Moore was educated at Newington Elementary School[11] andSt Malachy's College, Belfast.[2][12] He left the college in 1939, having failed his senior exams.[7] The physical description of the school at the heart ofThe Feast of Lupercal matches closely that of Moore'salma mater and is widely held to be a lightly fictionalised setting of the college as he unfondly remembered it.
in 1948 he emigrated to Canada to work as a reporter for theMontreal Gazette, and became aCanadian citizen. Moore lived in Canada from 1948 to 1958,[13] moving to New York in 1959 to take up aGuggenheim Fellowship[2] and remaining there until his divorce in 1967.[2] He then moved to the west coast of the United States, settling inMalibu, California, with his new wife Jean.[2] He taughtcreative writing atUCLA.[14] While eventually making his primary residence in California, Moore continued to live part of each year in Canada up to his death.[9]
Moore wrote his first novels in Canada.[13] Hisearliest books werethrillers, published under his own name or using the pseudonyms Bernard Mara or Michael Bryan.[15] The first two of these pieces of pulp fiction, all of which he later disowned,[16] were published in Canada byHarlequin –Wreath for a Redhead in March 1951 andThe Executioners in July 1951.
Judith Hearne, which Moore regarded as his first novel and was the first he produced outside the thriller genre, remains among his most highly regarded. The book was rejected by ten American publishers before being accepted by a British publisher.[9] It was made into afilm, with British actressMaggie Smith playing the lonelyspinster who is the book/film's title character.[9]
Some of his novels feature staunchly anti-doctrinaire andanti-clerical themes, and in particular, he spoke strongly about the effect of the Church on life in Ireland. A recurring theme in his novels is the concept of theCatholic priesthood. On several occasions, he explores the idea of a priest losing his faith. At the same time, several of his novels are deeply sympathetic and affirming portrayals of the struggles of faith and religious commitment,Black Robe most prominently.
Moore was married twice. His first marriage, in 1952, was to Jacqueline ("Jackie") Sirois (née Scully), aFrench Canadian[5] and fellow journalist with whom he had a son, Michael (who became a professional photographer),[19] in 1953.[20] They divorced in October 1967 and Jackie died in January 1976.[21] Moore married his second wife, Jean Russell (née Denney), a former commentator on Canadian TV,[22] in October 1967.[21]
Brian Moore died at his Malibu home on 11 January 1999, aged 77, frompulmonary fibrosis.[9] He had been working on a novel about the 19th-century French symbolist poetArthur Rimbaud.[23] His last published work, written just before his death, was an essay entitled "Going Home".[10] It was a reflection inspired by a visit he made to the grave inConnemara of his family friend, the Irish nationalistBulmer Hobson. The essay was commissioned byGranta and published inThe New York Times on 7 February 1999.[10] Despite Moore's often conflicted attitude to Ireland and his Irishness, his concluding reflection in the piece was "The past is buried until, in Connemara, the sight of Bulmer Hobson's grave brings back those faces, those scenes, those sounds and smells which now live only in my memory. And in that moment I know that when I die I would like to come home at last to be buried here in this quiet place among the grazing cows."[10]
In 1996, the Creative Writers Network in Northern Ireland launched the Brian Moore Short Story Awards.[24] The awards scheme continued until 2008 and is now defunct.[25]
Moore has been the subject of two biographies:Brian Moore: The Chameleon Novelist (1998) byDenis Sampson andBrian Moore: A Biography (2002) byPatricia Craig.[26]Brian Moore and the Meaning of the Past (2007) byPatrick Hicks provides a critical retrospective of Moore's works. Information about the publishing of Moore's novelJudith Hearne, and the break-up of his marriage can be found inDiana Athill's memoirStet (2000).[27]
To mark the centenary in 2021 of Moore's birth, a project − Brian Moore at 100 − funded by aBritish Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grant, sought to re-appraise his work, and revive scholarly and public interest in it. The project included a programme of research, public-facing events and an international academic conference.[30]
"The Ridiculous Proposal",Bluebook, January 1954[39]
"A Vocation",Tamarack Review 1 (Autumn 1956): 18–22; reprinted inThreshold 2 (Summer 1958): 21–25; reprinted in Garrity, Devin A (ed.)The Irish Genius, (1960). New York:New American Library, pp. 125–128; reprinted for theVerbal Arts Centre project, 1998; and reprinted in Moore, Brian.The Dear Departed: Selected Short Stories (2020). London: Turnpike Books.
