Eugene McCabe

Eugene McCabe (7 July 1930 – 27 August 2020) was a Scots-born Irish novelist, short story writer, playwright, and television screenwriter.

Eugene McCabe
Born(1930-07-07)7 July 1930
Glasgow, Scotland
Died27 August 2020(2020-08-27) (aged 90)
Cavan, Ireland
Resting placeClones, Ireland
OccupationNovelist, playwright, short story writer, farmer

Biography

Born to Irish emigrants in Glasgow, Scotland, he moved with his family to Ireland in the early 1940s.[1] He lived on a farm near Lackey Bridge, just outside Clones in County Monaghan.[2] He was educated at Castleknock College.[3]

His play King of the Castle caused a minor scandal when first shown in 1964 and was protested by the League of Decency.[1] McCabe wrote his award-winning trilogy of television plays, consisting of Cancer, Heritage and Siege, because he felt he had to make a statement about the Troubles.[1] His 1992 novel Death and Nightingales has been called by Irish writer Colm Tóibín "one of the great Irish masterpieces of the century"[4] and a "classic of our times" by Kirkus Reviews.[5] He defended fellow novelist Dermot Healy by reviewing a reviewer of his book, Eileen Battersby, in The Irish Times in 2011, using the Joycean cloacal invective "shite and onions", causing considerable controversy in the Irish literary community.[6][7]

He died on 27 August 2020, aged 90.[8]

List of works
Plays
  • A Matter of Conscience (1962)
  • King of the Castle (1964)
  • Pull Down a Horseman (1966)
  • Breakdown (1966)
  • Swift (1969)
  • Gale Day (1979)
  • Victims (1981)
Television plays
  • Cancer (1973)
  • Heritage (1973)
  • Siege (1973)
  • Roma (1979)
Novel
Novella
  • The love of sisters (2009)
Short story collections
  • Victims: A Tale from Fermanagh (1976)
  • Heritage and Other Stories (1978)
  • Christ in the Fields, A Fermanagh Trilogy (1993)
  • Tales from the Poor House (1999)
  • Heaven Lies about Us (2005)
Children's books
  • Cyril: The Quest of an Orphaned Squirrel (1987)
  • Cyril's Woodland Quest (2001)
Non-fiction
  • Shadows from the Pale: Portrait of an Irish Town (1996)

References
  1. "Clones Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  2. "Aosdána". aosdana.artscouncil.ie. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  3. Doyle, Martin; Leavy, Adrienne. "Eugene McCabe, author and playwright, dies, aged 90". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  4. "Atlantic Monthly review of Death and Nightingales". Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  5. "Death And Nightingales by Eugene McCabe (9780749398682) | LoveReading". www.lovereading.co.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  6. McCabe, Eugene (29 March 2011). "Another take on 'Long Time, No See'". The Irish Times. Irish Times Trust. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  7. Jarman, Mark Anthony (8 July 2011). "A brilliant return for Dermot Healy". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  8. Crowley, Sinéad (27 August 2020). "President Higgins pays tribute to playwright Eugene McCabe". Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). Retrieved 28 August 2020.
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