For centuries, Ireland had been politically, economically, and culturally subordinate to England: England was a site of trade with the rest of Europe, the home of the monarchy, etc. The most important historical event to understand while reading Angela’s Ashes is the conflict between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants, and between Ireland and England. Afterwards, McCourt published two other memoirs, ‘Tis (1999) and Teacher Man (2005). The book was a surprise bestseller, and won McCourt the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. In 1996, he succeeded in publishing the memoir he’d been working on for years, Angela’s Ashes. Afterwards, he began a long career teaching in New York public schools. He was able to attend New York University on the GI Bill, and graduated with an undergraduate degree in English. At the age of nineteen, McCourt moved back to New York, and in 1951, he volunteered to fight in the Korean War. Several of his siblings died at an early age, and Frank was forced to work hard as a young boy to support those who remained alive. He and his family then moved back to Ireland when McCourt was nine, and he lived there for the next ten years-his first novel, Angela’s Ashes, details his early life in both America and Ireland. Frank McCourt was born to an impoverished Irish family living in New York City in the Great Depression.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |