In her time, Irish novelist Kate O'Brien caused quite a stir with her writing. So shocking did the authorities find her themes of female sexuality that her books were banned in her homeland.
She is largely forgotten now, with her succes having come when the Irish Free State was newly born. Her books are out of print, but her memory is being celebrated in Limerick this weekend.
Ms. O'Brien is one of Limerick's lights, a skilled artist who worked with words to create images of her time, a time when women were expected to knuckle under to the authority of the Catholic Church. She had the audacity to mock Eamon de Valera when the rest of the nation was faint with adoration for the last man standing at the end of the Easter Rising. To top it all off, she managed to hint at the existence of homosexuality through her prose. No surprise, then, that she eventually emigrated to England in 1965 and never returned to her homeland.
The family home in Limerick is on the market, damaged by fire and put to hard use by drinking parties and junkies. The government has no money to save the building, which may well tumble into ruin.
Kate O'Brien's books, however, will always be there, somewhere, either as a reprint or an e-book or a used book in an antiquarian's shop. In the end, it's the words that make a difference and it's the words that must survive.
2 comments:
this is sad to hear. I remember reading one of her books, maybe the land of spices. RE: your agent querying, well, pushing ahead the only choice. Seems not unlike blogging--longing for readers, responses, but keep on writing to please myself first. Thanks for reminding me of O'Brien. JF
The writing is a bit of an addiction, I've found. No matter how painful, I keep putting words on paper.
Some day the world will discover Irish lit. O'Brien's books are every bit as interesting as anything Masterpiece Theatre has adapted from the Brits.
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