Anthony Cronin (1) (1923–2016)

With a panel on Flann O'Brien's masterpiece, The Third Policeman, reeling drunkenly towards me, I decided that the time had come to finally properly acquaint myself with the life and times with that gentleman scribbler. The definitive Dubliner, hailing as he did from Strabane, his most endearing acheivement, in the eyes of his compatriots, was, apparently, that he squandered the talent of his youth and pretty much killed himself with drink. What I didn;t a[reciate was, that even though the show more rejection of The Third Policeman discouraged him from further novels for far too long, his work ethic was pretty extraordinary, but any sort of breakthrough popular international success eluded him, though At Swim-Two-Birds was just beginning to receive the sort of acclaim and sales that might have lead to a different career had it come sooner. Cronin is an affectionate and merciful biographer, not hiding his many faults but treating them with gentleness and sympathy. It's a brilliant evocation of Ireland in first two-thrids of the twentieth century, the same milieu that produced exiles Joyce and Beckett, but it was Miles who stayed, diligently providing daily entertainments in his newspaper column for the people of Dublin in much the same way he provided support for his large family when his father died, a wholly different sort of artistic life and outlook.

A superb book about a fascinating character. show less

Following close on the heels of James Knowlson's tremendous recent biography of Beckett, Damned to Fame, Irish poet and broadcaster Cronin's opus is an altogether different effort. While both start and end at the same place and are similarly lengthy, Cronin's work arrives at the writing of Waiting for Godot (1948) almost two-thirds of the way into his work, concentrating on Beckett's early "modernist" years, with excellent coverage of Vichy France; in contrast, Knowlson offers intensive show more focus on the writing and production of Beckett's plays. Cronin is a fluid, witty writer who does not refrain from inserting his own editorial comments into Beckett's story; nor does he idolize his subject. Beckett's liaison with Barbara Bray, who is Cronin's friend, is fully fleshed here, to the exclusion of other romances, the details of which Knowlson has reliably supplied. While Knowlson cracked every safe to fill in his portrait, Cronin conjures the spirit of the man. show less

A balanced and thorough life story of one the under-rated greats. Not as beautiful as I had hoped, nor as funny. Worth it after you've read all of Flann/Myles/Brian.

It truly was no laughing matter. O'Nolan was as accident prone as Inspector Clue-so, except for the fact that it was real for him.