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    The Best of Frank O'Connor

    Introduction by Julian Barnes

    Part of Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics Series

    Author Frank O'Connor
    Introduction by Julian Barnes
    Ebook
    Knopf | Everyman's Library
    On sale Oct 05, 2011 | 712 Pages | 9780307806727
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    The most generous one-volume collection ever published of short stories, autobiographical writings,poetry, and essays by the writer Yeats called “Ireland’s Chekhov.”

    Selected and arranged thematically by Julian Barnes, the rich mix of writings in The Best of Frank O’Connor starts off with his most famous short story, “Guests of the Nation,” set during the Irish War of Independence; chronicles his childhood with an alcoholic father and protective mother; and traces his literary influences in brilliant essays on Joyce and Yeats. O’Connor’s wonderfully polyphonic tales of family, friendship, and rivalry are set beside those that bring to life forgotten souls on the fringes of society. O’Connor’s writings about Ireland vividly evoke the land he called home, while other stories probe the hardships and rewards of Irish emigration. Finally, we see O’Connor grappling, in both fiction and memoir, with the largest questions of religion and belief.

    The Best of Frank O’Connor is a literary monument to a truly great writer.

    Acknowledgment
    Introduction
    Select Bibliography
    Chronology
    About the Editor

    1. WAR
    Preface
    Guests of the Nation
    Attack
    Jumbo’s Wife
    September Dawn
    Machine-Gun Corps in Action
    Laughter
    Soirée Chez une Belle Jeune Fille
    From An Only Child — The Fight for Freedom
    From The Big Fellow: Michael Collins and the Irish Revolution
    From My Father’s Son — A Case of Hypnotism

    2. CHILDHOOD
    Preface
    My Oedipus Complex
    From An Only Child — Mother
    The Genius
    First Confession
    From Writing a Story — One Man’s Way
    The Study of History
    From An Only Child — A Love of Heights
    The Man of the World
    From An Only Child — The Bandsmen
    The Cornet Player Who Betrayed Ireland

    3. WRITERS
    Preface
    Introduction to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
    From James Joyce: A Post-Mortem
    From My Father’s Son — George Russell and W. B. Yeats
    From Leinster, Munster and Connaught — Yeats
    Centenary Address at the Graveside of W. B. Yeats
    From Leinster, Munster and Connaught — The Tailor and Anstey

    4. LONELY VOICES
    Preface
    The Procession of Life
    The Majesty of the Law
    After Fourteen Years
    May Night
    There is a Lone House
    Uprooted
    The Bridal Night
    A Bachelor’s Story
    Lonely Rock

    5. IRELAND
    Preface
    A Learned Mistress
    Advice to Lovers
    I am Stretched on Your Grave
    A Word of Warning
    A Grey Eye Weeping
    From My Father’s Son — Yeats as Editor
    Kilcash
    Hope
    From Irish Miles — Father and Son
    From Leinster, Munster and Connaught —
    —Cork and Mental Age of Cities
    —Cork
    —Sligo
    From The Backward Look
    From Holiday Magazine

    6. BETTER QUARRELLING
    Preface
    From My Father’s Son — First Fiction
    From The Saint and Mary Kate
    The Luceys
    Peasants
    Fish for Friday
    Old-Age Pensioners
    A Thing of Nothing
    News for the Church
    The Mad Lomasneys
    In the Train

    7. ABROAD
    Preface
    The Babes in the Wood
    The Paragon
    Darcy in the Land of Youth
    The American Wife
    A Story by Maupassant
    The Conversion
    The Late Henry Conran
    Michael’s Wife
    From My Father’s Son — The American Liner

    8. LAST THINGS
    Preface
    From Leinster, Munster and Connaught — Monastery
    Song without Words
    ‘The Star that Bids the Shepherd Fold’
    The Frying-Pan
    This Mortal Coil
    The Wreath
    From An Only Child — Grandmother
    The Long Road to Ummera
    From My Father’s Son — Tim Trayner
    The Mass Island
    Frank O’Connor (1903–1966) was born in Cork, Ireland. The author of plays, stories, criticism, and poetry, he was also a director of the legendary Abbey Theatre in Dublin. View titles by Frank O'Connor

    About

    The most generous one-volume collection ever published of short stories, autobiographical writings,poetry, and essays by the writer Yeats called “Ireland’s Chekhov.”

