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 ...
literary criticism
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...
specializing in the publication or republication of lesser-known, often avant-garde works. The company has offices in
Funks Grove, Illinois
Funks Grove is a historic unincorporated community on U.S. Route 66 in McLean County, Illinois, United States, southwest of Bloomington. The grove for which the settlement is named, ''Funk's Grove'', is a National Natural Landmark.
Natural hist ...
, in Dublin, and in London. The publisher is named for the novel ''
The Dalkey Archive
''The Dalkey Archive'' is a 1964 novel by the Irish writer Flann O'Brien. It is his fifth and final novel, published two years before his death. It was adapted for the stage by Hugh Leonard in 1965 as ''The Saints Go Cycling In''.
'', by the Irish author
Flann O'Brien
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 cen ...
.
Founded in
Elmwood Park, IL
Elmwood Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 24,521 at the 2020 census. The community has long maintained a large Italian-American population, with a more recent influx of Polish-American and Hispanic res ...
in 1984 by
John O’Brien
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
, Dalkey Archive Press began as an adjunct press to the literary magazine '' Review of Contemporary Fiction'', itself founded by John O'Brien, John Byrne, and Lowell Dunlap and dedicated to highlighting writers who were overlooked by the mainstream critical establishment. Initially, the press reprinted works by authors featured in the ''Review'' but eventually branched out to other works, including original works that had not been published. Until 1988, Dalkey Archive was a two-person operation: O’Brien and office manager/typesetter Shirley Geever. That year O’Brien hired Steven Moore as managing editor. Later editors include Chad Post (who went on to found
Open Letter Books
Open Letter Books is an American publishing house based at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. It was founded in 2008 by Chad W. Post, the Editor-in-Chief of Dalkey Archive Press. It specializes in translation, a less-populated ...
), and authors Martin Riker and Jeremy Davies.
In 1992, the press accepted an invitation to move from suburban Chicago to Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. In December 2006, Dalkey Archive relocated to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to be part of the university's commitment to global projects that complement the press's commitment to translations.
Modeled on such publishers as
Grove Press
Grove Press is an United States of America, American Imprint (trade name), publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it in ...
Flann O'Brien
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 cen ...
, Beckett, Gertrude Stein and Djuna Barnes." One of the publisher's primary goals is to keep all of its books in print, regardless of their commercial success, in the interest of maintaining the availability of works that it deems culturally and educationally valuable.
In 2011, Dalkey founder
John O’Brien
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize
The Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize is an annual literary prize named for the German–American publishers Helen and Kurt Wolff "honoring an outstanding literary translation from German into English" published in the USA the previous year ...
, the Vondel Prize, and the
Premio Valle-Inclán The Premio Valle-Inclán is a literary translation prize. It is awarded by the Society of Authors (London) for the best English translation of a work of Spanish literature. It is named after Ramón del Valle-Inclán. The prize money is GBP £2,000.
...
award.
Founder and publisher John O’Brien died on November 21, 2020. He leaves behind 7 dogs, daughter Kathleen O’Brien, sons Emmett, William, and Kevin, brother Eddie, and many other family and friends.
Offices
Dalkey Archive Press has multiple offices, which are located in
McLean, Illinois
McLean is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 743 at the 2020 census, down from 830 in 2010. It is part of the Bloomington– Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area. McLean is the home of the Dixie Travel Plaza ...
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
Centre for Literary Translation in Dublin.Contact " Dalkey Archive Press. Retrieved on October 18, 2016.
Selected publications
Dalkey Archive has published a variety of books and authors from many countries. In some cases, the publication of certain books by Dalkey Archive has led to a resurgence in their author's popularity, particularly in the United States, as happened with
Felipe Alfau
Felipe Alfau (24 August 1902 – 18 February 1999) was a Spanish-born American novelist and poet. Most of his works were written in English.
Biography
Born in Barcelona, Alfau emigrated to the United States with his family at the age of four ...
and
Flann O'Brien
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 cen ...
. Some notable books and authors published by Dalkey Archive are listed below.
*
Felipe Alfau
Felipe Alfau (24 August 1902 – 18 February 1999) was a Spanish-born American novelist and poet. Most of his works were written in English.
Biography
Born in Barcelona, Alfau emigrated to the United States with his family at the age of four ...
, ''
Chromos
''Chromos'' is the second novel of Spanish-born American writer Felipe Alfau (1902–1999), written in 1948 and published in 1990.
Composition and publication
Alfau described how he wrote the novel: "In the office between one document and ano ...
'' and ''Locos: A Comedy of Gestures''
* Djuna Barnes, '' Ryder'', '' Nightwood: The Original Version and Related Drafts''
*
Roger Boylan
Roger Boylan is an American writer (b. 1951) who was raised in Ireland, France, and Switzerland. His Irish novel ''Killoyle, ''called "a virtuoso performance" by ''Publishers Weekly'', is published by Dalkey Archive Press. His second Irish novel ...
Eros the Bittersweet
''Eros the Bittersweet: An Essay'' (1986) is the first book of criticism by the Canadian poet, essayist, translator, and classicist Anne Carson.
A reworking of her 1981 doctoral thesis ''Odi et Amo Ergo Sum'' ("I Hate and I Love, Therefore I Am" ...
Jean Echenoz
Jean Echenoz (born 26 December 1947) is a French writer.
Biography
Jean Echenoz was born in Orange, Vaucluse, the son of a psychiatrist, He studied in Rodez, Digne-les-Bains, Lyon, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Paris, where he has lived sinc ...
