevis of Hampton'' and ''Sir Guy of Warwick'', were also translated.
1600 to 1800
The outstanding fictional prose work of seventeenth century Ireland is ''Pairlement Chloinne Tomáis'', a Rabelaisian satire written by members of the Gaelic elite on what they saw as the upstart lower classes, who were taking advantage of the disruption to the social order caused by the weakening of the old Irish nobility. This work was popular and influential, with its hero, Tomás Mac Lóbais, becoming a proverbial figure. Its themes were reflected in a number of other satires or burlesque tales of the period.
The late seventeenth century saw the birth in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
of
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...
(1667 – 1745), a satirist and clergyman who in 1726 published the first great work by an Anglo-Irish writer, ''
Gulliver's Travels
''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan ...
''. Though this had no specifically Irish relevance, it set a standard for later writers in English.
The eighteenth century saw the birth in Ireland of two distinguished novelists,
Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne (24 November 1713 – 18 March 1768), was an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric who wrote the novels ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'' and ''A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy'', published ...
(1713 – 1768) and
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his pl ...
(1728 – 1774), both of whom, however, made their careers in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Despite this, their oeuvre is often included in the Anglo-Irish literary canon. Sterne published ''
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'', also known as ''Tristram Shandy'', is a novel by Laurence Sterne, inspired by ''Don Quixote''. It was published in nine volumes, the first two appearing in 1759, and seven others followin ...
'' (1759–1767), a satire on the
biographical novel
The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fiction ...
. Goldsmith, best known as a poet, published ''
The Vicar of Wakefield
''The Vicar of Wakefield'', subtitled ''A Tale, Supposed to be written by Himself'', is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774). It was written from 1761 to 1762 and published in 1766. It was one of the most popular and wid ...
'' (1766), written in a direct and conversational style uncommon at the time.
![Sterne-Reynolds-detail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Sterne-Reynolds-detail.jpg)
Irish was still Ireland's most important literary language in the eighteenth century, but little prose was produced. The emphasis, instead, was on poetry, with such prominent literary figures as the
Munster
Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...
writer
Aogán Ó Rathaille
Aodhagán Ó RathailleVariant Irish spellings of his name include ''Aogán'' and ''Ua Rathaille'' or Egan O'Rahilly (c.1670–1726), was an Irish language poet. He is credited with creating the first fully developed Aisling.
Early life
It is tho ...
.
19th century
The 19th century saw a burgeoning of Anglo-Irish prose fiction, but literary output in Irish diminished dramatically.
Maria Edgeworth
Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1768 – 22 May 1849) was a prolific Anglo-Irish novelist of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the n ...
(1767–1849), though of English birth, spent most of her life in Ireland and wrote what is generally considered the first novel on an Irish theme, ''
Castle Rackrent
''Castle Rackrent'' is a short novel by Maria Edgeworth published in 1800. Unlike many of her other novels, which were heavily "edited" by her father, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, before their publication, the published version is close to her origin ...
'' (1800), describing landlord-tenant relations on an Irish estate. A number of other novels followed.
Lady Morgan
Sydney, Lady Morgan (''née'' Owenson; 25 December 1781? – 14 April 1859), was an Irish novelist, best known for '' The Wild Irish Girl'' (1806)'','' a romantic, and some critics suggest, "proto-feminist", novel with political and patriotic o ...
(Sidney Owenson) (1776(?)-1859) was also a prolific writer. Her most successful work was her third novel, ''The Wild Irish Girl'' (1806), a work marked by Jacobin feminist politics.
Charles Robert Maturin
Charles Robert Maturin, also known as C. R. Maturin (25 September 1780 – 30 October 1824), was an Irish Protestant clergyman (ordained in the Church of Ireland) and a writer of Gothic plays and novels.Chris Morgan, "Maturin, Charles R(obert) ...
(1782–1824) was best known for ''Melmoth the Wanderer'' (1820), a
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...
ian tale of a man who sells his soul to the devil.
