Joseph O'Neill was an Irish novelist. Mary Devenport and Joesph ONeill

O'Neill claimed later in his life that he was born in the Aran Islands,

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, Ireland, in 1886, but he was in fact born in the inland Galway town of Tuam, preferring, as a writer, the perceived romance of being born in the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

-speaking islands. He became a school inspector and subsequently Secretary of the Department of Education in the newly formed Irish Free State. He wrote five novels, of which the best-known was ''Land Under England'', a science-fiction account of a totalitarian society ruled by telepathic mind control. The novel combines elements of a "lost race" narrative (the descendants of a Roman legion live underground under the north of England) with fears of totalitarian control. Arthur O. Lewis, "O'Neill, Joseph", in '' Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers'' by Curtis C. Smith. St. James Press, 1986, (p.553-4). ''Land Under England'' has an

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

subtext. The novel was cited by Karl Edward Wagner as one of the thirteen best science-fiction horror novels.N. G. Christakos, "Three By Thirteen: The Karl Edward Wagner Lists" in ''Black Prometheus: A Critical Study of Karl Edward Wagner'', ed. Benjamin Szumskyj,

Gothic Press Gary William Crawford (January 1, 1953 -July 9, 2020) was an American writer and small press publisher. He is the founder and editor of Gothic Press, which since 1979 has published books and periodicals in the field of Gothic literature. From ...

2007. His other SF novel, published in 1936, is the future-war story ''Day of Wrath''. His other novels include the time travel (or timeslip novel) ''Wind From the North'', in which the author is transported in a dreamlike fashion to Dublin or Dyflin in the period leading up to the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, and ''Philip'', a biblical epic. ''Wind from the North'' was later a standard Irish primary school text in the 1950s, in an edition published by Browne & Nolan. He died on 6 May 1952.

Personal life

He was the husband of

Mary Devenport O'Neill Mary Devenport O'Neill (3 August 1879 – 1967) was an Irish poet and dramatist and a friend and colleague of W. B. Yeats, George Russell, and Austin Clarke. Early life and education Mary Devenport O'Neill was born Mary Devenport on 3 August ...

, poet and friend of

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

, who consulted her when writing ' A Vision'. Devenport O'Neill was a noted writer in her own right.

List of works

* ''Wind From the North'' (1934) onathan Cape published in the United States by Simon & Schuster. * ''Land under England'' (1935)

Gollancz Gollancz may refer to: * Gollancz (surname), a Polish-Jewish surname * Victor Gollancz Ltd, a former British publishing house, now used as an imprint by the Orion Publishing Group See also * Gołańcz Gołańcz (german: Gollantsch) is a town ...

* ''Day of Wrath'' (1936)

* ''Philip'' (1940)

* ''Chosen by the Queen'' (1947)

Personal life

List of works

References

Further reading