Item 6 - Irish Novelists after Joyce

59pp

Folder containing notes for lectures given by G Freyer on 'Irish Novelists' [after James Joyce] and 'Landmarks in Irish Fiction' to students at Coimbra in 1967; Wesley College, Dublin and Castlebar in 1968, Lisbon and Boston. Includes a note from Francis Stuart (1972) and notes on Freyer's interview with him; copy of a printed article entitled 'Retrospect on Ó Faoláin' by G Freyer and published in "The New Republic" [an American publication]; newspaper cuttings relating to Mary Lavin, Edna O'Brien, Samuel Beckett and Irish writers of the 1960s; cutting of an article 'How Catholic in the Catholic Novel?' by Peter Hebblethwaite from "The Times Literary Supplement" of 27 July 1967; a review by Benedict Kiely of "The Third Policeman" by Flann O'Brien in "The New York Times Book Review" (12 Nov 1967). Also four letters from Seán Ó Faoláin, Knockaderry, Killiney, Co Dublin to G Freyer, Terrybaun, Bofeenaun, Ballina, Co. Mayo, discussing the meaning of "The Catholic Novel"; Ó Faoláin writes on 13 Sept 1966 'In sum I now do not believe the Catholic novel is a category in which a good novelist would be happily free from the taint of sectarianism, or professionalism, or parochialism', He concludes 'The plain fact is that no religion ever answers any particular question satisfactorily. It colours life. It is a form of poetry. It is precious therefore. It holds crude materialism at bay. Man will always seek it. But when he comes down to case he finds ... only himself'. Freyer must have questioned him on this in reply as Ó Faoláin expands the theme further in another letter dated 23 Sept 1944 and in which he refers to "Bird Alone".

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A6/24

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03/12/2015
25/07/2025