    Selected and arranged thematically by Julian Barnes, the rich mix of writings in The Best of Frank O’Connor starts off with his most famous short story, “Guests of the Nation,” set during the Irish War of Independence; chronicles his childhood with an alcoholic father and protective mother; and traces his literary influences in brilliant essays on Joyce and Yeats. O’Connor’s wonderfully polyphonic tales of family, friendship, and rivalry are set beside those that bring to life forgotten souls on the fringes of society. O’Connor’s writings about Ireland vividly evoke the land he called home, while other stories probe the hardships and rewards of Irish emigration. Finally, we see O’Connor grappling, in both fiction and memoir, with the largest questions of religion and belief.

    The Best of Frank O’Connor is a literary monument to a truly great writer.

    Table of Contents

    Acknowledgment
    Introduction
    Select Bibliography
    Chronology
    About the Editor

    1. WAR
    Preface
    Guests of the Nation
    Attack
    Jumbo’s Wife
    September Dawn
    Machine-Gun Corps in Action
    Laughter
    Soirée Chez une Belle Jeune Fille
    From An Only Child — The Fight for Freedom
    From The Big Fellow: Michael Collins and the Irish Revolution
    From My Father’s Son — A Case of Hypnotism

    2. CHILDHOOD
    Preface
    My Oedipus Complex
    From An Only Child — Mother
    The Genius
    First Confession
    From Writing a Story — One Man’s Way
    The Study of History
    From An Only Child — A Love of Heights
    The Man of the World
    From An Only Child — The Bandsmen
    The Cornet Player Who Betrayed Ireland

    3. WRITERS
    Preface
    Introduction to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
    From James Joyce: A Post-Mortem
    From My Father’s Son — George Russell and W. B. Yeats
    From Leinster, Munster and Connaught — Yeats
    Centenary Address at the Graveside of W. B. Yeats
    From Leinster, Munster and Connaught — The Tailor and Anstey

    4. LONELY VOICES
    Preface
    The Procession of Life
    The Majesty of the Law
    After Fourteen Years
    May Night
    There is a Lone House
    Uprooted
    The Bridal Night
    A Bachelor’s Story
    Lonely Rock

    5. IRELAND
    Preface
    A Learned Mistress
    Advice to Lovers
    I am Stretched on Your Grave
    A Word of Warning
    A Grey Eye Weeping
    From My Father’s Son — Yeats as Editor
    Kilcash
    Hope
    From Irish Miles — Father and Son
    From Leinster, Munster and Connaught —
    —Cork and Mental Age of Cities
    —Cork
    —Sligo
    From The Backward Look
    From Holiday Magazine

    6. BETTER QUARRELLING
    Preface
    From My Father’s Son — First Fiction
    From The Saint and Mary Kate
    The Luceys
    Peasants
    Fish for Friday
    Old-Age Pensioners
    A Thing of Nothing
    News for the Church
    The Mad Lomasneys
    In the Train

    7. ABROAD
    Preface
    The Babes in the Wood
    The Paragon
    Darcy in the Land of Youth
    The American Wife
    A Story by Maupassant
    The Conversion
    The Late Henry Conran
    Michael’s Wife
    From My Father’s Son — The American Liner

    8. LAST THINGS
    Preface
    From Leinster, Munster and Connaught — Monastery
    Song without Words
    ‘The Star that Bids the Shepherd Fold’
    The Frying-Pan
    This Mortal Coil
    The Wreath
    From An Only Child — Grandmother
    The Long Road to Ummera
    From My Father’s Son — Tim Trayner
    The Mass Island

    Author

    Frank O’Connor (1903–1966) was born in Cork, Ireland. The author of plays, stories, criticism, and poetry, he was also a director of the legendary Abbey Theatre in Dublin. View titles by Frank O'Connor

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