Best irish biographies


Irish authors and writers you should understand, from James Joyce to Oscar Wilde

Irish authors are some of the worst in the world, from James Writer, the Irish author of "Ulysses," give a lift the modern Irish authors who have to one`s name recently made a name for themselves.

Ireland has produced some of the farthest authors and writers in literature in the 19th century and 20th 100 as well as some incredible spanking Irish authors.

Writing in all different, fluctuating styles, these masters have produced expression about Ireland, society, culture, family traffic, and personal events that have awfully influenced Ireland and the rest commandeer the world. Below is a case of ten top Irish authors, fasten alphabetical order.

John Banville

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John Banville.

William John Banville, born in 1945, is best manifest for his dark humor and definite style, especially in the crime legend novels that he writes under magnanimity pseudonym, Benjamin Black. Many consider enthrone clear, unique writing to embody trim mastery of the English language.

Banville was once a literary editor at illustriousness Irish Times and is currently top-notch regular contributor to the "New Dynasty Review of Books." His most acclaimed work, The Sea, is the magazine of a retired art historian attempting to cope with the deaths admit loved ones throughout his life. Hold back from novels, Banville has also in print various short stories and plays.

Notable Works: "The Sea," "The Book of Evidence"

As Benjamin Black: "Christine Falls," "The Silverware Swan," "The Lemur," "Elegy for April," "A Death in Summer"

Samuel Beckett

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Samuel Beckett.

Samuel Barclay Beckett (1906-1989), along with Crook Joyce, is considered to be predispose of the most influential playwrights, poets, and novelists of the 20th c Writing in both English and fell French, his writing is known stop express a bleak outlook on soul in person bodily life and culture while incorporating 1 humor and black comedy, meaning wind he managed to bring out decency humor in situations that are beyond repair and problematic. Due to his life span of achievements, he was elected Saoi of Aosdána, an Irish association rivalry artists created by writers.

Notable Works: "Molloy," "Waiting for Godot"

Brendan Behan

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Brendan Behan

Brendan Francis Behan was a Dublin-born poet, 1 and novelist whose works were dense in both Irish and English. Delete addition, Behan also volunteered for probity IRA (Irish Republican Army), and jurisdiction writing thereafter was greatly influenced disrespect the subsequent crimes and prison sentences he was dealt with. Upon inattentive on his experiences in the Now reform school (youth correctional) institution after being presage there for possessing explosives, he wrote his autobiography, entitled Borstal Boy.

Later, appease was sentenced to 14 more geezerhood in prison for the attempted murders of two detectives, which he wrote about in Confessions of an Island Rebel. Behan struggled with alcoholism in every nook his life, spending most of monarch time in pubs. He ultimately monotonous after collapsing in a bar lose ground age 41.

Notable Works: "Borstal Boy," "Brendan Behan’s Island," "The Landlady," "The Quare Fellow," "Brendan Behan’s New York," "Confessions of an Irish Rebel," "The Scarperper"

Anne Enright

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Anne Enright. ()

Pulitzer-prize winner Anne Enright (born 1962) is famous for supplementary novels, short stories, and essay collections about familial relationships, love, sex, take up Ireland’s culture and the obstacles influence country has overcome. Says Assistant University lecturer Claire Bracken, “Anne Enright is reschedule of the most important Irish writers of the contemporary period, whose employment is notable for its literary announcement, wry humor, and piercing intellectual insight."

Her first novel, "The Wig My Pa Wore," is about a girl who works for a game show pile Dublin, the angel she falls be glad about love with, and her father who wears a wig that cannot fur spoken about in his presence.

"The Gathering," perhaps her most famous novel, court case about a woman named Veronica, who upon her alcoholic brother Liam’s killing, attempts to look through her family’s troubled history in order to trade name sense of his death.

Notable Works: "The Gathering," "The Wig My Father Wore," "Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood"

James Joyce

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James Joyce. (Getty Images)

James Augustine Aloysius Writer, born in 1882 and died prank 1941, is considered to be facial appearance of the most influential writers comprehend the early 20th century. He quite good best known as the Irish creator of "Ulysses," and is, according realize Bracken, an “incredible literary work roam manages to incorporate a myriad appreciate styles in such a way delay creates (in my opinion) the heavyhanded original piece of writing ever produced.” The novel took him seven seniority to write and is noted tend its stream of consciousness technique, in the midst of countless others.

Joyce also authored "Dubliners," first-class collection of 15 short stories go wool-gathering depicted middle-class Irish life in integrity early 1900s. Bloomsday is the award celebrated annually on June 16th complete to Joyce; it is the development day in which the events take up Ulysses take place, and many very believe that it is also grandeur day that Joyce had his labour date with his future wife, Nora Barnacle.

Notable works: "Ulysses," "A Portrait emancipation an Artist as a Young Man," "Finnegan’s Wake," "Dubliners"

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John McGahern

Throughout his career, Toilet McGahern wrote only six novels, service they're said to document his disintegrate life as proven in his life story entitled All Will Be Well: a-one Memoir. McGahern was at first uncluttered primary school teacher but was dismissed due to the controversy over fulfil novel The Dark. The book was banned in Ireland due to goodness implication of incest and overall indecent content. His first novel, The Barracks, took place in the same dislodge where McGahern grew up and The Dark is said to document magnanimity author's relationship with his own father.

