Benedict Kiely

Daniel J. Casey

1974
104 pages
ISBN 0-8387-7936-0
Irish Writers Series

Benedict Kiely is another contribution to the Irish Writers Series. These monographs have been designed to treat in individual volumes the significant Anglo-Irish writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. These studies will prove helpful to literary scholars and to students of literature. When complete the series will constitute a significant history of modern Anglo-Irish literature, encompass discussions of almost 40 writers.

Benedict Kiely (1919- ) is Ireland's ubiquitous literary personality. To say that he is prolific or versatile seems an oversimplification. He has been on the editorial staff of The Independent and served as literary editor of the Irish Press, reviewer for the New York Times, and frequent critic for Radio-Telefis Eireann. Kiely has, over the past ten years, lectured at the National University of Ireland and at British and American colleges and universities. His articles appear in every major Irish publication.

Because of his far-reaching reputation as critic and reviewer, Kiely's own writing as suffered undeserved neglect. Modern Irish Fiction ('50) is indeed a penetrating commentary on three decades of Irish fiction, and Poor Scholar ('47) is a comprehensive study of William Carleton, the nineteenth century writer but Kiely's own fiction merits greater attention, and this volume accords him that attention.

About the author:

Daniel J. Casey was born in 1937 in Brooklyn, New York, and has degrees from St. John's University, New York ('58, '60, '63), and Helsinki University, Finland ('68). He has been awarded three Fulbright grants, and, more recently, a State University of New York Research Fellowship to begin a comprehensive study of William Carleton, an early nineteenth-century writer from Tyrone.
A professor of English at State University of New York, College at Oneonta, where he teaches Irish Literature, Daniel Casey edits the English Record and coedits the Carleton Newsletter. He is a member of the Modern Language Association and the American Committee on Irish Studies.