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 aspects of Irish culture and history, criticism, long and short fiction (novels and short stories), biography, and travel books, He is most widely known for his more than 150 short stories and for his memoirs. The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award was named in his honour.

Early life

Raised in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, he was the only child of Minnie (née O'Connor) and Michael O'Donovan. He attended Saint Patrick’s School on Gardiner's Hill. One teacher, Daniel Corkery, introduced O'Connor's class to the Irish language and poetry and deeply influenced the young pupil. He later attended North Monastery Christian Brothers School. O'Connor's early life was marked by his father's alcoholism, debt, and ill-treatment of his mother. His childhood was strongly shaped by his mother, who supplied much of the family's income by cleaning houses, his father being unable to keep steady employment due to alcoholism. O'Connor adored his mother and was bitterly resentful of his father. In his memoirs, he recalled his childhood as "those terrible years", and admitted that he had never been able to forgive his father for his abuse of himself and his mother. When his mother was seventy, O'Connor was horrified to learn from his own doctor that she had suffered for years from chronic

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a r ...

, which she had endured with great stoicism, as she had never had the time nor the money to see a doctor.

Irish nationalism

In 1918 O'Connor joined the First Brigade of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

and served in combat 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 ...

. He opposed the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

of 1921 and joined the

Anti-Treaty IRA The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

during the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

, working in a small propaganda unit in

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city's ...

. He was one of twelve thousand Anti-Treaty combatants who were interned by the government of 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 ...

. In February 1923, O'Connor was imprisoned in

Cork City Gaol Cork City Gaol is a former prison, now a museum, located in Cork City, Ireland. History In 1806 an Act of Parliament was passed to allow the building of a new Cork City Gaol to replace the old gaol at the North Gate Bridge (the old gaol, whi ...

and in April moved to

Gormanston, County Meath Gormanston () is a village in County Meath, Ireland. It is near the mouth of the River Delvin and the northern border of County Dublin. History Archaeology A group of passage graves on either side of the mouth of river Delvin, known as the Br ...

where he was held until just before Christmas. War is a major theme in most stories of O'Connor's first published collection, ''Guests of the Nation'', 1931.

Literary career

Following his release from Gormanston, O'Connor took various positions including that of teacher of Irish and theatre director. Thanks to his continuing connection with Corkery, he was introduced to

Lennox Robinson Esmé Stuart Lennox Robinson (4 October 1886 – 15 October 1958) was an Irish dramatist, poet and theatre producer and director who was involved with the Abbey Theatre. Life Robinson was born in Westgrove, Douglas, County Cork and raised ...

, then the secretary for the Carnegie Trust. Robinson was organizing rural libraries and engaged O'Connor as a trainee. O'Connor worked first in Sligo and later under

Geoffrey Phibbs Jeoffrey "Geoffrey" Basil Phibbs (1900–1956) was an English-born Irish poet; he took his mother's name and called himself Geoffrey Taylor, after about 1930. Phibbs was born in Smallburgh, Norfolk. He was brought up in Sligo, and educated i ...

in Wicklow. Through Phibbs, he met and was befriended by

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 centr ...

(Æ), who requested O'Connor to send him material for publication. Russell introduced O'Connor to most of the well-known Irish writers of the day, including

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 ...

, F. R. Higgins and

Augusta Gregory Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (''née'' Persse; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932) was an Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theat ...

. In his memoirs, he paid tribute to both Yeats and Russell for the help and encouragement they gave him. In December 1928, he moved to Dublin to take up the position of librarian at the Pembroke District Library. In 1935, O'Connor became a member of the board of directors of the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the p ...

in Dublin, founded by Yeats and other members of the Irish National Theatre Society. In 1937, he became managing director of the Abbey. Following Yeats's death in 1939, O'Connor's long-standing conflict with other board members came to a head and he left the Abbey later that year. In 1950, he accepted invitations to teach in the United States, where many of his short stories had been published in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' and won great acclaim. He spent much of the 1950s in the United States, although it was always his intention to return eventually to Ireland.

