Walter Macken
Walter Macken was a notable Irish writer born on May 3, 1915, in Galway, a region he profoundly depicted through his literary works. Growing up in a working-class family and educated in Catholic schools, he became immersed in the Gaelic-language theater, Taibhdearc, where he began his career. After a brief stint in London, he returned to Galway and continued to write, focusing on the lives of marginalized individuals in impoverished communities. His early works, characterized by rich detail and strong dialogue, often revolved around the struggles of the less fortunate.
Macken gained wider recognition with his 1946 play "Mungo's Mansion," leading to a successful writing career that included a trilogy reflecting on Irish history through the lens of ordinary people. Despite his popularity, he faced challenges, including censorship and a tumultuous relationship with the Abbey Theatre, where he served as a government appointee—a position that ultimately strained his artistic integrity. Macken passed away at the age of fifty-one on April 22, 1967, leaving behind a legacy that celebrates the Irish language and culture, and his contributions are still felt within the Gaelic theater community today.
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Subject Terms
Walter Macken
Author
- Born: May 3, 1915
- Birthplace: Galway, County Galway, Ireland
- Died: April 22, 1967
- Place of death: Menlo, County Galway, Ireland
Biography
More than any other Irish writer, Walter Macken gave literary life to the people and language of Galway, an isolated area on the west coast of Ireland, where he was born on May 3, 1915. The son of a carpenter, he was educated in Catholic schools, leaving at seventeen to work with the Taibhdearc, a Gaelic-language theater. In 1937, he married a news editor, Peggy Kenny, and moved to London for two years, where he became an insurance salesman. He and his wife returned to his beloved homeland in 1939, and he worked at the Taibhdearc until 1947, when he was called to act with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. During a three- year tenure, he wrote three novels and one play, and he and his wife raised their two sons.
Most of Macken’s early writing dealt with impoverished Galwegians in tenement slums. His interests were always with people of lesser means, the ones who might easily go unnoticed, the ones without voices. He paid great attention to detail, wanting to bring audiences and readers as close to real life as possible, although his conventional plots often included out-of- the-ordinary events that tested credulity. He was especially noted for his characterization and his ear for dialogue. His plays were often populated with work-maimed, destitute, and sometimes lazy characters. Some critics thought he should have provided a greater exploration of character, delving into nuances or using situations to go outside the story into more complex universal issues, but generally audiences embraced his work.
It was in 1946, with the success of Mungo’s Mansion, a play written in English instead of Gaelic, that he became known outside of Galway. Another success in 1950 allowed him to devote himself exclusively to writing, but the wartime- established censorship board banned two of his subsequent novels. Because of the country’s reigning anti-intellectual climate, Macken returned to acting, mainly in adaptations of his own works, and began taking part in radio broadcasts and appearing on television and in films at home and abroad. His most notable role was in the movie version of Brendan Behan’s The Quare Fellow, released in 1962.
Macken’s most enduring literary work was a trilogy begun in 1957 dealing with three centuries of Irish history: Seek the Fair Land (1959), about the Cromwellian wars; The Silent People (1962), about the Great Famine; and The Scorching Wind (1964), about the struggle for independence from 1916 to 1923. He wrote from the point of view of the Irish people.
Macken joined in an unfortunate alliance in 1965, when he became the second government appointee on the board of directors of the Abbey Theatre, and later, when he was the artistic adviser and assistant manager. The Abbey had always prided itself on artistic independence and the potential for outside influence from government-appointed directors caused a growing uneasiness. Macken suffered much inner turmoil in trying to reconcile his loyalty to the theater with his authority as an agent of the government, finally resigning from the position in 1966. The damage had been done, however, and the Abbey refused to stage any of his works. Some family members believed that this conflict caused his early death at age fifty-one on April 22, 1967. However, there is no doubt that the Irish Gaelic theater owes Macken a large debt of gratitude for creating an appreciation of the country and its original language.