William Carleton
William Carleton (4 March 1794, Prolusk (often spelt as Prillisk as on his gravestone), Clogher, County Tyrone – 30 January 1869, Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin) was an Irish writer and novelist. He is best known for his ''Traits and Sto ...
(1794–1869) and
John Banim
John Banim (3 April 1798 – 30 August 1842), was an Irish novelist, short story writer, dramatist, poet and essayist, sometimes called the "Scott of Ireland." He also studied art, working as a painter of miniatures and portraits, and as a drawin ...
(1798–1842) wrote novels that depicted with some realism the lives of Irish peasantry. The latter often wrote in collaboration with his brother
Michael Banim
Michael Banim (5 August 1796 – 30 August 1874) was an Irish short story writer. Brother of John Banim, he was born in Kilkenny, and died in Booterstown.
Personal life
Michael was educated at Dr Magrath's Catholic school. He went on to study fo ...
(1796–1874). All these writers came from the world they depicted.
Gerald Griffin
Gerald Griffin ( ga, Gearóid Ó Gríofa; 12 December 1803 – 12 June 1840) was an Irish novelist, poet and playwright. His novel ''The Collegians'' was the basis of Dion Boucicault's play The Colleen Bawn. Feeling he was "wasting his time" wr ...
(1803–1840) was born in
Limerick
Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
but spent time in England. On returning to Ireland he wrote ''The Collegians'', on which his reputation rests.
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814–1873) was born in Dublin and lived there for most of his life. He was noted for his mystery novels and
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...
(some of which is based on Irish folklore).
Bram Stoker
Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and busine ...
(1847–1912), a writer of similar interests, was born in Dublin but spent much his life in England. He wrote many books but is best known for ''
Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
'', one of the most famous novels in the Gothic tradition.
Charles Kickham
Charles Joseph Kickham (9 May 1828 – 22 August 1882) was an Irish revolutionary, novelist, poet, journalist and one of the most prominent members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
Early life
Charles Kickham was born at Mullinahone, County ...
(1828–1882) was born in
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...
. He served a term in prison for treasonous activities and began writing novels there. His ''Knocknagow; or The Homes of Tipperary'' (1879) was the most popular Irish novel of the 19th century.
Edith Anna Somerville
Edith Anna Œnone Somerville (2 May 1858 – 8 October 1949) was an Irish novelist who habitually signed herself as "E. Œ. Somerville". She wrote in collaboration with her cousin "Martin Ross" ( Violet Martin) under the pseudonym "Somerville ...
(1858–1949) and her cousin,
Violet Florence Martin
Violet Florence Martin (11 June 1862 – 21 December 1915) was an Irish author who co-wrote a series of novels with cousin Edith Somerville under the pen name of Martin Ross ( Somerville and Ross) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth ce ...
(1862–1915) wrote in collaboration and popularised the "big house" novel, based on the life of the Irish gentry class to which they themselves belonged. Their books include ''The Irish R.M.'' and ''
The Real Charlotte
''The Real Charlotte'' is a novel (written between 1888 and 1890, and published in 1894) by the Anglo-Irish writing partnership Somerville and Ross, composed of Edith Somerville (1858–1949) and Violet Florence Martin (1862–1915).
The first ...
''.
George Moore (1852–1933) spent much of his early career in Paris and was one of the first writers to use the techniques of the French realist novelists in English. His novels were often controversial for their frankness. His short stories helped popularise the form among Irish authors.
The persistence of traditional genres in Irish can be seen in the papers of
Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin
Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin (May 1780 – 1838) was an Irish language author, linen draper, politician, and one-time hedge school master. He is also known as Humphrey O'Sullivan.
He was deeply involved in Daniel O'Connell's Catholic Emancipatio ...
, a Kilkenny schoolteacher, merchant and diarist of the early nineteenth century. Like many other local Irish scholars at the time, he assembled a comprehensive manuscript collection of earlier Irish prose, and also wrote prose sketches himself, though these remained unpublished.
1900 on
Fiction in English
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
(1882–1941) is often regarded as the father of the literary technique known as "
stream of consciousness
In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver (physician), Daniel Ol ...
