William Kirkpatrick Magee (16 January 1868 – 9 May 1961), was an Irish author, editor, and librarian, who as an essayist and poet adopted the pen-name of John Eglinton. He became head librarian of the

National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ga, Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland i ...

, after opposing the "cultural nationalism" of his time. From 1904 to 1905 he edited the literary journal ''Dana'' and was the biographer of

George William Russell George William Russell (10 April 1867 – 17 July 1935), who wrote with the pseudonym Æ (often written AE or A.E.), was an Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, painter and Irish nationalist. He was also a writer on mysticism, and a centra ...

("Æ").

Early life

Magee was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, the second son of a Presbyterian minister originally from

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 Kin ...

, the Rev. Hamilton Magee, by his marriage to Emily Clare Kirkpatrick. His parents had been married at St Mary's Church, Dublin, on 5 April 1860, when their fathers' names were given as William G. Kirkpatrick and Henry Bell Magee. He was the younger brother of Hamilton Malcolm Magee, born in 1866, and another brother, James Henry Magee, was born in 1870. The young Magee was educated at the Erasmus Smith High School, Dublin, where he got to know

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 ...

. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1887, and four times won the Vice-Chancellor's prize for composition in English, Greek, or Latin, for verse in 1889 and again in 1890, and for prose in 1892 and 1893.David A. Ross, "Eglinton, John", in ''Critical Companion to William Butler Yeats: A Literary Reference to His Life'' (2009)
pp. 461-462
/ref>Robert Sullivan
Eglinton, John (1868-1961)
at modjourn.com, accessed 22 November 2015 Magee's brother, H. M. Magee, lived at the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

lodge at 3, Upper Ely Place, sharing rooms with

, known as "Æ". The two oldest brothers were both Theosophists.

Life

Magee, or Eglinton, was an active participant in the discussion of the

Irish Literary Revival The Irish Literary Revival (also called the Irish Literary Renaissance, nicknamed the Celtic Twilight) was a flowering of Irish literary talent in the late 19th and early 20th century. It includes works of poetry, music, art, and literature. O ...

, speaking in favour of more universal and cosmopolitan subjects, whereas the focus of several of his contemporaries was on Irish material and traditions. The ongoing debate between Æ, Yeats, and Magee is the subject of a book Magee edited, ''Literary Ideals in Ireland'' (1898), which he published under his own name. As an author, Magee was mostly an essayist, with work appearing under the name of John Eglinton around the turn of the century in several publications, including the '' New Ireland Review'', ''Shanachie'', and the Unionist '' Daily Express'' of Dublin. In 1904 Magee launched a new literary magazine called ''Dana: an Irish Magazine of Independent Thought'' with

Frederick Ryan Frederick Ryan (1876 – April 1913), was an Irish, Dublin-born playwright, journalist and socialist. Career Ryan became secretary of the Irish National Theatre Society in 1902. There he would create realistic satire with the play ''The La ...

and Oliver St John Gogarty among the contributors. He acted as joint editor until April 1905, and paid

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 ...

one guinea for a poem. In 1904 he was offered ''A Portrait of the Artist'', an early version of Joyce's ''

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 al ...

'', but turned it down with the comment “I cannot print what I can't understand.” In 1904, thanks to the influence of

Edward Dowden Edward Dowden (3 May 18434 April 1913) was an Irish critic, professor, and poet. Biography He was the son of John Wheeler Dowden, a merchant and landowner, and was born at Cork, three years after his brother John, who became Bishop of Edinbur ...

, Magee was appointed as a librarian at the

. In 1905, ''Some Essays and Passages by John Eglinton, selected by William Butler Yeats'' became one of the small number of books published by the Yeats family's Dun Emer Press.DUN EMER & CUALA PRESS
at uflib.ufl.edu (

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

web site, accessed 23 November 2015 In 1920, Magee married Marie Louise O'Leary, a colleague. They retired from the National Library in 1921, Magee retiring as head librarian, and in that year, shortly before the new

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 ...

gained independence from what had been the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

, left Ireland to settle first in Wales and later in Bournemouth. From their arrival in Britain until 1929 Magee's "Dublin Letters" were published in the United States in ''

The Dial ''The Dial'' was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. From the 1880s to 1919 it was revived as a political review and ...

''. He continued to write on Irish literature, and in 1937 his biography ''A memoir of AE, George William Russell'', was published in London.W. K. Magee, ''A memoir of AE, George William Russell'' (London: Macmillan, 1937) Magee died in Bournemouth on 9 May 1961.Frank C. Roberts, ed., ''Obituaries from the Times'' (1961), p. 239

Selected publications

*''Two Essays on the Remnant'' (1896) *''Literary Ideals in Ireland'' (1899), ed.Tracy Chevalier, ed., "Eglinton, John" in ''Encyclopedia of the Essay''
pp. 243-244
/ref> *''Pebbles from a Brook'' (S. O'Grady, 1901) *''Some Essays and Passages by John Eglinton, selected by William Butler Yeats'', ed. W. B. Yeats ( Dun Emer Press, 1905) *''Bards and Saints'' (Maunsel & Co., 1906) *''Anglo-Irish Essays'' (1917) **including the essay “Philosophy of the Celtic Movement” *“Synge, John Millington” in ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'' (12th ed., 1922) *''A memoir of AE, George William Russell'' (London: Macmillan, 1937) *''Confidential; or, Take it or Leave it'' (London: the Fortune Press, 1951, poems) *''Letters of George Moore: With an Introduction by John Eglinton, to Whom They Were Written'' (Folcroft Press, 1970)

Notes

External links

William Kirkpatrick Magee (1868–1961)
at

Bartleby.com Bartleby.com was an electronic text archive, headquartered in Los Angeles (USA) and named for Herman Melville's story "Bartleby, the Scrivener". It was initiated with the name "Project Bartleby" in January 1993 as a collection of classic literatu ...

William Kirkpatrick Magee as John Eglinton at Archive.org
at Sothebys.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Magee, William Kirkpatrick 1868 births 1961 deaths Writers from Dublin (city) People educated at The High School, Dublin Alumni of Trinity College Dublin 20th-century Anglo-Irish people