"Lion of the Afternoon",The Atlantic, November 1957; reprinted inPacey, Desmond (ed.)A Book of Canadian Stories (1962). Toronto:Ryerson Press, pp. 283–293 and reprinted in Moore, Brian.The Dear Departed: Selected Short Stories (2020). London: Turnpike Books
"Next Thing was Kansas City",The Atlantic, February 1959
"Grieve for the Dear Departed",The Atlantic, August 1959; reprinted inPudney, John (ed.)Pick of Today's Short Stories, no. 12, (1960). London:Putnam, pp. 179–188 and reprinted in Moore, Brian.The Dear Departed: Selected Short Stories (2020). London: Turnpike Books
"Uncle T",Gentleman's Quarterly, November 1960; reprinted inTwo Stories,see above and reprinted in Moore, Brian.The Dear Departed: Selected Short Stories (2020). Turnpike Books
"Preliminary Pages for a Work of Revenge",Midstream 7 (Winter 1961); reprinted inMontague, John andKinsella, Thomas (eds.)The Dolmen: Miscellany of Irish Writing (1962), Dublin: Dolman, pp. 1–7; reprinted inRichler, Mordecai (ed.),Canadian Writings Today,Harmondsworth:Penguin Books, pp. 135–145; reprinted inTwo Stories,see above and reprinted in Moore, Brian.The Dear Departed: Selected Short Stories (2020). London: Turnpike Books
"Hearts and Flowers",The Spectator, 24 November 1961; reprinted in Moore, Brian.The Dear Departed: Selected Short Stories (2020). London: Turnpike Books
"Off the Track",Weaver, Robert (ed.)Ten for Wednesday Night, Toronto:McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 1961, pp. 159–167; reprinted in Giose Rimanelli, Giose; Ruberto, Robert (eds.) (1966),Modern Canadian Stories, Toronto:Ryerson Press, pp. 239–246 and reprinted in Moore, Brian.The Dear Departed: Selected Short Stories (2020). London: Turnpike Books
"The Sight",Hone, Joseph (ed.)Irish Ghost Stories, London:Hamish Hamilton, 1977, pp. 100–119; reprinted inManguel, Alberto (ed.)Black Water, Picador 1983; reprinted in Manguel, Alberto (ed.)The Oxford Book of Canadian Ghost Stories. Toronto:Oxford University Press 1990
"A Bed in America" (unpublished; later used in Hitchcock filmTorn Curtain)
Dahlie, Hallvard. "Brian Moore: An Interview".Tamarack Review 46 (1968), pp. 7–29
Sale, Richard. "An Interview in London with Brian Moore".Studies in the Novel 1 (Spring 1969), pp. 67–80
Gallagher, Michael Paul. "Brian Moore Talks to Michael Paul Gallagher",Hibernia (10 October 1969), p. 18
Cameron, Donald. "Brian Moore".Conversations with Canadian Novelists, 2. Toronto:Macmillan of Canada (1973), pp. 64–85
Graham, John. "Brian Moore" inGarrett, George, ed.,The Writer's Voice: Conversations With Contemporary Writers. New York:William Morrow and Company (1973), pp. 51–74
Bray, Richard T., ed. "A Conversation with Brian Moore".Critic: A Catholic Review of Books and the Arts 35 (Fall 1976), pp. 42–48
De Santana, Hubert. "Interview with Brian Moore".Maclean's (11 July 1977), pp. 4–7
Aris, Stephen. "Moore's Fistful of Dollars",The Sunday Times (October 1977), pp. 37
Sharp, Rhoderick. "Brian Moore: an author in exile winning with the luck of the Irish",Glasgow Herald, 7 May 1983, p. 7
