The Country Girls - Irish writer Edna O'Brien is deceased at 93
The acclaimed Irish writer Edna O'Brien is dead. She passed away after a long illness at the age of 93, as her publisher Faber and literary agency PFD announced. "Edna O’Brien was one of the greatest writers of our time", Faber stated. "She revolutionized Irish literature by holding the lives of Women and the complexity of human existence in a brilliant and sparse prose that deeply influenced many subsequent writers."
O'Brien was a stubborn and courageous person who always tried to explore new artistic territory and write truthfully. "The vitality of her prose was a mirror of her zest for life: She was the best company, warm, generous, coquettish, courageous." O'Brien leaves behind two sons.
Books by Edna O'Brien were publicly burned
During her long career, O'Brien published over 20 books, most of which were novels and story collections. Few others dared to challenge Ireland's religious, sexual, and gender boundaries as explicitly and poetically as she did.
She lived with her former husband, the Irish-Czech writer Ernest Gebler, and two small children outside London when her 1960 work "The Country Girls" (German: "The Fifteen-Year-Olds") became famous and notorious.
The story revolves around two young women from the countryside. In Ireland, the book was denounced by a Justice Minister as "filth," and copies were publicly burned. The novel, along with several sequels, was banned in Ireland during the 1960s due to excessive erotic content. The struggle of Irish women was one of her favorite themes, later followed by other political and socially critical dimensions.
In her 1994 novel "House of Splendid Isolation" (German: "The House of Solitary Splendor"), the IRA plays a decisive role, while "Down by the River" (German: "By the River") deals with the passionate abortion debate in Ireland.
In her 2019 novel "Girl" ("The Girl"), O'Brien finally tackled the victims of the islamist terrorist group Boko Haram.
Edna O'Brien's groundbreaking work in Irish literature, particularly her exploration of women's lives, had a significant impact in Dublin and beyond the United Kingdom. Her novel "The Country Girls," which caused controversy with its explicit content, was even publicly burned in Ireland. Despite the backlash, O'Brien continued to address controversial themes in her literature, such as the Irish women's struggle and the abortion debate, in her novels like "House of Splendid Isolation" and "Down by the River."
