Writers of Today; Frank O'Connor
- Series
- Writers of Today
- Episode
- Frank O'Connor
- Producing Organization
- Dynamic Films
- Contributing Organization
- Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/512-nc5s757h8n
- NOLA Code
- WROT
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- Description
- Episode Description
- Walter Kerr discusses the more subtle differences between the novel and the short story with the eminent Irish story-teller Frank OConnor. O'Connor has written poems, critical studies, and essays, but is primarily known for his short stories. He feels that the individual is the important element in the short story, while "time" is more vital in the novel. Storytelling" he says, "is the nearest thing one can get to the quality of a pure lyric poem. It doesn't deal with problems, it doesn't have any solutions to offer, it just states the human condition." To illustrate his point, O'Connor reads from his story "First Confession."?Frank O'Connor is the pseudonym of Michael O'Donovan, born in Cork in 1903. Because his family was extremely poor, O'Connor was unable to afford formal education, but by the age of twelve he had put together a "collected edition" of his works, including poems, biographies, and essays on Irish history. From 1925 to 1938 he worked as a librarian in Cork--a position that gave him time to develop as a writer. His early works were written in Gaelic. When he began to write stories in English, he had many accepted by "AE" (George W. Russell), who published them in The Irish Statesman and, in 1931, called O'Connor "the most important find" among Irish writers in years. In that same year the writer's first volume of short stories, Guests of the Nation, was published. The title story subsequently appeared in this country in the Atlantic Monthly--the first of many to appear in that publication or in The New Yorker. O'Connor later moved to Dublin, where he was a director of the Abbey Theatre from 1936 to 1939. This experience, he says, gave him a "passion for techniques" and led to his collaboration on a number of plays. He remains, however, an artist of the short story who, in Yeats's words, has "done for Ireland what Chekhov did for Russia." This accolade is especially pleasing to O'Connor, who has long felt that Chekhov had what he himself is striving for: "the completely organic form." In addition to his many volumes of short stories, O'Connor has published several books of verse, a critical study of Turgenev, and a study of Michael Collins and the Irish Revolution. He came to the United States in 1952 and has been a visiting professor and lecturer at Northwestern University, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago. Episode Running Time: 28:52 (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Series Description
- Designed to explore the important literary expressions of outstanding contemporary authors, Writers of Today is a series of filmed interviews with novelists, poets, and dramatists. The interviews concentrate on the goals, abilities, and preferences of the writers, their reasons for writing, how and what they write, and the background and environmental influences on their particular modes of expression. Writers of Today consists of 17 half-hour episodes that were distributed by NET in four different seasons in 1956-1957, 1959-1960, 1962, and 1963. The first season was seven episodes, and every subsequent season included some episodes from the previous seasons and some new episodes. The fact that episodes were repeated multiple times and there was no consistent numbering of episodes between seasons makes it difficult to create logical or accurate episode numbers, which is why there are not any episode numbers in these records. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Broadcast Date
- 1962-00-00
- Broadcast Date
- 1957-00-00
- Asset type
- Episode
- Genres
- Talk Show
- Topics
- Literature
- Rights
- Published Work: This work was offered for sale and/or rent in 1960.
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Credits
-
-
Director: Bobker, Lee R.
Executive Producer: Zucker, Nathan
Guest: O'Connor, Frank
Host: Kerr, Walter
Producing Organization: Dynamic Films
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2341870-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2341870-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
- Citations
- Chicago: “Writers of Today; Frank O'Connor,” 1962-00-00, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed August 17, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-nc5s757h8n.
- MLA: “Writers of Today; Frank O'Connor.” 1962-00-00. Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. August 17, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-nc5s757h8n>.
- APA: Writers of Today; Frank O'Connor. Boston, MA: Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-nc5s757h8n