Crowe, Marie. "Marie Crowe Talks to Belfast Writer Brian Moore", inThe Irish Press (21 June 1983), p. 9
Christie, Tom. "Q&A with Brian Moore: The Mystical World of the Mystery,"[46] Los Angeles Reader, 2 September 1983, p22
Meyer, Bruce and O'Riordan, Brian. "Brian Moore: In Celebration of the Commonplace", inIn Their Words: Interviews With Fourteen Canadian Novelists. Toronto:House of Anansi Press (1984), pp. 169–83
Carty, Ciaran. "Ciaran Carty Talks to Brian Moore",Sunday Independent (2 June 1985), p. 14
Adair, Tom. "The Writer as Exile", inLinen Hall Review, 2:4 (1985), pp. 4–6
Foster, John Wilson. "Q & A with Brian Moore", inIrish Literary Supplement: A Review of Irish Books (Fall 1985), pp. 44–45
Hicks, Patrick. "Brian Moore and Patrick Hicks", inIrish University Review Vol. 30, No. 2 (Autumn – Winter, 2000), pp. 315–320(The last known interview with Brian Moore)
Hicks, Patrick. "Brian Moore's The Feast of Lupercal and the Constriction of Masculinity",New Hibernia Review, Vol 5, No 3, pp. 101–113, Fómhar/Autumn 2001[5]
Hicks, Patrick. "The Fourth Master: Reading Brian Moore Reading James Joyce".Ariel.38:2–3., Apr–Jul 2007
Hicks, Patrick. "Sleight-of-Hand: Writing, History and Magic in Brian Moore's The Magician's Wife",Commonwealth Essays and Studies ["Postcolonial Narratives" Issue] 27, 2 (Spring 2005), pp. 87–95.
Koy, Christopher. "Representations of the Quebecois in Brian Moore's Novels",Considering Identity: Views on Canadian Literature and HistoryOlomouc:Palacký University Press, 2015, pp. 141–156.[47]
O'Donoghue, Jo.Brian Moore: A Critical Study, Montreal and Kingston:McGill University Press, 1991
Prosky, Murray. "The Crisis of Identity in the Novels of Brian Moore",Eire-Ireland VI (Fall 1971), pp. 106–118
Ricks, C. "The Simple Excellence of Brian Moore".New Statesman,71: pp. 227–228, 1966
Sampson, Denis. "'Home: A Moscow of the Mind': Notes on Brian Moore's Transition to North America" inColby Quarterly, vol. 31, issue 1 (March 1995). pp. 46–54[48]
Sampson, Denis.Brian Moore: The Chameleon Novelist, Toronto:Doubleday Canada, 1998
Schumacher, Antje.Brian Moore's Black Robe: Novel, Screenplay(s) and Film (European University Studies. Series 14: Anglo-Saxon Language and Literature. Vol. 494),Frankfurt am Main:Peter Lang. Language: EnglishISBN3631603215ISBN978-3-631-60321-5, 2010
Spear, Hilda D., "Two Belfast Novels: An Introduction to the Work of Brian Moore", inLindsay, Maurice (ed.),The Scottish Review: Arts and Environment 31, August 1983, pp. 33 – 37,ISSN0140-0894
Whitehouse, J. C. "Grammars of Assent and Dissent in Graham Greene and Brian Moore" in Whitehouse, J. C. (ed.)Catholics on Literature, Four Courts Press,ISBN978-1851822768, 1996, pp. 99–107
^abcMoynihan, Sinéad; Garden, Alison (2020)."Further reading".Brian Moore at 100. Retrieved26 August 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^abcCrowley, Michael (Summer 1998). "Stage and Screen: A Brian Moore Filmography".Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review.87 (346):142–144.JSTOR30091888.