", best exemplified in his famous work ''
Ulysses
Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature.
Ulysses may also refer to:
People
* Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name
Places in the United States
* Ulysses, Kansas
* Ulysse ...
''. Joyce also wrote ''
Finnegans Wake
''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction whi ...
'', ''
Dubliners
''Dubliners'' is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.
The stories were writt ...
'', and the semi-autobiographical ''
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' is the first novel of Irish writer James Joyce. A ''Künstlerroman'' written in a modernist style, it traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, Joyce's fictional alter ...
''. ''Ulysses'', often considered to be the greatest novel of the 20th century, is the story of a day in the life of a city,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
. ''Finnegans Wake'' is written in an invented language which parodies English, Irish and Latin.
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
(1906–1989), who won the
Nobel Prize for Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901
, ...
in 1969, was born in Dublin but later moved to France. He wrote thereafter in French and English. Best known for his plays, he also wrote works of fiction, including his trilogy ''
Molloy
Molloy or O'Molloy is an Irish surname, anglicised from Ó Maolmhuaidh, maolmhuadh meaning 'Proud Chieftain'. (See also Malloy.) They were part of the southern Uí Néill, the southern branch of the large tribal grouping claiming descent from N ...
'', ''
Malone Dies
''Malone Dies'' is a novel by Samuel Beckett. It was first published in 1951, in French, as ''Malone meurt'', and later translated into English by the author.
''Malone Dies'' contains the famous line, "Nothing is more real than nothing" – a ...
'' and ''
The Unnamable'' (originally written in French).
Aidan Higgins
Aidan Higgins (3 March 1927 – 27 December 2015) was an Irish writer. He wrote short stories, travel pieces, radio drama and novels. Among his published works are '' Langrishe, Go Down'' (1966), '' Balcony of Europe'' (1972) and the biographic ...
(1927 – 2015) wrote an experimental version of the big house novel called ''Langrishe, Go Down''. He also published short stories and several volumes of memoirs, often in an experimental vein. More conventional exponents of the big house novel include
Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Bowen CBE (; 7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London.
Life
E ...
(1899–1973), whose novels and short stories include ''Encounters'' (1923), ''The Last September'' (1929), and ''The Death of the Heart'' (1938) and
Molly Keane
Molly Keane (20 July 1904 – 22 April 1996),Who's Who 1987 Mary Nesta Skrine, and who also wrote as M. J. Farrell, was an Irish novelist and playwright.
Early life
Keane was born Mary Nesta Skrine in Ryston Cottage, Newbridge, County Kilda ...
(1904–1996) (writing as
M.J. Farrell), author of ''Young Entry'' (1928), ''Conversation Piece'' (1932), ''Devoted Ladies'' (1934), ''Full House'' (1935), ''The Loving Without Tears'' (1951) and other works.
Francis Stuart
Henry Francis Montgomery Stuart (29 April 19022 February 2000) was an Irish writer. He was awarded one of the highest artistic accolades in Ireland, being elected a Saoi of Aosdána, before his death in 2000. His years in Nazi Germany led to a g ...
(1902–2000) published his first novel, ''Women and God'' in 1931. He was a prolific novelist. He went to work in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in the 1930s and his reputation was affected by his decision to remain there during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, broadcasting anti-British talks on German radio. His novel ''Black List, Section H'' (1971), is a fictionalised account of those years.
With the rise of the
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...
and the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
, some authors began to write of the lives of the lower-middle classes and small farmers. Exponents of this genre include
Brinsley MacNamara
John Weldon (6 September 1890 – 4 February 1963; alternatively "A. E. Weldon"), known by his pen- and stage-name Brinsley MacNamara, was an Irish writer, playwright, and the registrar of the National Gallery of Ireland. He is the author of ...
(1890–1963) (real name John Weldon), whose 1918 ''
The Valley of the Squinting Windows
''The Valley of the Squinting Windows'' is a 1918 novel by Brinsley MacNamara (born John Weldon), set in the List of fictional locations, fictional village of Garradrimna, in central Ireland.
