Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The fiction of John McGahern, the often acclaimed (and once banned) Irish author, appears to be written in an understated, realistic style. But his realism – like that of James Joyce, perhaps McGahern's strongest literary influence – is subtly enhanced by poetic imagery and symbolism that bring a romantic and metaphysical quality to his writing. His fiction is almost always set in the rural Irish midlands where McGahern grew up, and his themes of oppressed, impoverished country life, circumscribed by conservative Catholic doctrine and ritual, are drawn from life in that part of Ireland. While his fiction has been read as a social critique of mid-twentieth-century Ireland, it is renowned more for its timeless, existential themes of family (including Oedipal) relationships, growing up, the search for meaning, and the confrontation with death. McGahern is best known for his six novels and four collections of stories (including The Collected Stories ( 1992 )), but he also wrote a memoir, a play, and several radio and television adaptations of his fiction, as well as numerous reviews and essays. Internationally recognized, he is especially admired in France. McGahern was born in 1934 to Catholic parents. His father, a police sergeant, lived in the police barracks a short distance from the family home. His mother, a schoolteacher to whom he was greatly attached, died of cancer when ... log in or subscribe to read full text