, ''Chopin's Move''
*
Jon Fosse
Jon Olav Fosse (born 29 September 1959) is a Norwegian author and dramatist.
Biography
Jon Fosse was born in Haugesund, Norway. A serious accident at age seven brought him close to death; the experience significantly influenced his adulthood wr ...
Melancholy II
''Melancholy II'', original title ''Melancholia II'', is a 1996 novella by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse. It is set in 1902, on the day of the Norwegian artist Lars Hertervig's death, and is told from the perspective of Hertervig's fictitious sist ...
''
*
Kass Fleisher
Helen Kassia (Kass) Fleisher (October 21, 1959 – January 6, 2023) was an American writer best known for her fiction and creative nonfiction.
Biography
Fleisher earned degrees in English from Dickinson College (B.A., 1981), the University of No ...
J R
''J R'' is a novel by William Gaddis published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1975. In the story, a schoolboy secretly amasses a fortune in penny stocks. ''J R'' won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1976.The Recognitions''
* William Gass, ''
The Tunnel
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
Concluding
''Concluding'' is a novel by British writer Henry Green first published in 1948. It is set entirely on the expansive and idyllic premises of a state-run institution for girls somewhere in rural England and chronicles the events of one summer's ...
''
*
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 ...
, ''Flotsam and Jetsam'' and ''Bornholme Night Ferry''
* G. Cabrera Infante, ''Three Trapped Tigers''
*
Hugh Kenner
William Hugh Kenner (January 7, 1923 – November 24, 2003) was a Canadian literary scholar, critic and professor. He published widely on Modernist literature with particular emphasis on James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and Samuel Beckett. His major ...
, ''Flaubert, Joyce, and Beckett: The Stoic Comedians''
* Danilo Kis, ''
A Tomb for Boris Davidovich
''A Tomb for Boris Davidovich'' (Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian: ''Grobnica za Borisa Davidoviča / Гробница за Бориса Давидовича'') is a collection of seven short stories by Danilo Kiš written in 1976 (transla ...
''
*
António Lobo Antunes
António Lobo Antunes, GCSE (; born 1 September 1942) is a Portuguese novelist and retired medical doctor. He has been named as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He has been awarded the 2000 Austrian State Prize, the 2003 Ovid ...
The Age of Wire and String
''The Age of Wire and String'' is Ben Marcus's first book, published in 1995. The book is composed of 8 sections, divided into 41 parts, which combine technical language with lyrical imagery to form a sort of Postmodern catalog by turns surreal, ...
''
*
David Markson
David Merrill Markson (December 20, 1927 – June 4, 2010)The_Egyptian_Book_of_the_Dead.html" ;"title="'The Egyptian Book of the Dead">'The Egyptian Book of the Dead'' (p. 147)
* "A kind of verbal fugue" (p. 170)
* "A classic traged ...
, ''
Wittgenstein's Mistress
''Wittgenstein's Mistress'' by David Markson is a highly stylized, experimental novel in the tradition of Samuel Beckett. The novel is mainly a series of statements made in the first person; the protagonist is a woman named Kate who believes her ...
Natalie Natalia
''Natalie Natalia'' is a novel by Nicholas Mosley first published in 1971 about a middle-aged British MP who, while seemingly on the brink of insanity, conducts an adulterous affair with the wife of a colleague.
Plot summary
The protagonist o ...
''
*
Flann O'Brien
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 cen ...
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 ...
''
*
Patrik Ouředník
Patrik Ouředník (in French sometimes known as Patrick; born 23 April 1957 in Prague) is a Czech author and translator, living in France.
Ouředník spent his youth in Prague. In 1984 he emigrated to France, where he first worked as a chess con ...
, ''Europeana: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century''
* Raymond Queneau, ''Pierrot Mon Ami''
* Ann Quin, ''Berg'' and ''Passages''
*
Ishmael Reed
Ishmael Scott Reed (born February 22, 1938) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher known for his satirical works challenging American political culture. Perhaps his best-known work is '' M ...
Arno Schmidt
Arno Schmidt (; 18 January 1914 – 3 June 1979) was a German author and translator. He is little known outside of German-speaking areas, in part because his works present a formidable challenge to translators. Although he is not one of the p ...
, ''
Bottom's Dream
''Bottom's Dream'' ( or ''ZETTEL’S TRAUM'' as the author wrote the title) is a novel published in 1970 by West German author Arno Schmidt. Schmidt began writing the novel in December 1963 while he and Hans Wollschläger began to translate the w ...
''
* Viktor Shklovsky, ''Theory of Prose'' and ''Energy of Delusion''
*
Gilbert Sorrentino
Gilbert Sorrentino (April 27, 1929 – May 18, 2006) was an American novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, professor, and editor.
In over twenty-five works of fiction and poetry, Sorrentino explored the comic and formal possibili ...
Heartsnatcher
''Heartsnatcher'' (french: L'Arrache-cœur) is a 1953 novel by the French writer Boris Vian. It tells the story of a psychoanalyst who is newly arrived in a very superstitious village where absurd events occur. The heartsnatcher of the title of thi ...
''
*
Douglas Woolf
Douglas Woolf (March 23, 1922 – January 18, 1992) was an American author of short stories, novels and book reviews.
Biography
Born in New York City, Woolf grew up in Larchmont, New York and attended Harvard University from 1939 to 1942. Dur ...