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Anthony Cronin | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1923-12-28)28 December 1923 Enniscorthy,County Wexford, Ireland |
| Died | 27 December 2016(2016-12-27) (aged 92) Dublin, Ireland |
| Occupation | Government advisor Poet |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Education | University College Dublin |
Anthony Gerard Richard Cronin (28 December 1923 – 27 December 2016) was anIrish poet, arts activist, biographer, commentator, critic, editor and barrister.
Cronin was born inEnniscorthy,County Wexford on 28 December 1923.[1] After obtaining a B.A. from theNational University of Ireland, he entered the King's Inns and was later called to the Bar.[2]
Cronin was married to Thérèse Campbell, from whom he separated in the mid-1980s. She died in 1999. They had two daughters, Iseult and Sarah; Iseult was killed in a road accident in Spain.
In his later years Cronin suffered from failing health, which prevented him from travelling abroad, thus limiting his dealings to local matters.[3] He died on 27 December 2016, one day short of his 93rd birthday, having married a second wife, the writerAnne Haverty; his daughter Sarah also survived him.[4]
Cronin was known as an arts activist as well as a writer.[5] He was Cultural Adviser to the TaoiseachCharles Haughey[5] (and briefly toGarret FitzGerald).[citation needed] He involved himself in initiatives such asAosdána (an association for the benefit of artists and writers),[6] theIrish Museum of Modern Art and theHeritage Council. He was a founding member of Aosdána, and was a member of its governing body, theToscaireacht, for many years; he was electedSaoi (a distinction for exceptional artistic achievement) in 2003. He was also a member of the governing bodies of the Irish Museum of Modern Art and theNational Gallery of Ireland, of which he was (for a time) Acting Chairman.[citation needed]
WithFlann O'Brien,Patrick Kavanagh andCon Leventhal, Cronin celebrated the firstBloomsday in 1954. He contributed to many television programmes, includingFlann O'Brien: Man of Parts (BBC) andFolio (RTÉ).[citation needed]
From 1966 to 1968 Cronin was a visiting lecturer at theUniversity of Montana and from 1968 to 1970 he was a poet in residence atDrake University. Cronin read a selection of his poems for theIrish Poetry Reading Archive in 2015. He had honorary doctorates from several institutions, includingDublin University, theNational University of Ireland and theUniversity of Poznan.
Cronin began his literary career as a contributor toEnvoy, A Review of Literature and Art. He was editor ofThe Bell in the 1950s and literary editor ofTime and Tide (London). He wrote a weekly column, "Viewpoint", inThe Irish Times from 1974 to 1980. Later he contributed a column on poetry to theSunday Independent.
His first collection of poems, called simplyPoems (Cresset, London), was published in 1958. Several collections followed and hisCollected Poems (New Island, Dublin) was published in 2004.The End of the Modern World (New Island, 2016), written over several decades, was his final publication.
Cronin's novel,The Life of Riley, is a satire on bohemian life in Ireland in the mid-20th century, while his memoirDead as Doornails addresses the same subject.
Cronin knewSamuel Beckett from when they did some work for the BBC during the 1950s and 1960s. Cronin gave a prefatory talk toPatrick Magee's reading ofThe Unnamable on theBBC Third Programme. Beckett said: "Cronin delivered his discourse … It was all right, not very exciting".[5] Cronin later published a biography of him.[5]Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist (1996) followed on fromNo Laughing Matter: The Life and Times ofFlann O'Brien (1989).
Verse: main collections
Novels
Literary Criticism and Commentary
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Plays
Memoirs
Biographies
As Editor
About Cronin
A benefit of holding a summer school … in … Dublin is that people … are available who might not otherwise be in a position to appear. One such is Anthony Cronin… Cronin is now 84 and not in a condition to travel abroad, so it was a special opportunity for non-Irish resident students to hear him comment and reminisce in conversation with Terence Brown.
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