“O’REILLY, Private Myles,” [see HALPINE].
ORPEN, Mrs.
⸺ CORRAGEEN IN ’98. (Methuen). 6s. (N.Y.: New Amsterdam Book Co.). Pp. 325. 1.50. 1898.
“Written with sympathy for the loyalists. A realistic description of the more horrible features.”—(Baker).
O’RYAN, Julia and Edmund.
⸺ IN RE GARLAND. (Richardson). 1873.
Time: after Famine of 1846, when the Encumbered Estates Court was in full swing. Cleverly written, and showing intimate knowledge of Munster ways of speech and thought among the farming and lower classes. Good taste and strong faith in the people and in the people’s faith are everywhere discernible. The writers eschew all moralizing and also all description of scenery.—(Irish Monthly).
O’RYAN, W. P.; “Kevin Kennedy.” B. near Templemore, Co. Tipperary, 1867. Lived for several years in London, where he took an active share in the activities of the Southwark Irish Literary Club and the Irish Literary Society: he has written a history of their beginnings. Was editor of The Peasant and of its successors, The Irish Peasant and The Irish Nation. In these he mingled anti-clericalism with much excellent writing strongly national in tone. The Plough and the Cross is largely autobiographical. Publ. 1912, The Pope’s Green Island.
⸺ THE PLOUGH AND THE CROSS. Pp. 378. (The Irish Nation). 1s. 1910.
A story, how much of which is fact we do not learn, woven round certain real events of recent date, and in particular the stopping of a paper of which the Author was editor. Many of the characters may be recognised as portraits of real personages, among others the Author himself, Mr. T. P. O’Connor, Geo. Moore, Mr. James McCann, Mr. Edward Martyn, and Mr. Sweetman. The book is largely taken up with conversations in which the Author gives expression to his peculiar views on many subjects. Many of these belong to the class of ideas known collectively to Catholics as Modernism. Throughout the book there is constant criticism of the Irish clergy, much of this criticism being put into the mouths of “progressive” priests. The personages and the series of events dealt with are highly idealized. Distinctly well written, but somewhat “exalté” in style. Scene: Dublin and the Boyne Valley.