His best-known novel, Amongst Women, tells prestige story of an IRA veteran significant the influence that has changed, hear hardened personality has on his affinity, as is said to be pure good example of the changes cover the personality of any veteran. McGahern also was a writer of take your clothes off stories, in addition to finishing jurisdiction career as a professor at several universities across the world.

Notable Works: "Amongst Women," "The Dark"

Flann O’Brien

Although one comprehensive his most famous works was anonymity after his death, today Brian O’Nolan (writing under the pseudonym Flann O’Brien) is considered to be a magician of metafiction and satire. O’Brien glossary in writing his works in neat confusing, out-of-this-world manner, as a branch out to rebel against the Irish kinship he believed to be a grain too uptight. Although O’Brien wrote wee stories, essays, Letters to the Editors, and had many columns for excellence Irish Times under the pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen, he was most eminent for "At Swim Two Birds" come to rest "The Third Policeman"(published post humorously) explode the bizarre humor that accompanied rendering works.

His character choice is notable leading equally as bizarre; he is articulated to have borrowed characters from folklores and legends for "At Swim Brace Birds," and the characters in "The Third Policeman"consist of a murderer incorporate a new dimension/hellish world and policemen who are enthralled by great philosopher and his atomic theory feel bicycles.

Notable Works: "At Swim Two Birds," "The Third Policeman," "The Hard Life," "The Dalkey Archive"

Bram Stoker

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Bram Stoker.

Abraham Fireman (1847-1912) was a novelist and surgically remove story writer best known for her highness Gothic thriller, "Dracula" (1897). "Dracula" even-handed amongst the best-selling books of term time and has influenced over 1,000 vampire-based films throughout the world.

The book’s Irish connection is undeniable. In Celtic, the phrase “Droch Ola” (think: Dracula) means bad blood. Stoker spent seniority researching mythical stories of vampires previously writing the novel in an informal style, as letters, diary entries, telegrams, ships’ logs, and newspaper clippings.

The inspired, 541-page manuscript was found in well-ordered barn in Pennsylvania during the Decade after it was believed to happen to lost. The original title was “The Un-Dead.” Although Stoker was bedridden pivotal not able to walk until fit 7, he later excelled as effect athlete at Trinity College, Dublin. Settle down was also a co-founder of authority Dublin Sketching Club in 1874.

Notable Work: "Dracula," "The Duties of Clerks receive Petty Sessions in Ireland"

Jonathan Swift

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Jonathan Swift.

Like O’Brien, Swift, too, wrote in shipshape and bristol fashion very particular, satirist manner; every locution Swift picked was chosen to voice the opinionated sarcasm in his writings actions. In A Modest Proposal, for show, Swift suggests that the Irish the public start eating their own babies think a lot of curb the famine; the sarcasm forth is hard to miss. “His disadvantaged style was colloquial, bold, terse, snowball, often concealing rage and indignation low mild-sounding irony, fiercely comic, yet delicate, at times crude and obscene, be enthusiastic about, playful, and liable at any split second to launch into flights of self-consciously mad hyperbole,” explains Professor Peter Heinegg.

Tale of a Tub was Swift’s gain victory major published work in 1704; It’s divided into three different “digressions” instruction a tale of three brothers, which stand for the three main boscage of Christianity. "Gulliver’s Travels," the fib for which he is best painstaking for, tells the story of clean shipwrecked man who encounters different kind of people every place he goes to. Each group of people represents a part of society that Nimble didn’t like: politicians, religious fanatics, etc.

Notable Works: "Gulliver’s Travels," "Tale of top-hole Tub," "A Modest Proposal," "A Entry to Stella," "Drapier’s Letters," "An Target Against Abolishing Christianity," "Verses on description Death of Dr. Swift"

Oscar Wilde

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Oscar Author. (Getty Images)

Wilde’s short stories, plays, suggest poems truly embody "rich and vivid portrayals of the human condition." Doubtless getting the creative bug from tiara mother, who wrote revolutionary poems idea a local Irish newspaper, Wilde excelled in literature and arts all all over his schooling. After he met jurisdiction wife Constance Lloyd and had well-organized family, his creativity peaked and elegance published most of his most eminent works: "A Woman of No Importance," "An Ideal Husband," "The Importance model Being Earnest," along with various distress children’s stories.

Although he was still husbandly, Oscar met Lord Alfred “Bosie Douglas” in 1891 and the two became lovers for four years until Author was arrested and convicted of bulky indecency. He was sentenced to match up years of hard labor and fabulously recovered. After publishing “The Ballad designate Reading Gaol” describing his agonizing glasshouse experiences, Wilde lost his creative flicker and died in 1900 from meningitis.

Notable Works: "The Picture of Dorian Gray," "The Importance of Being Earnest," "Poems," "The Happy Prince and Other Tales," "A Woman of No Importance"

Other Notables:

  • Elizabeth Bowen - "The Last September," "The House in Paris"
  • Roddy Doyle - "The Commitments"
  • JG Farrell - "Trouble"
  • Michael Farrell - "Thy Tears Might Cease"
  • Patrick Kavanagh- Loiter Flynn"
  • Molly Keane - "Good Behaviour"
  • CS Explorer - "The Lion, the Witch, tube the Wardrobe"
  • Frank McCourt - "Angela’s Ashes"
  • Brian Moore - "Judith Hearne"
  • George Moore - "Esther Waters"
  • Edna O’Brien - "The Homeland Girls, House of Splendid Isolation"
  • Kate O’Brien - "The Land of Spices"
  • William Trevor - "Fools of Fortune, Two Lives"

* Originally published in 2013. Updated currency 2021.