John Morrow Biography
(1930– ), The Honest Ulsterman, The Irish Press, The Confessions of Prionias O'Toole
Northern Irish novelist and short-story writer, born in Belfast. Having left school at the age of 14, he followed various occupations. He began to write short stories in the 1960s, contributing some of his early work to The Honest Ulsterman and The Irish Press. His novels include The Confessions of Prionias O'Toole (1977) and The Essex Factor (1982). Among his short-story collections are Northern Myths (1979) and Sects and Other Stories (1987). Morrow prefers a realistic and witty, if facetious, undermining of political rhetoric and ‘idealism’ to the more conventional attempts at serious artistic analysis. His anecdotal, comic style exaggerates petty ambitions and libidinous habits as the common denominators between the conflicting sides in Northern Ireland. His main characters tend to be simple, self-serving humans who remain blissfully unaware of the layers of historical irony with which Morrow surrounds them.
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