Setting
While MacNamara insisted that Garradrimna cou ...
'' was the first novel in this genre, and
John McGahern
John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006) was an Irish writer and novelist. He is regarded as one of the most important writers of the latter half of the twentieth century.
Known for the detailed dissection of Irish life found in wo ...
(1934 - 2006), whose first novel, ''The Dark'' (1965), depicted child abuse in a rural community. The Catholic conscience in the modern world was examined by
Brian Moore (1921–1999), who was born in
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
but became a citizen of Canada in 1953.
J. G. Farrell (1935–79) was born in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
of
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...
parents, but lived intermittently in Ireland after World War II. His works include a novel called ''Troubles'', set during the
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...
(1919 – 1921), and this has led some to regard him as an Irish novelist. He acquired a high critical reputation.
Brian O'Nolan
Brian O'Nolan ( ga, Brian Ó Nualláin; 5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966), better known by his pen name Flann O'Brien, was an Irish civil service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth ce ...
(known by the
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
Flann O'Brien) is best known for two works in English, the surrealistic and satirical ''
At Swim-Two-Birds
''At Swim-Two-Birds'' is a 1939 novel by Irish writer Brian O'Nolan, writing under the pseudonym Flann O'Brien. It is widely considered to be O'Brien's masterpiece, and one of the most sophisticated examples of metafiction.
The novel's title ...
'' (1939), highly praised by Joyce, and ''
The Third Policeman
''The Third Policeman'' is a novel by Irish writer Brian O'Nolan, writing under the pseudonym Flann O'Brien. It was written in 1939 and 1940, but after it initially failed to find a publisher, the author withdrew the manuscript from circulation ...
'', published in 1967, after his death. But he was also the author of ''
An Béal Bocht
(The Poor Mouth) is a 1941 novel in Irish by Brian O'Nolan ( Flann O'Brien), published under the pseudonym "Myles na gCopaleen". It is widely regarded as one of the greatest Irish-language novels of the 20th century. An English translation by ...
'' (1941), a satire in Irish on Gaeltacht autobiographies, later translated as ''The Poor Mouth''.
The
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 ...
has also proven popular with Irish fiction writers. Well-known writers in the genre include
Frank O'Connor
Frank O'Connor (born Michael Francis O'Donovan; 17 September 1903 – 10 March 1966) was an Irish author and translator. He wrote poetry (original and translations from Irish), dramatic works, memoirs, journalistic columns and features on a ...
(1903–1966) and
Seán Ó Faoláin
Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin (27 February 1900 – 20 April 1991) was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Irish culture. A short-story writer of international repute, he was also a leading commentator and critic.
Biography
Ó ...
(1900–1991).
Notable names straddling the late 20th and early 21st-century include
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 ...
,
Sebastian Barry
Sebastian Barry (born 5 July 1955) is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2019–2021. He is noted for his lyrical literary writing style and is considered one of Ireland's finest writers.
Barry's l ...
,
Gerard Beirne,
Dermot Bolger
Dermot Bolger (born 1959) is an Irish novelist, playwright, poet and editor from Dublin, Ireland. Born in the Finglas suburb of Dublin in 1959, his older sister is the writer June Considine. Bolger's novels include ''Night Shift'' (1982), ''Th ...
,
Seamus Deane
Seamus Francis Deane (9 February 194012 May 2021) was an Irish poet, novelist, critic, and intellectual historian. He was noted for his debut novel, ''Reading in the Dark'', which won several literary awards and was nominated for the Booker Pri ...
,
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 ...
,
Jennifer Johnston,
Eugene McCabe
Eugene McCabe (7 July 1930 – 27 August 2020) was a Scots-born Irish novelist, short story writer, playwright, and television screenwriter. John Banville said McCabe was "in the first rank of contemporary Irish novelists'.
Biography
Born t ...
