Frank O'Connor

Frank O'Connor was an Irish short-story writer, memoirist, translator, critic, poet, and playwright whose work ranged across fiction and cultural commentary. Born Michael O’Donovan in Cork in 1903, he later served as a director of Dublin’s Abbey Theatre. The Best of Frank O’Connor gathers this range in one volume, selected and arranged thematically by Julian Barnes. It begins with Guests of the Nation, then moves through stories of family, friendship, rivalry, and people living at society’s margins. The collection also includes autobiographical writing, poetry, and essays on figures such as James Joyce and W. B. Yeats. Julian Barnes edited the volume for the Everyman’s Library series; the 2009 Knopf edition runs more than six hundred pages. O’Connor’s stories are especially associated with Irish life, but the collection demonstrates that his achievement was not confined to one form. It brings his fiction beside reflections on childhood, emigration, belief, literary influence, and national culture.