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The Collected Stories, Volume 1
These long-awaited volumes bring together, for the first time ever, the complete short stories of Ireland's master storyteller, Liam O'Flaherty - from great classics like "The Sniper" to previously unpublished originals. These 182 stories include all those included in previous anthologies; the Irish language stories; stories which have never before been collected inn book form; and original stories published here for the first time. This luxurious set will be a treasure for all those who know and love the work of one of Ireland's most skilled and passionate writers.
366 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
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About the author
Liam O'Flaherty
124 books74 followersPeople know Irish writer Liam O'Flaherty especially for his short stories, collected in
Two Lovely Beasts
(1948) and
The Pedlar's Revenge
(1976).
This significant novelist, a major figure in the literary renaissance, also wrote short stories. Left-wing politics involved him as was his brother Tom Maidhc O'Flaherty (also a writer), and their father, Maidhc Ó Flaithearta, for a time.
This significant novelist, a major figure in the literary renaissance, also wrote short stories. Left-wing politics involved him as was his brother Tom Maidhc O'Flaherty (also a writer), and their father, Maidhc Ó Flaithearta, for a time.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 17, 2010
H.W. Fowler, "a lexicographical genius" according to The Times, said “Anyone who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid.” In America in nineteen thirty-five, E. B. White and William Strunk’s revised edition of The Elements of Style spoke of the same thing as Fowler’s advice. Their book was a “summation of the case for cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of English." The three authors make a valid point, and their point is obvious in Liam O’Flaherty’s Short Stories: Volume 1.The book contains twenty-six short stories, and the majority of the stories are short in length. This does not mean that the stories lack substance; on the contrary, O’Flaherty’s succinct style allows for realism and authentic storytelling.
O’Flaherty covers a wide range of topics in his story collection. He writes of a young married couple working emotionally and physically through their first sowing in “Spring Sowing” and a mongrel dog’s jealousy of a pure-bred greyhound in “Two Dogs.” Although both stories deal with two different subject matters, O’Flaherty’s style is unmistakable. It is more than just his brief sentences or his chronological method of storytelling. By being exact in his wording, O’Flaherty is able to avoid sentimentality while creating powerful, and at times, soul crushing prose. For example, in “Spring Sowing,” Martin and Mary are sowing for spring planting for the first time. O’Flaherty covers serious ground in their one day of planting. He shows the reader the people they are at the moment and the people that they will become. In regards to Mary, he writes, “Her short-lived love was gone. Henceforth she was only her husband’s helper to till the earth.” However, after their dinner and viewing the other families working like them, Mary thinks differently and feels joy. The story ends with Martin talking to another farmer, Mary walking behind him deep in thought, and “Cows were lowing at a distance.” In O’Flaherty’s careful hands, we see the entire breadth of a marriage in all of its love and misery.
In “Two Dogs,” misery is the main idea. Between the beatings of the dogs and the greyhounds demise from a jump off of a cliff, O’Flaherty writes about the darker sides of both men and beasts. The mongrel hates the greyhound and is beaten for his aggression while his owner, Feeney, beats the greyhound for not fighting with other dogs. Animal cruelty is a theme in this collection of short stories. A pig slowly starves to only die by choking on a potato, a starving bull rushes off a cliff, and a race horse attempts and fails to jump a fifteen foot high boulder. What elevates the stories from shocking or horrific is O’Flaherty’s ability to write clearly and simply about the horrific events. He does not spend time on gory details, and neither does he spend time on sentimentality. In “The Black Bullock,” a two year old calf is given to another man who grows upset with the bullock’s eating, and throws him out of the pasture full of clover. The bullock slowly starves from lack of human contact and food. When the bullock stumbles into a village, some young men tie a silver kettle to his tail. The fearful noise causes him to run, which creates more noise. Two dogs worry his heels. In a panic, he heads for the cliffs and plunges over them, breaking his back. Again, O’Flaherty keeps the reader firmly established in the real world by keeping the sentences focused.