Death

O'Connor had a stroke while teaching at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

in 1961, and he later died from a heart attack in Dublin, Ireland on 10 March 1966. He was buried in

Deans Grange Cemetery Deans Grange Cemetery (; also spelled ''Deansgrange'') is situated in the suburban area of Deansgrange in the Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown part of the former County Dublin, Ireland. Since it first opened in 1865, over 150,000 people have been burie ...

on 12 March 1966.

Family

In 1939 O'Connor married Evelyn Bowen (who had previously been married to the actor

Robert Speaight Robert William Speaight (; 1904 – 1976) was a British actor and writer, and the brother of George Speaight, the puppeteer. Speaight studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based in the Royal Albert Hall, ...

): they had two sons and a daughter. They were divorced in 1953. O'Connor married, secondly, Harriet Rich of Baltimore, whom he met while lecturing at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. They had one daughter. Between his marriages to Bowen and Rich, he was romantically involved with Joan Knape, with whom he had a son,

Oliver O'Donovan Oliver Michael Timothy O'Donovan (born 28 June 1945) is a British Anglican priest and academic, known for his work in the field of Christian ethics. He has also made contributions to political theology, both contemporary and historical. He was ...

Work

O'Connor was perhaps best known for his varied and comprehensive short stories but also for his work as a literary critic, essayist, travel writer, translator and biographer. He was also a novelist, poet and dramatist. O'Connor's career began in 1922 and accelerated with the appearance of poetry in translation, articles on early Irish poets, book reviews by stories and original poetry. Much of this material appeared in Æ's journal ''

Irish Statesman The ''Irish Statesman'' was a weekly journal promoting the views of the Irish Dominion League. It ran from 27 June 1919 to June 1930, edited by Warre B. Wells, assisted by James Winder Good, and with contributions from W. B. Yeats, George Bern ...

''. From the early 1930s following the publication of his first volume of short stories, ''Guests of the Nation'' (1931), to his death in 1966 he was a prolific writer of short stories (c. 160), translations of a wide range of Irish poetry (c. 120), plays, both alone and in collaborations (c.10), novels (2) as well as works in non-fiction covering topics in literary criticism and theory, travel, Irish culture, and biography. His work as an Irish teacher complemented his plethora of translations into English of Irish poetry, including his initially banned translation of

Brian Merriman Brian Merriman or in Irish Brian Mac Giolla Meidhre (c. 1747 – 27 July 1805) was an Irish language bard, farmer, and hedge school teacher from rural County Clare. His single surviving work of substance, the 1000-line long Dream vision poem ...

's ''Cúirt an Mheán Oíche'' (''The Midnight Court''). Many of O'Connor's writings were based on his own life experiences – notably his well-known ''The Man of the House'' in which he reveals childhood details concerning his early life in County Cork. The Sullivan family in this short story, like his own boyhood family, is lacking a proper father figure. In other stories, his character Larry Delaney, in particular, is reminiscent of events in O'Connor's own life. O'Connor's experiences in the

and the

are reflected in ''The Big Fellow'', his biography of Irish revolutionary leader

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and ...

, published in 1937, and one of his best-known short stories, ''Guests of the Nation'' (1931), published in various forms during O'Connor's lifetime and included in ''Frank O'Connor – Collected Stories'', published in 1981. O'Connor's early years are recounted in ''An Only Child'' (1961), a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

which has the immediacy of a precocious diary. U.S. President John F. Kennedy remarked anecdotally from ''An Only Child'' at the conclusion of his speech at the dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center in San Antonio on 21 November 1963: "Frank O'Connor, the Irish writer, tells in one of his books how, as a boy, he and his friends would make their way across the countryside, and when they came to an orchard wall that seemed too high and too doubtful to try and too difficult to permit their voyage to continue, they took off their hats and tossed them over the wall—and then they had no choice but to follow them. This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space and we have no choice but to follow it." O'Connor continued his autobiography through his time with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, which ended in 1939, in his book, ''My Father's Son'', which was published in 1968, posthumously. It contains valuable character sketches of many of the leading Irish literary figures of the 1930s, in particular, Yeats and Russell (who wrote with the pseudonyms Æ and Æon).

Frank O'Connor Festival and Prize

Since 2000, The Munster Literature Centre in O'Connor's hometown of Cork has run a festival dedicated to the short story form in O'Connor's name. The longest established annual festival dedicated to the short story form in an English-speaking country, it regularly hosts readings, workshops and masterclasses for contemporary practitioners of the form, as well as celebrating the work of O'Connor and other local short fiction writers such as

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 ...

