This book explores the work of John McGahern, one of the greatest Irish prose writers of the twentieth century. The fifteen essays collected here address McGahern’s legacy from a range of fresh perspectives drawn from the fields of literary criticism, history, sociology, education, journalism and creative writing. Examining his novels, short stories, memoir and prose writings, these essays interrogate the ways in which his writing responds to key issues in these subject areas.

Featuring an afterword by Declan Kiberd and contributions from experts and scholars from a variety of disciplines, along with distinguished writers and cultural practitioners such as Frank McGuinness, Roy Foster, Paula Meehan and Melvyn Bragg, this unique volume both deepens and broadens the McGahern conversation, opening his work to students and readers in a new way. It delivers richly informed insights on the writer’s early career and traces his persistent concerns with style and form, with the task of the writer and with a secular spirituality that manifests itself in ethical concerns about our relationship to our social, cultural and natural environment and the individual’s struggle to find a way to be in the world. 

The book also includes a late interview with McGahern; a valuable new resource for students, researchers and general readers, illuminating some of the discussions in the preceding essays and providing insights into his approach to literature. 

The essays in this collection offer demanding but lucid and accessible studies of McGahern’s body of work and will be of interest to students and teachers at all levels of academic study along with the appreciative reader of McGahern’s work.