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University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Rediscovering Frank O'Connor

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

"Minor" twentieth-century Irish writers such as Frank O'Connor have largely been neglected by a critical era which favors longer, more experimental fiction, following James Joyce's models. Both in practice and in theory, Frank O'Connor set standards for the modern short story beyond its current misconception as "a narrative form shorter than the novel." Still, as a master of his genre and a significant contributor to his nation's literary renaissance, Frank O'Connor's reputation has faded in recent years; This thesis will attempt to account for the decline in O'Connor's reputation and to reexamine his artistry in terms of his range and depth of characterization and manipulation of narrative technique. O'Connor's characters constituted a diverse population of romantic idealists, soldiers, and priests, among others, though he is best known for highly-anthologized stories about children. Each of O'Connor's character groups provides a significant quantity of entertaining, realistic stories which deserve further critical attention. This thesis will explore the techniques O'Connor employed in his short fiction, with the dual purpose of demonstrating the focus and insight of individual stories and judging anew the literary reputation of the artist himself.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts (MA)
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English
Grantor dc:publisher
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Year
1995

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Kerrigan, John Connors
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Richard Harp

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Language dc:language
English

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-1540

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of Nevada - Las Vegas
Base URL
oasis.library.unlv.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Kerrigan, John Connors. Rediscovering Frank O'Connor. Thesis thesis, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 1995. https://doi.org/10.25669/9lxx-mf27