DCU confers Honorary Degree on John McGahern at St Patrick's College

John McGahern, teacher, short story writer and novelist was conferred with an honorary degree by Dublin City University at a graduation ceremony today in his alma mater, St Patrick's College, Drumcondra.

John McGahern was a student in St Patrick's College from 1953 to 1955. He worked as a primary teacher in Dublin until his notorious sacking in 1966 when he second novel, The Dark was banned.

John McGahern has written six novels, numerous short stories and a play. In the honorary degree citation, he is described as the true successor of James Joyce in his ability to force Irish people to have one good look at themselves in the nicely polished looking glass that is his writing. His art transfigures reality and in the process transforms us.

From detailing the plight and inner exile of the individual in his early works The Barracks and The Dark, to his more recent novels Amongst Women and That They May Face the Rising Sun where the focus on the individual consciousness gives way to the celebration of family and community, McGahern's consistently gives voice to ordinary life as it is lived. His work has produced that very rare phenomenon in literary criticism - certainly in Irish literary criticism - total agreement from readers and critics alike regarding his standing as the great contemporary writer of Irish fiction.