,
Patrick McCabe,
John McGahern
John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006) was an Irish writer and novelist. He is regarded as one of the most important writers of the latter half of the twentieth century.
Known for the detailed dissection of Irish life found in wo ...
,
Edna O'Brien
Josephine Edna O'Brien (born 15 December 1930) is an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer. Elected to Aosdána by her fellow artists, she was honoured with the title Saoi in 2015 and the "UK and Ireland Nobel" D ...
,
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 ...
,
William Trevor
William Trevor Cox (24 May 1928 – 20 November 2016), known by his pen name William Trevor, was an Irish novelist, playwright, and short story writer. One of the elder statesmen of the Irish literary world, he is widely regarded as one of the ...
and
William Wall. Writers to have emerged in the 21st-century include
Claire Keegan
Claire Keegan (born 1968) is an Irish writer known for her short stories, which have been published in ''The New Yorker'', ''Best American Short Stories'', ''Granta'', and ''The Paris Review''.
Biography
Born in County Wicklow in 1968, Keegan i ...
,
Philip Ó Ceallaigh
Philip Ó Ceallaigh (born 23 March 1968) is an Irish short story writer and translator who lives in Bucharest.
Ó Ceallaigh won the 2006 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and was shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Awar ...
,
Cónal Creedon
Cónal Creedon is an Irish novelist, dramatist, playwright and documentary filmmaker.
Published books
Creedon has written a number of novel-length works.
* ''Pancho and Lefty Ride Out ''(Collins Press 1995)
* ''Passion Play ''(Poolbeg Press 1 ...
,
Jamie O'Neill
Jamie O'Neill (born 1 January 1962) is an Irish author. His critically acclaimed novel, ''At Swim, Two Boys'' (2001), earned him the highest advance ever paid for an Irish novel and frequent praise as the natural successor to James Joyce, Flan ...
and
Keith Ridgway
Keith Ridgway (born 2 October 1965) is an Irish novelist. An author, he has been described as "a worthy inheritor" of "the modernist tradition in Irish fiction."
Writings
''Horses'', Ridgway's first published work of fiction, appeared in ''Faber ...
.
Recent fiction by Irish writers has attracted attention in the neighbouring United Kingdom. Some writers have won the
Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...
, with others being shortlisted. Among Ireland's Booker winners are ''
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha'' by
Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle (born 8 May 1958) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. He is the author of eleven novels for adults, eight books for children, seven plays and screenplays, and dozens of short stories. Several of his books have been ma ...
and ''
The Gathering'' by
Anne Enright
Anne Teresa Enright (born 11 October 1962) is an Irish writer. She has published seven novels, many short stories and a non-fiction work called ''Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood'', about the birth of her two children. Her writing explo ...
. John Banville's ''
The Sea'' won in 2005, though it proved a controversial choice. Banville has also won other international awards, including the
Franz Kafka Prize
The Franz Kafka Prize is an international literary award presented in honour of Franz Kafka, the Jewish, Bohemian, German-language novelist. The prize was first awarded in 2001 and is co-sponsored by the Franz Kafka Society and the city of Prag ...
and the
Austrian State Prize for European Literature The Austrian State Prize for European Literature (german: Österreichischer Staatspreis für Europäische Literatur), also known in Austria as the European Literary Award (''Europäischer Literaturpreis''), is an Austria
Austria, , bar, Ö ...
, and has been mentioned as the next Irish contender for the
Nobel Prize in Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901
, ...
.
There has been a rise in the amount of popular fiction being published in a range of genres, including romantic novels and detective stories set in New York. The 21st-century has also brought an increased emphasis on writing by women, which found concrete expression in the founding of the publishers
Arlen House. Irish writers of a commercial bent include
Cecelia Ahern
Cecelia Ahern (born 30 September 1981) is an Irish novelist, known for her works like '' PS, I Love You''; '' Where Rainbows End''; and '' If You Could See Me Now''. Born in Dublin, Ahern is now published in nearly fifty countries, and has sold ...