, Seán Ó Faoláin and

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 th ...

.Munster Literature Centre Festival
munsterlit.ie; accessed 9 November 2014. The festival has hosted readings by:

Richard Ford Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel ''The Sportswriter'' and its sequels, ''Independence Day'', ''The Lay of the Land'' and ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', and the ...

Julia O'Faolain Julia O'Faolain (6 June 1932 – 27 October 2020) was a London-born Irish novelist and short story writer. Her parents were Irish writers Seán Ó Faoláin and Eileen Gould. Biography She was educated at University College Dublin, Sapienza Un ...

James Lasdun James Lasdun (born 1958) is an English novelist and poet. Life and career Lasdun was born in London, the son of Susan (Bendit) and British architect Sir Denys Lasdun. Lasdun has written four novels, including , a New York Times Notable Book, and ...

Alasdair Gray Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, ''Lanark: A Life in Four Books, Lanark'' (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays ...

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, Eugene McCabe,

Bernard MacLaverty Bernard MacLaverty (born 14 September 1942) is an Irish fiction writer and novelist. His novels include ''Cal'' and ''Grace Notes''. He has written five books of short stories. Biography ''MacLaverty'' was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a ...

, Desmond Hogan, James Plunkett, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Rebecca Miller, Anne Enright, Mike McCormack,

Etgar Keret Etgar Keret ( he, אתגר קרת, born August 20, 1967) is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for film and television. Personal life Keret was born in Ramat Gan, Israel in 1967. He is a third child ...

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 i ...

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, Philip Ó Ceallaigh, Rachel Sherman, David Marcus,

Panos Karnezis Panagiotis Karnezis ( el, Παναγιώτης (Πάνος) Καρνέζης; born 1967 in Amaliada), known as Panos Karnezis, is a Greek writer. Born in Greece, he moved to England in 1992 to study Engineering. He was later awarded a M.A. in Crea ...

, Nisha da Cunha, William Wall, Bret Anthony Johnston,

David Means David Means (born October 17, 1961) is an American short story writer and novelist based in Nyack, New York. His stories have appeared in many publications, including '' Esquire'', '' The New Yorker'', and '' Harper's''. They are frequently set ...

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 ...

, Miranda July,

Rick Moody Hiram Frederick Moody III (born October 18, 1961) is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel ''The Ice Storm'', a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 19 ...

Jhumpa Lahiri Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa" LahiriMinzesheimer, Bob ''USA Today'', August 19, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-04-13. (born July 11, 1967) is an American author known for her short stories, novels and essays in English, and, more recently, in Italia ...

Yiyun Li Yiyun Li (born November 4, 1972) is a Chinese-born writer and professor in the United States. Her short stories and novels have won several awards, including the PEN/Hemingway Award and Guardian First Book Award for ''A Thousand Years of Good Pra ...

, Julie Orringer, ZZ Packer, Simon Van Booy,

Wells Tower Wells Tower (born April 14, 1973) is an American writer of short stories, non-fiction, feature films and television. In 2009 he published his first short story collection, ''Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned'' ( Farrar, Straus and Giroux) to ...

, Charlotte Grimshaw and

Kevin Barry Kevin Gerard Barry (20 January 1902 – 1 November 1920) was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldier who was executed by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence. He was sentenced to death for his part in an attack upon a Brit ...

among others. It also has a tradition of encouraging younger writers at the start of their career
Jon Boilard
for example. The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, is awarded to the best short fiction collection published in English anywhere in the world in the year preceding the festival. The prize is also open to translated works and in the event of a translation winning the prize is divided equally between author and translator. The award is described as "the richest prize for the short story form" and at €35,000 in 2010 is one of the most valuable literary prizes for any category of literature.

In popular culture

O’Connor's short story " Guests of the Nation" has been the basis of several films. The story is set during the

and chronicles the doomed friendship between the members of an I.R.A. unit and the two

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

hostages whom they are guarding. The first film was a silent one, directed in 1934 by Denis Johnston and featuring

Barry Fitzgerald William Joseph Shields (10 March 1888 – 14 January 1961), known professionally as Barry Fitzgerald, was an Irish stage, film and television actor. In a career spanning almost forty years, he appeared in such notable films as ''Bringing Up Ba ...

and

Cyril Cusack Cyril James Cusack (26 November 1910 – 7 October 1993) was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years. During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland’s finest thespians, and was renowned for his in ...

