Angela Bourke

Pimlico (4 Aug. 2005)

Books » Books » St Patrick's Day » Maeve Brennan: Wit, Style and Tragedy: An Irish Writer in New York

Maeve Brennan: Wit, Style and Tragedy: An Irish Writer in New York

Born in Dublin in 1917 to politically active parents, Maeve Brennan’s childhood was shaped by the cultural ideologies of nationalism and the creative energy of the Abbey and Gate theatres. When Maeve was seventeen, her father was appointed to the Irish Legation in Washington DC, where he was Irish Minister throughout World War II. Maeve wrote fashion copy at Harper’s Bazaar until 1949, when William Shawn legendary editor of The New Yorker magazine, invited her to join the publication. Her richly textured fiction and ‘Talk of the Town’ pieces, published in the 1950s and ’60s during The New Yorker’s most influential period, offer unsparing portraits of the Ireland she left behind and the America she called home.

Format: Paperback

Paperback: 368 Pages

Language: English

 4.5/5

Reviewed By Reviewed By Juliette Foster

“A fascinating biography of an icon of 20th century America. Maeve Brennan’s brilliant career was destroyed by alcoholism and mental illness, ending in her destitution. Her work was largely forgotten, although its rediscovery decades after her death has cemented her position as one of the finest chroniclers of the Irish diaspora.”