Edna O'Brien

Ellen McWilliams (University of Exeter)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

A novelist, playwright, and author of several collections of short stories, Edna O'Brien is one of the most important Irish women writers of her generation. Prolific and provocative, she occupies a very significant place in the Irish feminist imagination. Throughout her impressive oeuvre, she returns to a number of key themes, showing a particular commitment to rendering the lives of Irish women, coming of age in Ireland in the 1950s and 60s, female sexuality and desire, exile and escape, and the trauma of Irish history. Her early work, the highly acclaimed and controversial

The Country Girls Trilogy

The Country Girls

(1960),

The Lonely Girls

(1962), and

Girls in their Married Bliss

(1964) – was banned in Ireland because of its sexual content. A concern with sexuality and with exile…

2676 words

Citation: McWilliams, Ellen. "Edna O'Brien". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3367, accessed 19 March 2024.]

3367 Edna O'Brien 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.