Neil Jordan Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish film director, screenwriter, novelist and short-story writer. His first book, '' Night in Tunisia'', won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1979. He won an Academ ...

's award-winning film '' The Crying Game'' was inspired in part by this story.

Bibliography

Short story collections

* '' Guests of the Nation'' (1931), including the famous title story. *'' Bones of Contention'' (1936), including the story "The Majesty of Law", a short story adapted as an episode of the 1957 film '' The Rising of the Moon''. *'' Crab Apple Jelly'' (1944) *''

The Common Chord ''The Common Chord'' is a 1947 short story collection by Frank O'Connor.Frank O’Connor. The Common Chord. London: Macmillan, 1947. New York: Knopf, 1948. Stories It features the following stories: *News For The Church *The Custom of the Coun ...

'' (1947) * '' Traveller's Samples'' (1951), including the classic story "First Confession". *'' The Stories of Frank O'Connor'' (1952), including the first publication of perhaps his most popular story "My Oedipus Complex". * '' More Stories by Frank O'Connor'' (1954) *''

Domestic Relations In the common law tradition, the law of domestic relations is a broad category that encompasses: * divorce; * property settlements; * alimony, spousal support, or other maintenance; * the establishment of paternity; * the establishment or termin ...

'' (1957) *'' A Set of Variations'' (1969) *''

The Cornet Player Who Betrayed Ireland ''The Cornet Player Who Betrayed Ireland'' is a compilation of previously uncollected stories by Frank O'Connor Frank O'Connor (born Michael Francis O'Donovan; 17 September 1903 – 10 March 1966) was an Irish author and translator. He w ...

'' (1981) * '' The Collected Stories'' (Edited by Richard Ellmann) (1981) *'' The Collar: Stories of Irish Priests'' (1993) *'' A Frank O'Connor Reader'' (1994) *'' First Confession'' (1950) *My Oedipus Complex (1950)

Novels

*'' The Saint and Mary Kate'' (1932) *'' Dutch Interior'' (1940)

Autobiography

* *

Poetry

* ''Three Old Brothers and Other Poems'' (1936)

Poetry from the Irish

* ''The Wild Bird's Nest'' (1932) * ''Lords and Commons, Translations from the Irish'' (1938) * '' Lament for Art O'Leary'' (1940) *'' The Midnight Court'' (1945) * ''Kings, Lords, and Commons'' (1959) * ''The Little Monasteries'' (1963)

Irish history

*'' The Big Fellow'', biography of

(1937)

Travel writing

*''Irish Miles ''(1947) * ''Leinster, Munster and Connaught'' (1950)

Criticism

*'' The Road to Stratford'' (1948; revised edition published in 1960–61 in the US as ''Shakespeare's Progress'') *'' The Mirror in the Roadway: A Study of the Modern Novel'' (1956) *'' The Lonely Voice: A Study of the Short Story ''(1962) *'' The Backward Look: A Survey of Irish Literature ''(1967; published in the US as ''A Short History of Irish Literature: A Backward Look'')

References

External links

Profile
, frankoconnor.ucc.ie; accessed 8 November 2014.

Non-profit arts organisation The Munster Literature Centre – Frank O'Connor House, 84 Douglas Street, Cork, Ireland.
Frank O'Connor: Critical Essays
amazon.com; accessed 9 November 2014.

accessed 9 November 2014

usna.edu; accessed 9 November 2014

munsterlit.ie; accessed 9 November 2014. *

accessed 9 November 2014. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Frank 1903 births 1966 deaths Abbey Theatre Burials at Deans Grange Cemetery Irish memoirists Irish male short story writers Irish republicans interned without trial Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members People from Cork (city) People of the Irish Civil War (Anti-Treaty side) Translators from Irish Translators of Brian Merriman 20th-century Irish translators 20th-century Irish short story writers 20th-century Irish male writers 20th-century memoirists People educated at North Monastery