Frank McCourt's life
Remembering the former schoolteacher turned Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Angela's Ashes
Frank McCourt, 1930-2009
(Corbis)
Frank McCourt "told his writing students that they were their own best material," said William Grimes in The New York Times, and he proved it. McCourt, who died Sunday at 78, won a Pulitzer Prize for his "phenomenally popular" memoir, Angela's Ashes, after he retired as a New York City school teacher. His book about his "miserable childhood" in Limerick, Ireland—his family living in abject poverty, his father an alcoholic—demonstrated "incongruously lilting, buoyant prose, and its heartfelt urgency struck a remarkable chord with readers and critics."
McCourt was also a skilled and well-liked teacher for nearly 30 years, Dennis McLellan in the Los Angeles Times. He would "regale his students with his horrifying and often hilarious tales of his childhood in Ireland." But he was also a late-bloomer: It wasn't until he was in his mid-60s and retired from the school system that he wrote Angela's Ashes, followed by 'Tis, Teacher Man, and Angela and the Baby Jesus.
"Fame and fortune transformed McCourt's last years," said Lev Grossman in Time, but they didn't change him. Aside from his residence in Manhattan, "he bought a second home in Connecticut, next door to Arthur Miller." There is now an Angela's Ashes walking tour in Limerick. "I wrote a book about growing up miserable, and the next thing I know I'm here," McCourt once said. "It's absurd, isn't it? It's extraordinary."
Show: Oldest | Newest
1 Comments
Posted by Michael J. Gorman, Wednesday, July 22, 2009, 10:59 pm I was always a fan of his brother, Malachy, but when I heard Frank speak a few times, I could see why so many liked him. At my friend everybody's friend journalist Dennis Duggan's memorial, Frank spoke and made it look so easy even when he lost a dear friend. I don't know when he became such a great story teller and conversationalist, but Frank McCourt was the best at being interesting, entertaining, informative, and inspiring. Of course, no one could be all these things without being very talented and humble at the same time.
Post a Comment