Frank O'Connor

Hilary Lennon (University College Cork)
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Frank O’Connor was the pen-name of the Irish writer Michael O’Donovan. Born in the slums of Cork city on September 17, 1903, he was an only child, raised in poverty by his father, Michael (Mick) O’Donovan, an alcoholic former soldier in the British army, and his mother, Minnie O’Connor, who regularly supplemented the family income by working as a charwoman. O’Connor, a timid and frail child, regularly missed school because of illness. In his memoir,

An Only Child

(1961), O’Connor described himself as a classic mother’s boy. His father, whom he feared, re-enlisted in the British army during World War 1 and was absent for a number of years during O’Connor’s childhood. One result of this strained relationship was that O’Connor sought out literary father-figures as a young…

2001 words

Citation: Lennon, Hilary. "Frank O'Connor". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 June 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3374, accessed 19 March 2024.]

3374 Frank O'Connor 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.

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