Edna O'Brien
Author of The Little Red Chairs
About the Author
Writer Edna O'Brien was born in Clare County, Ireland, in 1930 and attended Pharmaceutical College in Dublin. O'Brien, winner of the Kingsley Amis Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Price and the European Literature Prize, has written short stories, novels, plays, television plays and screenplays. show more She has also written for such magazines as Cosmopolitan, Ladies Home Journal and The New Yorker. (Bowker Author Biography) Edna O'Brien's previous works of fiction include "Down by the River", "House of Splendid Isolation", "Time & Tide", & "Lantern Slides", which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction. Her book about James Joyce was published in 1999 & excerpted in "The New Yorker". An honorary member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters, O'Brien grew up in Ireland & now lives in London. (Publisher Provided) show less
Image credit: Edna O'Brien, pictured in 1968.
Series
Works by Edna O'Brien
The Love Object [short story] 2 copies
Sister Imelda 2 copies
Casualties of Peace 1 copy
Flickor i k̃tenskapets hamn 1 copy
Heiligen en zondaars 1 copy
A Journey 1 copy
In the Hours of Darkness 1 copy
Associated Works
The Condé Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys: Great Writers on Great Places (2007) — Contributor — 246 copies
The Pleasure of Reading: 43 Writers on the Discovery of Reading and the Books that Inspired Them (2015) — Contributor — 80 copies
Who’s Writing This? Notations on the Authorial I, with Self-Portraits {not Antæus} (1995) — Contributor — 73 copies
About Women: An Anthology of Contemporary Fiction, Poetry, and Essays (1973) — Contributor — 26 copies
Antaeus No. 64/65, Spring/Autumn 1990 - Twentieth Anniversary Issue (1990) — Contributor — 12 copies
* De Provence Lege Artis: Verhalen uit het land van Van Gogh — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- O'Brien, Edna
- Legal name
- O'Brien, Josephine Edna
- Birthdate
- 1930-12-15
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Ireland
- Birthplace
- Tuamgraney, County Clare, Ireland
- Places of residence
- Tuamgraney, County Clare, Ireland
London, England, UK - Education
- Convent of Mercy, Loughrea
Pharmaceutical College of Dublin - Occupations
- novelist
playwright
pharmacist - Relationships
- Gébler, Ernest (ex-husband)
Gebler, Carlo (son) - Organizations
- American Academy of Arts and Letters (Foreign Honorary, Literature, 1987)
Aosdána - Awards and honors
- Irish Book Award Lifetime Achievement (2009)
- Agent
- Robert Lescher (Lescher & Lescher ∙ Ltd.)
Ed Victor
Members
Reviews
Lists
Irish writers (2)
Revolutions (1)
Europe (2)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 79
- Also by
- 27
- Members
- 8,969
- Popularity
- #2,684
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 233
- ISBNs
- 566
- Languages
- 19
- Favorited
- 18
- Touchstones
- 452
I could have categorized The Country Girls under "A Trilogy," and perhaps reading all three novels would have helped me appreciate this one more. Not being Irish, Catholic or a child of the '50s (much less female) prevented me from comprehending the groundbreaking nature of Edna O'Brien's story without the insights provided in the introduction (which I read after the novel and should be taken with a grain of feminist salt).
The Country Girls is the story of two young Irish girls, Caithleen and Bridget, who maintain a tenuous friendship through the death of Cait's mother and their "incarceration" in the convent they were sent to, ostensibly to be educated. During this time, fourteen-year-old Cait begins a highly romanticized affair with a much older married man, referred to as Mr. Gentleman due to her difficulty pronouncing his surname. She is ultimately expelled from the school her family cannot afford without the scholarship she earns after succumbing to the malignant influence of her purported friend. Whereupon the girls take up joint residency of a room in a lower-class boardinghouse in Dublin and their "education" continues.
Another book on all versions of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list, The Country Girls reads like a train wreck in the making, with the premonition of catastrophe awaiting in the subsequent volumes.… (more)