Perhaps the short stories read like fables and fairy tales which enhance the collection’s readability. “Wolf Lanigan’s Death” shares traits with “Little Red Riding Hood.” Wolf escapes from jail and runs to his apartment where his former lover still stays. She is terrified of him, and O’Flaherty lets us decide whether it is from past violence or the fact that he killed a cop. Whatever the reason, Rosie is scared of Wolf, and is only able to watch as he runs through violent outbursts. Unlike the Grimm’s Red Riding Hood, Rosie takes matters into her own hands and shoots Wolf point blank in the chest. O’Flaherty’s description of the seedy under life as well as his physical description of Wolf grounds the story in reality while still allowing for the reader to see the archetypes in the story.
O’Flaherty’s collection is a solid work of storytelling and writing. He takes the reader through Ireland, from the country coast to civil war in Dublin. He writes from both gender’s perspectives and even dips into the animal perspective. Yeats, a genre dabbler himself, sums O’Flaherty’s work perfectly by saying, “Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.”
O’Flaherty covers a wide range of topics in his story collection. He writes of a young married couple working emotionally and physically through their first sowing in “Spring Sowing” and a mongrel dog’s jealousy of a pure-bred greyhound in “Two Dogs.” Although both stories deal with two different subject matters, O’Flaherty’s style is unmistakable. It is more than just his brief sentences or his chronological method of storytelling. By being exact in his wording, O’Flaherty is able to avoid sentimentality while creating powerful, and at times, soul crushing prose. For example, in “Spring Sowing,” Martin and Mary are sowing for spring planting for the first time. O’Flaherty covers serious ground in their one day of planting. He shows the reader the people they are at the moment and the people that they will become. In regards to Mary, he writes, “Her short-lived love was gone. Henceforth she was only her husband’s helper to till the earth.” However, after their dinner and viewing the other families working like them, Mary thinks differently and feels joy. The story ends with Martin talking to another farmer, Mary walking behind him deep in thought, and “Cows were lowing at a distance.” In O’Flaherty’s careful hands, we see the entire breadth of a marriage in all of its love and misery.
In “Two Dogs,” misery is the main idea. Between the beatings of the dogs and the greyhounds demise from a jump off of a cliff, O’Flaherty writes about the darker sides of both men and beasts. The mongrel hates the greyhound and is beaten for his aggression while his owner, Feeney, beats the greyhound for not fighting with other dogs. Animal cruelty is a theme in this collection of short stories. A pig slowly starves to only die by choking on a potato, a starving bull rushes off a cliff, and a race horse attempts and fails to jump a fifteen foot high boulder. What elevates the stories from shocking or horrific is O’Flaherty’s ability to write clearly and simply about the horrific events. He does not spend time on gory details, and neither does he spend time on sentimentality. In “The Black Bullock,” a two year old calf is given to another man who grows upset with the bullock’s eating, and throws him out of the pasture full of clover. The bullock slowly starves from lack of human contact and food. When the bullock stumbles into a village, some young men tie a silver kettle to his tail. The fearful noise causes him to run, which creates more noise. Two dogs worry his heels. In a panic, he heads for the cliffs and plunges over them, breaking his back. Again, O’Flaherty keeps the reader firmly established in the real world by keeping the sentences focused.
Perhaps the short stories read like fables and fairy tales which enhance the collection’s readability. “Wolf Lanigan’s Death” shares traits with “Little Red Riding Hood.” Wolf escapes from jail and runs to his apartment where his former lover still stays. She is terrified of him, and O’Flaherty lets us decide whether it is from past violence or the fact that he killed a cop. Whatever the reason, Rosie is scared of Wolf, and is only able to watch as he runs through violent outbursts. Unlike the Grimm’s Red Riding Hood, Rosie takes matters into her own hands and shoots Wolf point blank in the chest. O’Flaherty’s description of the seedy under life as well as his physical description of Wolf grounds the story in reality while still allowing for the reader to see the archetypes in the story.
O’Flaherty’s collection is a solid work of storytelling and writing. He takes the reader through Ireland, from the country coast to civil war in Dublin. He writes from both gender’s perspectives and even dips into the animal perspective. Yeats, a genre dabbler himself, sums O’Flaherty’s work perfectly by saying, “Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.”
Read
February 13, 2010The most astonishing short stories - Highly recommended
Read
September 25, 2025DNF'd, but read a good few of the stories.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews