The Country Girls
First edition cover, showing Baba (left) and Cait (right)
AuthorEdna O'Brien
CountryIreland
LanguageEnglish
SeriesCountry Girls trilogy
GenreBildungsroman, feminist literature
Set inWestern Ireland and Dublin, late 1950s
Published1960 Hutchinson
Media typeHardcover 8vo
Pages223
ISBN0752881167
OCLC3365816
823.914
LC ClassA439530
Followed byThe Lonely Girl 

The Country Girls is a trilogy by Irish author Edna O'Brien. It consists of three novels: The Country Girls (1960), The Lonely Girl (1962), and Girls in Their Married Bliss (1964). The trilogy was re-released in 1986 in a single volume with a revised ending to Girls in Their Married Bliss and addition of an epilogue. The Country Girls, both the trilogy and the novel, is often credited with breaking silence on sexual matters and social issues during a repressive period in Ireland following World War II and was adapted into a 1983 film. All three novels were banned by the Irish censorship board and faced significant public disdain in Ireland.[1] O'Brien won the Kingsley Amis Award in 1962 for The Country Girls.

The Country Girls (1960)

Plot synopsis

Caithleen "Cait/Kate" Brady and Bridget "Baba" Brennan are two young Irish country girls who have spent their childhood together. As they leave the safety of their convent school in search of life and love in the big city, they struggle to maintain their somewhat tumultuous relationship. Cait, dreamy and romantic, yearns for true love, while Baba just wants to experience the life of a single girl. Although they set out to conquer the world together, as their lives take unexpected turns, Cait and Baba must ultimately learn to find their own way.

1983 Film Adaptation

The novel was filmed in 1983 directed by Desmond Davis. It had a budget of £770,000.[2]

The Lonely Girl (1962)

In the Lonely Girl, Caithleen (Cait/Kate) and Bridget (Baba) move to Dublin. The novel tells the story of Kate's romance with a sophisticated older man.[3] Eventually, Kate becomes unhappy as Eugene does not share her Catholic religious beliefs, his friends do not regard Kate seriously, and he continues to correspond with his estranged wife, for whom he still has some feelings. Kate finally leaves Eugene and returns to Baba, who is packing to move to London and invites Kate to come along. Kate hopes that Eugene will come after her and ask her to return to him, but instead he sends word through Baba that their breakup is probably for the best. Sadly, Kate departs for London with Baba, where she gets over her heartbreak and meets "different people, different men". Girl with Green Eyes is a 1964 British drama film, which Edna O'Brien adapted from her own novel, The Lonely Girl.

Girls in Their Married Bliss (1964)

The third and final book of the trilogy, this novel begins in London several years after the end of The Lonely Girl. It marks a significant shift in style from the first two books, as it is now narrated in part by Baba in the first person, while Kate's sections are narrated in the third person. See more details on the page for Girls in Their Married Bliss.

Reception

The Irish censorship board banned The Country Girls upon its publication, adding it to a list of over 1600 books banned in Ireland under the Censorship of Publications Act, 1929.[4][5]

The public response in Ireland was largely negative as a result of the sexual imagery and national critique throughout the trilogy. Religious and political figures took particular offence. Archbishop McQuaid and then Minister for Justice, Charlie Haughey decided that "the book was filth and should not be allowed inside any decent home."[6] The trilogy was also subject to multiple public book burnings, including one in O'Brien's hometown of Tuamgraney.[7]

The Irish response to the trilogy, and the trilogy's international success despite this reaction, are frequently cited as key moments in the history of female writers in Ireland. According to Irish novelist Anne Enright, "O'Brien is the great, the only, survivor of forces that silenced and destroyed who knows how many other Irish women writers, and her contradictions – her evasions even – must be regarded as salutary."[8]

On 5 November 2019 BBC News included The Country Girls on its list of the 100 most influential novels.[9]

Analysis

The novel is an exploration of the trials and tribulations of two friends set against the backdrop of 1950s Ireland, showing the influence of James Joyce in the humane attention to detail and thought and the rather lyrical prose of the narrator Cait.

The ending, wherein Cait is deceived by Mr Gentleman, can be considered as a call by O'Brien for a reconsideration of Catholic values in Irish society. O'Brien helped to launch a new generation of Irish writers more focused on the demands and values of society, such as Enright, Nuala O'Faolain and Colm Tóibín.

References

  1. ^ Cooke, Rachel (6 February 2011). "Edna O'Brien: A writer's imaginative life commences in childhood". The Observer. London. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  2. ^ "Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing" (PDF). British Film Institute. 2005. p. 21.
  3. ^ O'Brien, Edna (2017). The country girls trilogy. Eimear McBride (Omnibus edition with a new epilogue ed.). London. ISBN 978-0-571-33053-9. OCLC 1011571053.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ Drisceoil, Donal Ó (2005). "'The best banned in the land': Censorship and Irish Writing since 1950". The Yearbook of English Studies. 35: 146–160. doi:10.1353/yes.2005.0042. hdl:10468/733. ISSN 0306-2473. JSTOR 3509330. S2CID 159880279.
  5. ^ Oireachtas, Houses of the (18 November 1942). "Censorship of Publications—Motion. – Seanad Éireann (3rd Seanad) – Wednesday, 18 Nov 1942 – Houses of the Oireachtas". www.oireachtas.ie. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  6. ^ O'Brien, Edna (2014). Country Girl: A Memoir. New York, NY: Back Bay Books, Little Brown and Company. p. 152. ISBN 978-0316122719. OCLC 857879411.
  7. ^ Drisceoil, Donal Ó (2005). "'The best banned in the land': Censorship and Irish Writing since 1950". The Yearbook of English Studies. 35: 156. doi:10.1353/yes.2005.0042. hdl:10468/733. ISSN 0306-2473. JSTOR 3509330. S2CID 159880279.
  8. ^ Enright, Anne (12 October 2012). "Country Girl by Edna O'Brien – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  9. ^ "100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts". BBC News. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019. The reveal kickstarts the BBC's year-long celebration of literature.

External links

Works by Edna O'Brien
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