born Aug. 28, 1896, Inishmore, Aran Islands, County Galway, Ire.
died Sept. 7, 1984, Dublin
Irish novelist and short-story writer.
He abandoned his training for the priesthood and became a soldier in World War I, a migrant labourer in the Americas and the Middle East, and a revolutionary in Ireland. A leading writer of the Irish literary renaissance , he combined brutal naturalism, psychological analysis, poetry, and biting satire with an abiding respect for the Irish people. His novels include Thy Neighbour's Wife (1923), The Informer (1925; film, 1935), Skerrett (1932), Famine (1937), and Insurrection (1950).