Liam O’Flaherty

Irish short-story writer and novelist

• Born: August 28, 1896
• Birthplace: Gort na gCapell, Aran Islands, Ireland
• Died: September 7, 1984
• Place of death: Dublin, Ireland

Biography

Liam O’Flaherty (oh-FLAHRT-ee), a writer of extraordinary storytelling ability and powers of observation, was born on August 28, 1896, in Gort na gCapell in the Aran Islands of Ireland, a stormy, desolate region that was to influence his writing both in style and in subject. An outstanding student, O’Flaherty was educated at the Junior Seminary at Rockwell, Blackrock College, and Holy Cross College, a diocesan seminary in Dublin. Whether the priesthood was his intention is not known; he later wrote that he gave up the idea of being a priest while at Rockwell. He won a scholarship to University College, Dublin, and began studying medicine.

In 1915 O’Flaherty left University College to join the British army. He served with the Irish Guards in Belgium and France, suffered shell shock at Langemarck in September 1917, and was consequently invalided from the army in 1918. He returned to Ireland briefly, then roamed the world for the next two years. He worked as a seaman on ships in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and traveled and worked in Canada and the United States. His brother Robert O’Flaherty, living in Boston and himself a writer, encouraged Liam to write about his experiences, and O’Flaherty attempted several short stories but, dissatisfied with his results, burned many of them.

In 1920 he returned to Ireland. O’Flaherty had always been politically active; as a schoolboy at Rockwell, he had organized a corps of Republican Volunteers, and at University College, he had joined the college Irish Volunteers corps. Back in Ireland again after war and wandering, he became active in communist and socialist causes. He also broke with the Catholic Church. On January 18, 1922, during the Irish Civil War, O’Flaherty led a group of unemployed demonstrators in occupying the Rotunda in Dublin and raising over it the Communist Party flag. His political activities eventually forced him to flee Ireland for London, where he began to write seriously. His early efforts, a 150,000-word novel and several short stories, did not meet with much success.

In January 1923, his short story “The Sniper” was published in The New Leader and brought him to the attention of the critic Edward Garnett. Garnett became a sort of literary mentor for O’Flaherty and was instrumental in getting his novel Thy Neighbour’s Wife accepted by Jonathan Cape, a London publisher. O’Flaherty’s first published novel is technically awkward, and his characters are not entirely credible or engaging, but his portrayal of the Aran Islands setting (which he calls “Nara”) is detailed and compelling, a precursor of the acute rendering of his native environment that was to become one of O’Flaherty’s literary hallmarks.

The Informer was his first major critical success. In it, O’Flaherty skillfully evokes the atmosphere of lower-class Dublin: sordid, grimy, hopeless. His characterization of the Dublin slum dwellers is incisive, and the novel won many literary prizes for O’Flaherty in England and France. During the 1920s, O’Flaherty wrote voluminously, publishing several novels and an abundance of short stories. In 1926 he eloped with Margaret Barrington; in the same year, Mr. Gilhooley was published. In this disturbing tale of loneliness and destructively jealous love, O’Flaherty continues to develop the talent for portraying heightened psychological and emotional states which he had first demonstrated in The Black Soul and The Informer.

O’Flaherty moved restlessly—to Dublin, London, France, and rural Ireland. A man of extreme if changeable views, he was as turbulent and emotional of temperament as many of his characters, and he was to suffer two nervous breakdowns during his literary career. In 1930 he visited the Soviet Union, an experience which left him disaffected with communism and which he was to record the following year in I Went to Russia. O’Flaherty and his wife were separated in 1932. That same year, he and several other prominent writers formed the Irish Academy of Letters. Three of his novels were filmed in the 1930s, including The Informer, which won two Academy Awards in 1935. During this period, he produced what many critics believe are his best novels, Skerrett and Famine. He continued to produce volumes of short stories, many of which deal with life in rural Ireland or with the animal kingdom.

During World War II, O’Flaherty traveled extensively in the Caribbean and South America; he also lived for a time in Connecticut. He returned to Europe after the war and moved between Ireland, England, and France, finally settling in Dublin in 1952. Dúil, a collection of short stories in Gaelic, was published in 1953.

O’Flaherty’s range of style and subject and the erratic quality of his prose make it difficult to characterize his work simply. His writing is at times almost clinically objective; at times it verges on melodrama. Deeply rooted in the Irish experience, he wrote almost exclusively of Irish history, culture, and themes. However, his minutely detailed observations of the struggle for survival and harmony in a harsh and demanding nature—and in a human society which is often hostile and oppressive—transcend boundaries of place and time and merit O’Flaherty a place among the great narrative talents of the twentieth century.

