John McGahern

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - John McGahern, the writer known for semi-autobiographical portraits of rural life and widely praised as one of Ireland's great modern novelists, died of cancer Thursday, his family and friends said. He was 71.

McGahern published six novels, four collections of short stories and, last year, his nonfiction "Memoir." All reflected his upbringing in County Roscommon: a world dominated by grief for his mother, who died of cancer when he was 8, and by the Roman Catholic Church and his father, a police sergeant who savagely beat the boy and his five sisters.

McGahern's second novel, "The Dark," a coming-of-age story published in 1965, was banned in Ireland and denounced from the pulpit as pornographic. McGahern was forced to quit his teaching job in a Catholic high school and left Ireland. He resettled near his childhood home five years later and wrote his two most celebrated works, "Amongst Women" - nominated for Britain's Booker Prize in 1990 - and "That They May Face the Rising Sun" in 2002.

McGahern died in a Dublin hospital. It was not announced what kind of cancer he had or how long he had been sick.

"John was one of Ireland's finest writers ever," Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said. "His beautiful use of language in telling and retelling the stories of his time and place are the enduring testimony of his life and his talent."

And Irish President Mary McAleese said McGahern made "an enormous contribution to our self-understanding as a people."

John Banville, another of Ireland's most respected authors, praised McGahern's wit and power of observation - and rued the fact his work had not received much recognition outside the country.

"'Amongst Women,' which was his masterpiece - if there was any justice at all, it should have won the Booker Prize. It would have given him the international recognition that he didn't have," Banville said. "The literary world we live in now is so glittery. His novels were so quiet, perhaps they didn't travel well. But they will."

McGahern's trademarks included a loving attention to the detail of Ireland's rural life: its plants and animals, its textures and smells - and the witty idiom and darker insular dynamics of its people.

His final novel, "That They May Face the Rising Sun," charted the social and seasonal changes in a border farming community without relying on conventional dramatic hooks - or even much plot.

In an interview last year, McGahern said he had attempted "to take plot and everything else out of the novel and see what was left."

"In fiction, the most powerful weapon the writer has is suggestion. I think that nearly all good writing is suggestion, and all bad writing is statement. Statement kills off the reader's imagination. With suggestion, the reader takes up from where the writer leaves off," he told The Guardian newspaper.

While he wrote for a few hours each day, McGahern remained a part-time farmer, and shunned the limelight. When Ireland's censorship board banned "The Dark," he barely commented on the matter and expressed no bitterness.

"For me, all that matters is whether a book is well written or not. Once a book is published, the less a writer has to say about it the better," he said. "That's why I never protested the banning. I thought it was a joke, the censorship board, and by protesting I would give them too much honor. Besides, a book has a life of its own. Once it is written, it belongs to its readers."

McGahern was survived by his wife Madeline, an American photographer, and his sisters. Funeral arrangements were not announced.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press