John Banim
John Banim (
April 3,
1798 -
August 30,
1842),
Irish novelist, sometimes called the "Scott of Ireland," was born at
Kilkenny. In his thirteenth year he entered
Kilkenny College and devoted himself specially to drawing and miniature painting. He pursued his artistic education for two years in the schools connected with the
Royal Society at
Dublin, and afterwards taught drawing in
Kilkenny, where he fell in love with one of his pupils. His affection was returned, but the parents of the young lady interfered and removed her from Kilkenlly. She pined away and died in two months. Her death made a deep impression on Banim, whose health suffered severely and permanently.
In
1820 he went to
Dublin and settled finally to the work of literature. He published a poem,
The Celt's Paradise, and his
Damon and Pythias was performed at
Covent Garden in
1821. During a short visit to
Kilkenny he married, and in
1822 planned in conjunction with his elder brother,
Michael (
1796-
1874), a series of tales illustrative of Irish life, which should be for
Ireland what the
Waverley Novels were for
Scotland; and the influence of his model is distinctly traceable in his writings. He then set out for
London, and supported himself by writing for magazines and for the stage, a volume of miscellaneous essays was published anonymously in
1824, called
Revelations of the Dead Alive. In April
1825 appeared the first series of
Tales of the O'Hara Family, which achieved immediate and decided success. One of the most powerful of them,
Crohoore of the Bill Hook, was by
Michael Banim.
In
1826 a second series was published, containing the Irish novel,
The Nowlans. John's health had given way, and the next effort of the "O'Hara family" was almost entirely the production of his brother Michael.
The Croppy, a Tale of 1798 (
1828) is hardly equal to the earlier tales, though it contains some wonderfully vigorous passages.
The Mayor of Windgap,
The Ghost Hunter (by
Michael Banim),
The Denounced (
1830) and
The Smuggler (
1831) followed in quick succession, and were received with considerable favour. Most of these deal with the darker and more painful phases of life, but the feeling shown in his last,
Father Connell, is brighter and tenderer. John Banim, meanwhile, had suffered from illness and consequent poverty. In
1829 he went to
France, and while he was abroad a movement to relieve his wants was set on foot by the English press, headed by
John Sterling in
The Times. A sufficient sum was obtained to remove him from any danger of actual want.
He returned to Ireland in
1835, and settled in
Windgap Cottage, a short distance from
Kilkenny; and there, a complete invalid, he passed the remainder of his life, dying on the 13th of August
1842. His strength lies in the delineation of the characters of the Irish lower classes, and the impulses, often misguided and criminal, by which they are influenced, and in this he has shown remarkable power.
Michael Banim had acquired a considerable fortune which he lost in
1840 through the bankruptcy of a firm with which he had business relations. After this disaster he wrote
Father Connell (
1842),
Clough Fionn (
1852),
The Town of the Cascades (
1862). Michael Banim died at
Booterstown.
An assessment in the
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (
1911) reads:
The true place of the Banims in literature is to be estimated from the merits of the O'Hara Tales; their later works, though of considerable ability, are sometimes prolix and are marked by too evident an imitation of the Waverley Novels. The Tales, however, are masterpieces of faithful delineation. The strong passions, the lights and shadows of Irish peasant character, have rarely been so ably and truly depicted. The incidents are striking, sometimes even horrible, and the authors have been accused of straining after melodramatic effect. The lighter, more joyous side of Irish character, which appears so strongly in Samuel Lover, receives little attention from the Banims.*
*
Free ebook of John Banim at
Project Gutenberg*
John & Michael Banim Article from the Catholic Encyclopedia
