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Size | 7 items |
Abstract | (William) Denis Johnston (18 June 1901-8 August 1984) was an Irish writer. Born in Dublin, he wrote mostly plays, but also produced literary criticism and other works. The collection consists of seven letters and postcards from Denis Johnston to Margaret Anne O'Connor (Maggie), who taught the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's first course on women in literature (1972) and helped form the University's Women's Studies curriculum. Letters in 1972 and 1973 were from Johnston in Walla Walla, Wash.; 1974 letters were from Dublin, Ireland; and there is a 1974 postcard from Crete. Topics include visits paid and general friendship. There is also mention of a Samuel Beckett symposium in Chapel Hill at which Johnston was ultimately not invited to speak. |
Creator | Johnston, Denis, 1901-1984. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Rare Book Literary and Historical Papers. |
Language | English |
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(William) Denis Johnston (18 June 1901-8 August 1984) was an Irish writer. Born in Dublin, he wrote mostly plays, but also works of literary criticism, a book-length biographical essay on Jonathan Swift, a memoir, and a work of philosophy. He also worked as a war correspondent and as both a radio and television producer for the BBC. His first play, The Old Lady Says No!, helped establish the reputation of the Dublin Gate Theatre; his second, The Moon in the Yellow River, has been widely performed.
Johnston was a protege of W.B. Yeats and George Bernard Shaw; he had a stormy friendship with Sean O'Casey. He was a pioneer of television and war reporting. He worked as a lawyer in the 1920s and 1930s before joining the BBC as a writer and producer, first in radio and then in the fledgling television service. During World War II, he served as a BBC war correspondent, reporting from El Alamein to Buchenwald. For this, he was awarded an OBE 1945. He then became Director of Programmes for the television service.
Johnston later moved to the United States and taught at Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and other universities. He kept extensive diaries throughout his life (now deposited in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin). He received honorary degrees from the University of Ulster and Mount Holyoke College and was a member of Aosdana, which was established by the Irish Arts Council in 1981 to honor artists whose work had made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland.
(Note adapted from Wikipedia and other web posts viewed in July 2012.)
Back to TopThe collection consists of seven letters and postcards from Denis Johnston to Margaret Anne O'Connor (Maggie), who taught the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's first course on women in literature (1972) and helped form the University's Women's Studies curriculum. Letters in 1972 and 1973 were from Johnston in Walla Walla, Wash.; 1974 letters were from Dublin, Ireland; and there is a 1974 postcard from Crete. Topics include visits paid and general friendship. There is also mention of a Samuel Beckett symposium in Chapel Hill at which Johnston was ultimately not invited to speak.
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