Little-known Irish Writers

Sure, you’re heard of the Joyces and Becketts, but what of these lads of local legend?

Johnny O’Gre, author of the plays “Ma, I Donae Wanna Go to Work!” and “Not Today Either!,” widely believed to be thinly veiled autobiographies; he lived with his mother until he was 75, when she passed on. At her funeral service, he fell on her coffin, wailing, “Who’ll make me tea now?!”

John Milk Derry, the genius who created but one work, and an unfinished one at that. “There Once Was a Man” was 5,500 rambling pages (and no end in sight) at his death. The story illustrates 5 minutes in the town of Kilkee, with each page densely packed disassociated streams of consciousness, quirky dialogue and vivid descriptions. Derry layers in countless literary allusions, bits of popular songs and, infamously, scores of interlocking limericks, some of which take on lives of their own. Some feel James Joyce’s blindness was caused by rage, after reading this limerician.

Brendan Beanie wrote the hit play, “The Kindergardener,” which caused quite a sensation, and his proclamation as “The Precocious Prince of Parkasilla.” Its follow up, “Stinky Milk,” was not successful; one critic declared “Beanie, a pretentious hack, is but a mere sad shadow of his former self.” At age 6, Brendan sulked “They’ll see, I’ll never write again.” And kept good his word.

Seaumus O’Drool never, as far as anyone can tell, actually wrote anything. But he looked enough like an Irish writer that he caged many a drink from a wide-eyed Dublin tourist, falling prey to his line, “You wouldna mind fillin’ me pint, wouldya? It’s tired am I, day and night on the ol’ typer-writer . . .”