O'Faoláin, Seán, 1900-

Irish author Seán O'Faoláin was born John Francis Whelanon February 22, 1900, in County Cork, Ireland.

In 1918, while a student at University College at Cork of National University of Ireland, O'Faoláin embraced Irish nationalism, joined the Irish Volunteers, and changed his name to its Gaelic equivalent. O'Faoláin fought in the Irish Revolution from 1918–1921, and served as the director of publicity for the Irish Republican Army in 1923. During this period of Irish social and political upheaval O'Faoláin began to write.

He eventually was graduated from the National University of Ireland with a B.A. in 1921, and an M.A. in 1925. From 1927 to 1929 O'Faoláin completed an M.A. at Harvard on a Commonwealth Fellowship to study Yeats's manuscripts. While in Cambridge, O'Faoláin made the acquaintance of John and Mary Marshall. His wife, Eileen, taught elementary school with Mrs. Marshall, and John Marshall was involved in the Mediaeval Academy of America, and with the publication of their journal, Speculum, in Cambridge.

After leaving Harvard, O'Faoláin served as a lecturer in English at Princeton University (1929); Boston College (1929); and St. Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, England (1929–1933) before returning to Ireland.

Both his novels and short stories have received critical acclaim as well as being widely popular. His first published collection of short stories, Midsummer Night Madness and Other Stories (1932), received a Femina Prize nomination in 1932. O'Faoláin continued to compose numerous short stories throughout his life, contributing to journals and popular magazines, such as Colliers, McCall's, and Playboy, and culminating in his Collected Stories in 1980.

In addition to writing short stories and novels, O'Faoláin authored biographies of Eamon de Valera, Constance Markievicz, Daniel O'Connell, Hugh O'Neill, John Henry Newman, as well as his own autobiography titled Vive Moi! (1964). He was also responsible for establishing the Irish journal, The Bell, in 1940, and he worked as its editor until 1945.

Seán O'Faoláin died April 20, 1991, in Dublin, Ireland.

Metzger, Linda (ed.) Contemporary Authors. New Revision Series, Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1984. pp. 349 351. Trosky, Susan M. (ed.) Contemporary Authors. Vol. 134. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1992. p. 377.

From the guide to the Seán O'Faoláin letters to John and Mary Marshall, 1930–1958, undated, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)