CARLETON, WILLIAM

born Feb. 20, 1794, Prillisk, County Tyrone, Ire. died Jan. 30, 1869, Dublin prolific writer who realistically portrayed the life of the rural Irish. Born the youngest of 14 children on a small farm, Carleton learned to appreciate the Irish heritage from his father, a man well-versed in the rich folklore of the area. At first a village tutor, he published a two-volume collection of sketches, Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry (1830), which describes the Ireland of the 19th-century tenant farmer. The writings that followede.g., Tales of Ireland (1834) and Fardorougha the Miser (1839)deal with such rural problems as the land question, secret patriotic societies, and the Irish potato famine of the 1840s. Although filled with local colour, his powerful stories had wide appeal and were translated into French, German, and Italian.