John O’Connor

Life
1921- ; b. Drumcairn, Co. Armagh, ed. St. Patrick’s Public elementary Sch.; went to work at 14, returning to Armagh; stories for The Bell, Argosy, and Chamber’s Journal; notably a novel, Come Day, Go Day (1949), regarded as the best fictional account of Ulster Catholic experience before McLaverty. IF2

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Criticism
J. W. Foster, Themes and Forces in Ulster Fiction (1974), remarks on Come Day - Go Day (pp.51-3).

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References
Desmond Clarke, Ireland in Fiction: A Guide to Irish Novels, Tales, Romances and Folklore [Pt. 2] (Cork: Royal Carbery 1985), lists Come Day, Go Day (Dublin: Golden Eagle Bks. 1949), 181pp. ‘Daily round and small duties and pleasures of Catholic working class family ... 1924-38’ [Clarke].

Belfast Public Library holds 1956 holds O’Connor, J., Come Day - Go Day; The Norway Man (1949); Hostage to Fortune (1951).

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Notes
Michael McLaverty: O’Connor was the recipient of an appreciative letter from McLaverty, and was also employed as a point of comparison in a review by Dennis Kennedy - ‘Is This Man as Good as O’Connor?’, in Belfast Telegraph (2 Sept. 1965).

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