Author Works

Short Fiction

Spring Sowing, 1924

Civil War, 1925

Darkness, 1926

The Terrorist, 1926

The Tent, and Other Stories, 1926

The Mountain Tavern, and Other Stories, 1929

The Ecstasy of Angus, 1931

The Short Stories of Liam O’Flaherty, 1937

Two Lovely Beasts, and Other Stories, 1948

Dúil, 1953

The Stories of Liam O’Flaherty, 1956

The Pedlar’s Revenge, and Other Stories, 1976

The Wave, and Other Stories, 1980

Liam O’Flaherty: The Collected Stories, 1999 (A. A. Kelly, editor)

Long Fiction

Thy Neighbour’s Wife, 1923

The Black Soul, 1924

The Informer, 1925

Mr. Gilhooley, 1926

The Assassin, 1928

The House of Gold, 1929

The Return of the Brute, 1929

The Puritan, 1931

Skerrett, 1932

The Martyr, 1933

Hollywood Cemetery, 1935

Famine, 1937

Land, 1946

Insurrection, 1950

Nonfiction

The Life of Tim Healy, 1927

Joseph Conrad, 1930

Two Years, 1930

I Went to Russia, 1931

Shame the Devil, 1934

The Letters of Liam O’Flaherty, 1996 (A. A. Kelly, editor)

Children’s/Young Adult Literature

All Things Come of Age and the Test of Courage, 1984

Bibliography

Cahalan, James M. Liam O’Flaherty: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne, 1991. An introduction to O’Flaherty’s stories by an expert in Irish literature. Discusses the peasant consciousness in the stories, as well as the stories’ relationship to the Irish language. Comments on issues of gender and politics raised by the stories. Also includes many comments by O’Flaherty from letters and articles, as well as secondary sources.

Costello, Peter. Liam O’Flaherty’s Ireland. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1996. Explores O’Flaherty’s life and times, how his environment influenced his writings.

Daniels, William. “Introduction to the Present State of Criticism of Liam O’Flaherty’s Collection of Short Stories: Dúil.” Eire-Ireland 23 (Summer, 1988): 122-134. A summary of criticism of O’Flaherty’s stories in Dúil. Takes issue with a number of criticisms of the stories, such as their lack of focus on setting, plot, and point of view. Argues that the stories deserve much better criticism than they have received from critics in both Irish and English.

Doyle, Paul A. Liam O’Flaherty. Boston: Twayne, 1972. The first comprehensive overview of O’Flaherty’s life and work. The author’s reading of O’Flaherty’s short fiction tends to be more illuminating than that of the novels. Although superseded by later studies, this volume is still helpful as a means of orientating the newcomer to O’Flaherty’s work. Contains an extensive bibliography.

Jefferson, George. Liam O’Flaherty: A Descriptive Bibliography of His Works. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1993. A useful tool for the student of O’Flaherty. Includes bibliographical references and an index.

Kelly, A. A. Liam O’Flaherty: The Storyteller. London: Macmillan, 1976. An exhaustive treatment of the themes and techniques of O’Flaherty’s short fiction. Although somewhat disjointed in organization, this study ultimately makes a convincing case for the distinctiveness of O’Flaherty’s achievements in the form. Particular emphasis is placed on the range and variety of his stories. Supplemented by an excellent bibliography.

Kilroy, James R. “Setting the Standards: Writers of the 1920’s and 1930’s.” In The Irish Short Story: A Critical History, edited by James F. Kilroy. Boston: Twayne, 1984. An introduction to O’Flaherty’s stories, emphasizing their ethical implications and naturalism. Discusses his simple narrative technique and style and how the short story suits his single-minded vision.

O’Brien, James H. Liam O’Flaherty. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1973. A brief introduction to O’Flaherty’s life and work. Its longest chapter is devoted to O’Flaherty’s short stories, but the study also contains biographical information and analyses of the novels. O’Flaherty’s achievements as a short-story writer are considered in the context of those of his Irish contemporaries. The stories’ themes and motifs are also discussed.

Sheeran, Patrick J. The Novels of Liam O’Flaherty: A Study in Romantic Realism. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1976. This study contains more than its title suggests. It is both a comprehensive study of O’Flaherty’s novels and an investigation of their cultural context. The author’s knowledge of, and original research into, O’Flaherty’s background provides invaluable information about his formative experiences. The critique of O’Flaherty’s longer works may be usefully adapted by students of his short fiction. In many ways, the most satisfactory study of O’Flaherty’s work.

Thompson, Richard R. “The Sage Who Deep in Central Nature Delves: Liam O’Flaherty’s Short Stories.” Eire-Ireland 18 (Spring, 1983): 80-97. A discussion of the central themes in O’Flaherty’s stories, focusing primarily on the moral lessons inherent in his nature stories, which urge a turning away from intellectualism.

Zneimer, John. The Literary Vision of Liam O’Flaherty. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1970. An ambitious approach to O’Flaherty’s work. The author sees a strong religious component in O’Flaherty’s novels and stories and a tension between the two forms. The novels are said to be despairing, while the stories are claimed to offer a redemptive alternative. Some important insights do not ultimately make the author’s argument persuasive.