Mervyn Wall
{{Short description|Irish writer (1908–1997)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{use Hiberno-English|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Mervyn Wall
| image = Mervyn Wall.jpg
| alt = Mervyn Wall signing a book
| caption = Wall in 1990
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|08|28}}
| birth_place = Dublin
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|05|19|1908|08|28}}
| death_place = Dún Laoghaire
| occupation = Civil servant, writer
| education = Belvedere College
| alma_mater = University College Dublin
| notable_works = The Unfortunately Fursey
| spouse = Fanny Feehan
}}
Mervyn Wall (28 August 1908 – 19 May 1997) was an Irish writer and public servant, best known for two satirical fantasy novels about a monk named Fursey.{{cite book |last=De Breffny |first=Brian |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia |url= |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |page=247|isbn=}}
Life
Wall was born in Rathmines, Dublin.{{Cite web |last=Showers |first=Brian J. |date=2017-10-25 |title=Mervyn Wall (1908-1997) |url=https://swanriverpress.ie/2017/10/mervyn-wall-1908-1997-2/ |access-date=2024-09-02 |website=Swan River Press |language=en-GB}} He attended Belvedere College as well as school in Bonn, Germany, and completed a B.A. with the National University of Ireland in 1928.{{Cite web |title=Mervyn Wall |url=https://swanriverpress.ie/srp-author/mervyn-wall/ |access-date=2024-09-02 |website=Swan River Press |language=en-GB}}
He worked in the public service from 1934 to 1975: as a civil servant from 1934 to 1948; for Radio Éireann from 1948 to 1957; and as Secretary of the Arts Council from 1957 to 1975.{{cite web | url=http://aosdana.artscouncil.ie/Members/Literature/Wall.aspx | title=Former members: Mervyn Wall | publisher=Aosdána | accessdate=10 July 2014}}Darrell Schweitzer, "Wall, Mervyn" in St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers, edited by David Pringle. London, St. James Press, 1996. {{ISBN|1558622055}} (pp. 585–6).
Wall died on 19 May 1997 in St. Michael's Hospital, Dún Laoghaire. His wife, music critic Fanny Feehan, died eight months previously.{{cite web
| title = Mervyn Wall, novelist and playwright, dies aged 89
| first = Brian
| last = Fallon
| date = 1997-05-20
| website = The Irish Times
| url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/mervyn-wall-novelist-and-playwright-dies-aged-89-1.73808
}}
Career
Wall published novels, short stories and plays, and wrote for a short-lived literary magazine, Ireland Today.
He wrote two humorous fantasy novels, The Unfortunate Fursey and The Return of Fursey, about the misadventures of a monk in Ireland during the Dark Ages.Robert Hogan, "Mervyn Wall", in E. F. Bleiler, Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror. New York: Scribner's, 1985. {{ISBN|0-684-17808-7}} (pp. 645–650). The Fursey novels have been highly praised in North America. E. F. Bleiler in The Guide to Supernatural Fiction described The Unfortunate Fursey as "a landmark book in the history of fantasy". Darrell Schweitzer described Wall as "one of the finest comic fantasists ever, but also one of the most neglected." Parke Godwin described both Fursey novels as "pure gold".
He won an award, the Best European Novel award, for Leaves for the Burning.
Writings
= Novels =
- The Unfortunate Fursey, 1946
- The Return of Fursey, 1948
- Leaves for the Burning, 1952
- No Trophies Raise, 1956
- Hermitage, 1982
- The Garden of Echoes, 1982
= Plays =
- Alarm among the Clerks, 1940
- The Lady in the Twilight, 1971
= Other publications =
- A Flutter of Wings, 1974, short stories
- Forty Foot Gentlemen Only, 1963, history
References
{{Reflist}}
- Darrell Schweitzer. "Mervyn Wall and the Comedy of Despair" in Schweitzer (ed). Discovering Classic Fantasy Fiction, Gillette BJ: Wildside Press, 1986, pp. 56–67.
External links
- {{LCAuth|n83038681|Mervyn Wall|8|ue}}
- [https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/guides/Playwrights Mervyn Wall Collection] at the Harry Ransom Center
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wall, Mervyn}}
Category:Irish fantasy writers
Category:Irish male dramatists and playwrights
Category:Writers from Dublin (city)
Category:People educated at Belvedere College
Category:20th-century Irish novelists
Category:20th-century Irish male writers