(''
PS, I Love You''),
Maeve Binchy
Anne Maeve Binchy Snell (28 May 1939Born 1939 as per biography, ''Maeve Binchy'' by Piers Dudgeon, Thomas Dunne Books 2013; (hardcover), pp. 4, 280, 302; (ebook) – 30 July 2012) was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, colum ...
(''
Tara Road
''Tara Road'' is a novel by Maeve Binchy. It was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in September 1999.
Plot introduction
It is the story of two women, one from Ireland and one from America, who trade houses without ever having met. They' ...
''),
John Boyne
John Boyne (born 30 April 1971) is an Irish novelist. He is the author of eleven novels for adults and six novels for younger readers. His novels are published in over 50 languages. His 2006 novel ''The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'' was adapte ...
(''
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
''The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'' is a 2006 Holocaust novel by Irish novelist John Boyne. Much like the process he undertakes when writing most of his novels, Boyne has said that he wrote the entire first draft in two and a half days, without ...
''),
Marian Keyes
Marian Keyes (born 10 September 1963) is an Irish author and radio presenter. She is principally known for her popular fiction.
Keyes became known for her novels ''Watermelon'', ''Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married'', ''Rachel's Holiday'', ''Last ...
(''
Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married
''Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married'' is an international best selling 1996 novel by Irish author, Marian Keyes. It chronicles the life of Lucy Sullivan, a 26-year-old perpetually broke, unlucky-in-love office worker from London, who has a pen ...
'') and
Joseph O'Connor
Joseph Victor O'Connor (born 20 September 1963) is an Irish novelist. His 2002 historical novel '' Star of the Sea'' was an international number one bestseller. Before success as an author, he was a journalist with the ''Sunday Tribune'' newspa ...
(''Cowboys and Indians'', ''Desperadoes'').
Fiction in Irish
Fiction in Irish was greatly stimulated by the
Gaelic revival
The Gaelic revival ( ga, Athbheochan na Gaeilge) was the late-nineteenth-century Romantic nationalism, national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including Irish folklore, folklore, Iri ...
, which insisted on the need for a modern literature. The first novel in Irish (an historical romance) was written by
Patrick Dineen
Patrick Joseph Dineen (born 13 May 1938) is a former Irish cricketer. A left-handed batsman, he made his debut for the Ireland cricket team in August 1962 against the Combined Services in a first-class match. He went on to play for Ireland on ...
, lexicographer and literary scholar. He was followed by Father
Peadar Ua Laoghaire
Father Peadar Ua Laoghaire or Peadar Ó Laoghaire (, first name locally ; 30 April 1839 – 21 March 1920), also anglicized as Peter O'Leary, was an Irish writer and Catholic priest, who is regarded today as one of the founders of modern literatu ...
, who in the 1890s published, in a serialised form, a folkloristic novel strongly influenced by the storytelling tradition of the
Gaeltacht
( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home.
The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially recog ...
, called ''
Séadna''. His other works include retellings of classical Irish stories.
Among the many writers who published prose fiction in Irish in the first decades of the twentieth century, two stood out:
Patrick Pearse
Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ga, Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who ...
and
Pádraig Ó Conaire. Pearse wrote elegant, idealised stories about the Irish-speaking countryside. Ó Conaire was a realist, dealing with urban as well as rural life, but also wrote an absurdist novel called ''Deoraíocht'', unlike anything else published at the time. They were followed by two brothers,
Séamus Ó Grianna
Séamus Ó Grianna (; 17 November 1889 – 27 November 1969; locally known also as Jimí Fheilimí) was an Irish writer, who used the pen name Máire.
Biography
Born to Feidhlimidh Mac Grianna and Máire Eibhlín Néillín Ní Dhomhnaill i ...
and
Seosamh Mac Grianna
Seosamh Mac Grianna (20 August 1900 – 11 June 1990) was a writer from County Donegal. He was born into a family of poets and storytellers, which included his brothers Séamus Ó Grianna and Seán Bán Mac Grianna, in Rann na Feirste, County ...
, who wrote in quite different ways about the
Gaeltacht
( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home.
