Post-match: Frank McCourt died

He had an original POV for sure. In Teacher Man he found out that his tales of his "miserable Irish childhood" kept the kids' attention and made it easier to work in a lesson. In the beginning the other veteran teachers told him not to get chummy with them because they'll "eat you alive" and "take you off course" (what all teens try to do). Amazing that he wrote a world-wide bestseller in his 60s.

 

McCourt had a relatively easy teaching career despite his claims to the contrary. The book "Teacher Man" is grossly overrated. There isn't much teaching substance to the book. Any writer who promotes his own non fiction books better have the facts relating to his own biography correct. Any exaggeration calls into question the validity of his other "facts"

I also agree with those who regard "Angela's Ashes" as overrated. The book read more like fiction than an autobiography. It is inundated with anecdotes and a myopic vision of his youth in Ireland.

 

If the goal of a teacher is not only to teach the lesson but to have a positive impact on a good number of students, then McCourt was a success.

I suppose you grew up in the lanes of Limerick circa 1940 and can tell us all what a joy it was.

 

Well it's said anecdotes and myopic vision of his youth that makes that book a great read so I don't know what the problem is. Also overrated by whom? The literary police?

 

Some people in Limerick and the church were not surprisingly critical of McCourt's take on his childhood and the cold-heartedness of some priests toward his family. Sure he played up the misery part. Some people bury it deep down and others use it to their advantage. Frank got lots of mileage out of his childhood...big deal.

 

When Frank McCourt's book "Angela's Ashes" was first published, his publishers claimed it " a glorious book in the tradition of Ireland's literary writers" I certainly had my doubts about that statement. They were confirmed when a former Cork man who read an excerpt suggested to me the book was a bit stage-Irish. Actually the book is a horror story relating to his father's alcoholism and so called remorseless poverty. What a gallery of characters, ancedotes, Irish lore and fairytales.

As an Englishman I bear Frank McCourt (RIP) no ill will and don't rate him in a class with Joyce, Beckett, Synge, Wilde, O'Casey etc.etc.etc.

 

Well I'm a catholic and even while Dutch catholicism has always been liberal compared to the Irish version, I too can tell a whole bunch of stories about how my grandparents' generation was badly treated by the church simply because they were poor. My grandmother's sister went to the convent without a dowry and as such was condemned to a whole life of ironing to the extent that she ended up with a disfigured wrist while nuns who did bring a dowry got all the cushiony jobs. Misery, hell and doom, that's what catholicism was about then, and not just in Ireland. I find McCourt's church-related stuff completely believable.

 

I still find it difficult to comprehend why "Angela's Ashes" attracted so much attention and praise. I found it most contrived and self pitying. McCourt managed to affirm every negative stereotype of the Irish. Everyone was poor blah, blah. blah. Everyone yells at everyone else blah, blah, blah. Every male is unemployed and getting drunk daily blah, blah, blah. Everyone forced to eat moldy potatoes blah, blah, blah. Did I leave out everyone was was poor, starving, dying of consumption, drunk, and unemployed blah, blah, blah, blah.

As an Englishman I found the book to be incredibly insulting to the Irish. I find O'Neill, another Irish American writer, much more interesting than McCourt
as his writing is beautiful, thoughtful, intelligent and does not insult an ethnic group.

As for poverty in Ireland, Sean O'Casey's writings are strongly recommended. They will also afford a clue as to where McCourt was coming from and where he picked up some of his ideas. However, the difference is fact versus fiction.

As I've stated previously I don't rate Frank McCourt in the same class as the great Irish literary figures such as O'Casey, Joyce, Beckett, Wilde, Swift, Synge, etc. etc.

 

McCourt described his family history in Angela's Ashes. If he had intended the book as an analysis of Irish culture throughout the 20th century then you would have a point, but he didn't. Do you also think that the Grapes of Wrath badly mispresents the USA of that era? Poverty isn't a uniquely Irish issue. If a 100 random Europeans were invited to write their family history in the 20th century, I'm guessing that in half of the stories, poverty would be a theme.

Angela's Ashes is popular because his style appeals to a great many people and because it is a lovely story. I personally felt he described all the characters in his book, including his alcoholic dad, with a great deal of warmth. It's just the catholic church that comes off badly overall and you won't find any catholics doubting the factuality of that part of his book.