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Liam O’Flaherty

Biography

Liam O’Flaherty was born on Inishmore, in the Aran Islands in 1896. He had a hard upbringing but, as he showed marked intelligence, was able to get a seminary education. He went to Holy Cross College, a seminary in Dublin, but dropped out and went to University College and gave his support to the Irish rebels, before joining the British army and fighting in World War I. While in Flanders, he suffered shell shock. He returned home but soon started travelling, paying his way by working at various jobs. He started writing about these travels in short stories but, when the stories were rejected, he gave up writing and took to political activity, joining the Communist party. He had to leave Ireland and went to England where his first story, The Sniper, was published. He then published his first novel and went on to publish a series of novels and short stories, many set on the Aran Islands, though some were set in Dublin. Many of them dealt with tumultuous periods in Irish history. He died in 1984.

Books about Liam O’Flaherty

Paul A. Doyle: Liam O’Flaherty
James O’Brien: Liam O’Flaherty

Other links

Liam O’Flaherty
A tribute to Liam O’Flaherty in honor of an August birthday
The Sniper (story by O’Flaherty)
The Reaping Race (story by O’Flaherty)

Bibliography

1923 Thy Neighbour’s Wife (novel)
1924 Spring Sowing (short stories)
1924 The Black Soul (novel)
1925 Civil War (short stories)
1925 The Informer (novel)
1926 Darkness: A Tragedy in Three Acts (short story)
1926 Mr. Gilhooley (novel)
1926 The Child of God (short stories)
1926 The Tent (short stories)
1926 The Terrorist (short stories)
1927 The Fairy Goose and Two Other Stories (short stories)
1927 The Life of Tim Healy
1928 Red Barbara and Other Stories (London: Faber & Gwyer (short stories)
1928 The Assassin (novel)
1929 A Tourist’s Guide to Ireland
1929 The House of Gold (novel)
1929 The Mountain Tavern and Other Stories (short stories)
1929 The Return of the Brute (novel)
1930 Joseph Conrad: An Appreciation
1930 Two Years (autobiography)
1931 A Cure for Unemployment
1931 I Went to Russia
1931 The Ecstasy of Angus (short stories)
1931 The Puritan (novel)
1932 Skerrett (novel)
1932 The Wild Swan and Other Stories (short stories)
1933 The Martyr (novel)
1934 Shame the Devil (autobiography)
1935 Hollywood Cemetery (novel)
1937 Famine (novel)
1937 The Short Stories of Liam O’Flaherty (short stories)
1946 Land (novel)
1948 Two Lovely Beasts (short stories), and Other Stories (short stories)
1950 Insurrection (novel)
1953 Dúil (short stories)
1956 The Stories of Liam O’Flaherty (short stories)
1958 Selected Stories (short stories)
1961 Short Stories (short stories)
1970 Irish Portraits: 14 Short Stories (short stories)
1971 More Short Stories of Liam O’Flaherty (short stories)
1973 The Wounded Cormorant and Other Stories (short stories)
1976 The Pedlar’s Revenge and Other Stories (later: Short Stories: The Pedlar’s Revenge and Other Stories) (short stories)
1977 The Test of Courage (short stories)
1977 All Things Come of Age: A Rabbit Story
1978 The Wilderness
1980 The Wave and Other Stories (short stories)
1999 The Collected Stories (short stories)