The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially recog ...
community in which they had grown up. Seosamh in particular was concerned with the psychological and emotional struggle involved in the transition to modernity.
The most prominent literary modernist was
Máirtín Ó Cadhain
Máirtín Ó Cadhain (; 1906 – 18 October 1970) was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century. Perhaps best known for his 1949 novel ''Cré na Cille'', Ó Cadhain played a key role in reintroducing literary mod ...
, a native speaker who looked at his own community with a critical eye. His masterpiece was the novel ''Cré na Cille'', filled with the voices of the quarrelling dead. He published several collections of short stories, adapting his writing style over time to an urban milieu. The best known modernists to follow him were not of Gaeltacht background:
Eoghan Ó Tuairisc
Eoghan Ó Tuairisc (''Eugene Rutherford Watters'') (3 April 1919 – 24 August 1982) was an Irish poet and writer.
Life
Eugene Rutherford Watters was born at Dunlo Hill, Ballinasloe, County Galway, to Thomas Watters, a soldier, and his wife, Ma ...
,
Diarmaid Ó Súilleabháin Diarmaid Ó Súilleabháin may refer to:
* Diarmaid O' Súilleabháin (bishop) (1924–1994), Roman Catholic Bishop of Kerry
* Diarmaid Ó Súilleabháin (writer) (1932–1985), Irish language writer
* Diarmuid Ó Suilleabháin, Irish sean n ...
, and
Breandán Ó Doibhlin (the last influenced by French literary theory). Ó Tuairisc was a stylistic innovator; Ó Súilleabháin was immersed in the middle-class urban world; Ó Doibhlin was more introspective in his approach.
The Gaeltacht, though in linguistic decline, has continued to produce novelists and short story writers such as
Pádraig Breathnach,
Micheál Ó Conghaile
Micheál Ó Conghaile () was an Irish scribe.
Ó Conghaile transcribed poetry, including ''Dán na Gaoithe Móire'' (Night of the Big Wind) and ''Dán an cholera.'' He also transmitted poetry by Antoine Ó Raifteiri and old folk poems. He died ...
,
Pádraig Ó Cíobháin and
Joe Steve Ó Neachtain.
There have also been contributions to more popular genres. They include the work of
Cathal Ó Sándair (1922–1996), a prolific author whose oeuvre included westerns.
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne (; born 22 February 1954), also known as Eilis Almquist and Elizabeth O'Hara, is an Irish novelist and short story writer who writes both in Irish and English. She has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and ...
has written popular murder mysteries.
The
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 ...
remains a popular genre in Irish as in English.
Donncha Ó Céileachair and
Síle Ní Chéileachair, brother and sister, published the influential collection ''Bullaí Mhártain'' in 1955. In 1953
Liam O'Flaherty
Liam O'Flaherty ( ; 28 August 1896 – 7 September 1984) was an Irish novelist and short-story writer, and one of the foremost socialist writers in the first part of the 20th century, writing about the common people's experience and from their ...
published the collection ''Dúil'', his only work in Irish. One of the best known of contemporary practitioners is
Seán Mac Mathúna (who also writes in English). His work is characterised by humour and a poetic realism and has been praised for its originality. The work of
Daithí Ó Muirí is distinguished by its black humour and absurdist quality, a contrast to the social realism of much modern writing in Irish. A recent development has been an increase in the number of women writers, including
Orna Ní Choileáin
Orna Ní Choileáin is an Irish writer from West Cork. She writes Irish language fiction books for both adults and children, as well as poetry and drama. She has won prizes for her creative prose, poetry, drama and theatre, and short-story writ ...
, Méadhbh Ní Ghallchobhair, Deirdre Ní Ghrianna and others.
See also
Notes
References
Williams, J.E. Caerwen agus Ní Mhuiríosa, Máirín (1979). ''Traidisiún Liteartha na nGael''. An Clóchomhar Tta..
External links
RicorsoContemporary Irish texts available for free download under Creative Commons Licence
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Fiction
Fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...