thumb|right|William Carleton by John Slattery, circa 1850s

William Carleton (4 March 1794, Prolusk (often spelt as Prillisk as on his gravestone), Clogher, County Tyrone – 30 January 1869, Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin

Childhood

Carleton's father was a Roman Catholic tenant farmer, who supported fourteen children on as many acres, and young Carleton passed his early life among scenes similar to those he later described in his books. Carleton was steeped in folklore from an early age. His father, who had an extraordinary memory (he knew the bible by heart) and as a native Irish speaker, a thorough acquaintance with Irish folklore, told stories by the fireside. His mother, a noted singer, sang in Irish.) that Carleton's conversion to Anglicanism may have been a pragmatic move, as it would have been difficult for an aspiring young Catholic author to receive the patronage necessary to achieve success in early 19th-century Ireland.

However, Donnelly's arguments fail when compared to Carleton's own statements in an 1826 letter to the Home Secretary, Sir Robert Peel. Carleton urged Peel to violently suppress Daniel O'Connell's activism for Catholic Emancipation, and claimed to have proof of O'Connell's involvement in fomenting anti-Protestant and anti-Landlord violence, while also accusing every Roman Catholic priest and schoolmaster of the same crimes.

Shortly afterwards, Carleton befriended a Church of Ireland minister named Caesar Otway. According to W. B. Yeats, Reverend Otway was an, "anti-papal controversialist," who encouraged Carleton to write stories to "highlight...the corrupt practices of an ignorant clergy."

Frank O'Connor said that Carleton debased his talents by taking sides in Ireland's religious divide. O'Connor admits, however, that Carleton could not win either way. In Victorian era Ireland, Protestant readers were demanding stories which unconditionally demonised Catholicism and its adherents, while Catholic readers, "wanted to read nothing about themselves that was not treacle." As a result, Carleton's writings were invariably, "rent asunder by faction-fighters who wished him to write from one distorted standpoint or the other."

Influence

Carleton figures as a precursor of the Celtic revival.

Bibliography

  • Ned M'Keown; The Three Tasks; Shane Fadh's Wedding; Larry M'Farland's Wake; The Battle of the Factions
  • The Funeral and the Party Fight; The Hedge School, and the Abduction of May Kavanagh; The Station
  • The Midnight Mass; The Donagh, or the Horse-Stealers; Phil Purcel, the Pig-Driver; The Geography of an Irish Oath; An Essay on Irish Swearing
  • The Lianhan Shee; The Poor Scholar; Wildgoose Lodge; Tubber Derg, or, the Red Well;
  • Denis O'Shaughnessy Going to Maynooth; Phelim O'Tooles Courtship
  • The Death of a Devotee; The Priest's Funeral; Neal Malone; The Brothers; The Illicit Distiller; The Dream of a Broken Heart; Lachlin Murray and the Blemished Candle
  • Published in the US as Neil Malone and other Tales of Ireland (1839)
  • Jane Sinclair, or, the Fawn of Spring Vale; Lha Dhu, or, the Dark Day
  • The Clarionet; The Dead Boxer
  • The Misfortunes of Barney Branagan; The Resurrections of Barney Bradley
  • Mickey M'Roney, the Irish Fiddler; Buckramback, the Country Dancing-Master; Mary Murray, the Irish Match-Maker; Bob Pentland, or, The Gauger Outwitted; The Fate of Frank M'Kenna; The Rival Kempers; Frank Martin and the Faires; A Legend of Knockmany; Rose Moan, the Irish Midwife; Talbot and Gaynor, Irish Pipers; Frank Finnigan, the Foster-Brother; Tom Gressiey, the Irish Senachie; The Castle of Aughentain ..; Barney M'Haigney; Moll Roe's Marriage; Barney Brady's Goose; Condy Cullen; A Record of the Heart; The Three Wishes; The Irish Rake; Stories of Second-Sight and Apparition
  • , later republished as The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles of BallyTrain, 3 vols
  • , 2 vols

;Biography

;Posthumous compilations

  • ; Willy Reilly; Fardorougha the Miser; The Black Baronet; The Evil Eye;
  • ; Jane Sinclair; The Dead Boxer; Elle Duncan; The Proctor's Daughter; Valentine M'Clutchy, the Irish Agent; The Tithe Proctor; The Emigrants of Ahadarra
  • ; Traits and Stories..; The Black Prophet; Wild Goose Lodge; Tubber Derg; Neal Malone; Art Maguire

References

Sources

  • William Carleton Society and Summer School, Co.Tyrone