When
I first
went to Ireland in 1988, I purposefully set out to find a literary novel that
featured my surname. Flicking through the pages of likely looking books, I came
across “The
Dark” by John McGahern. This novel did indeed feature a monstrous character
called "Mahoney", but I was far more deeply affected by the novel
than I ever could have anticipated. John McGahern's approach to adolescent
sexuality in “The Dark” is the most true that I have ever come across. “The
Dark” is my “Catcher in the Rye”, my novel of teenage angst.
John McGahern was born in
Dublin in 1934. He was brought up
in Ballinamore (Country Leitrim) by his mother. Following her death in 1945, he was brought up in Cootehall
(County Roscommon), by his father, who was sergeant at the local Garda station. He was educated at the
Presentation Brothers College in Carrick-on-Shannon. This upbringing was to
have a profound effect on John McGahern’s writing. Having decided to become a teacher, he spent a year at St.
Patrick’s teacher training college in Drumcondra. From 1955, he taught at the St. John the Baptist Boys
National School in Clontarf. He
continued his own education at the same time, and graduated from University
College Dublin with a BA in 1957.
In 1962, he won the AE Memorial Award for an extract from
his first novel, “The
Barracks”, which was published in 1963. The novel won the McCauley Fellowship Award, which allowed
John McGahern a year off to live on the continent. The reception for his next novel, “The Dark” (1965), was
less welcoming, as the novel was banned by the Censorship Board for its
unflinching portrayal of adolescence.
Archbishop John Charles McQuaid called for John McGahern to be sacked
from his teaching post, and this was put into effect. This caused John McGahern to leave Ireland for a decade, and
he found that he was unable to write for a few years. However, “Nightlines”,
a collection of his short stories, was published in 1970. It was only in 1974, that his next
novel, “The
Leavetaking”, was published. “Getting
Through”, another collection of short stories, was published in 1978, and
his fourth novel, “The
Pornographer”, was published in 1980.
In 1985, “High
Ground”, his 3rd collection of short stories, was
published. 1990 saw the
publication of John McGahern’s most famous novel, “Amongst
Women”. It was shortlisted for
the Booker Prize, and won The Irish Times/Aer Lingus Literary Award in 1991,
and the GPA Award in 1992. There
was also a long wait for John McGahern’s next novel, with “That They
May Face the Rising Sun” being published in 2001 (published as “By the
Lake” in the US). John
McGahern’s most recent book has been “Memoir” (2005). John McGahern has also written a play for radio “Sinclair”
(1971), two plays for television (“Swallows” in 1975 and “The Rockingham Shoot”
in 1987), as well as one stage play (“The Power
of Darkness” in 1991).
“Amongst Women” was also adapted for television by the BBC in 1998. John
McGahern won the 2006 South Bank Show Award for Literature. John McGahern
passed away in a Dublin hospital in March 2006.
Lannan Readings & Conversations – John
McGahern talks to Hermione Lee
The
Whole World in a Community – John McGahern talks to Robert McCrum from “The
Guardian” in 2002
John McGahern on Writing -
McGahern in his own words.
Ireland's
Rural Elegist - Nicholas Wroe's excellent portrait of McGahern for “The
Guardian”.
Irish Writer offers lyrical prose - John
McGahern talks about the banning of “The Dark”
Irish author
McGahern dies at 71 – the BBC’s obituary
John
McGahern's The Barracks: an Interpenetrative Catholic Novel - read
this essay by Jean-Michel Ganteau (didn't know John McGahern was that popular
in France!)
Leavetaking and Homecoming in the writing of John McGahern -
another French essay on McGahern by Cornelius Crowley
One God, one discipline: the case
of John McGahern - by David Coad - do you always have to go to a foreign
university to write about McGahern?
Maher,
Eamon "John McGahern and his Irish Readers"
New Hibernia Review - Volume 9, Number 2, Summer 2005, pp. 125-136
University of St. Thomas
