World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Frank McCourt

フランク・マッコート

Frank McCourt

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1930-08-19 （Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.）
Died
2009-07-19 （New York City, U.S. (hospice)） age 78
Nationality
Irish, American
Languages
English
Religion
Irish Catholic
Residence History
Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. → Limerick, Ireland → Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. → Roxbury, Connecticut, U.S.

Career

Occupations
memoirist, writer, teacher
Active Years
1950-2009
Affiliations
National Arts Club
Memberships
National Arts Club

Education

New York University
College (English) / Department of English
Degree: 学士（英語）
Period: 1950s
Year of Graduation: 1957
Country: United States
Admitted using G.I. Bill benefits; graduated after probationary year.
Brooklyn College
Graduate (Education/English) / English/Education
Degree: 修士
Period: 1960s
Year of Graduation: 1967
Country: United States
Earned a master's degree in 1967.
Trinity College Dublin
Doctoral studies (not completed)
Period: 1960年代後半（約18か月）
Country: Ireland
Spent ~18 months in doctoral studies but did not complete degree.

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
1997
Work: Angela's Ashes
Organization: The Pulitzer Prizes
Result: 受賞
National Book Critics Circle Award
1996
Work: Angela's Ashes
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 受賞
Golden Plate Award
1999
Organization: American Academy of Achievement
Result: 受賞
Honorary degree (University of Western Ontario)
2002
Organization: University of Western Ontario
Result: 授与

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Angela's Ashes

1996 memoir 321 pages

A tragicomic memoir recounting McCourt's impoverished childhood from Brooklyn to Limerick, detailing family poverty, illness, and loss with humor and pathos.

povertyfamilyreligionimmigration
Adaptations
  • [film] Angela's Ashes (film) / Alan Parker (1999)
  • [musical] Angela's Ashes – The Musical (2016)
Translations
  • Angela's Ashes (Japanese translation)

'Tis

1999 memoir (continuation) 320 pages

A continuation of Angela's Ashes, focusing on McCourt's return to New York, his young adulthood, and struggles establishing his life in the U.S.

coming of ageworkeducation

Teacher Man

2005 memoir (teaching) 272 pages

Memoirs of his experiences as an English teacher, focusing on classroom life, students, and his views on teaching.

educationhumormemoir

Bibliography

  • Angela's Ashes. Scribner. 1996
  • 'Tis. Scribner. 1999
  • Teacher Man. Scribner. 2005
  • A Couple of Blaguards (play, co-written). Samuel French. 2011
  • Angela and the Baby Jesus (children's edition). 2007
  • Edited: Yeats is Dead!: A Novel by Fifteen Irish Writers. 2001

Adaptations

  • Angela's Ashes (film, 1999)
  • Angela's Ashes – The Musical (stage)

Translations of Works

  • Angela's Ashes Japanese edition

Style & Themes

Literary Style
colloquial, conversational prosetragicomic memoir style mixing humor and pathos
Recurring Motifs
poverty and hungerfamily and motherhoodreligion and conscienceimmigration and homecoming

Health

  • melanoma
    2009年（治療・寛解情報あり）
    Treated with home chemotherapy and was reported in remission; later died from cancer with meningeal complications.

Legacy

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Angela's Ashes, McCourt achieved popular success in the memoir genre. He was celebrated as an educator, a New York high school was named for him, and his papers and museum collection have been preserved in Limerick and at the University of Limerick.

Museums

  • Frank McCourt Museum Leamy House, Hartstonge Street, Limerick, Ireland Opened in 2011

Academic Societies

  • National Arts Club (member)

Archives

  • Papers held at Glucksman Library, University of Limerick

In Popular Culture

  • Film adaptation of Angela's Ashes (1999) and stage musical adaptations
  • Frank McCourt High School of Writing, Journalism, and Literature in New York

Trivia

  • Treated for melanoma in his late life.
  • Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1997.
  • The Frank McCourt Museum opened in 2011 and closed in 2019.
  • Portions of his ashes were scattered in Limerick in 2017 by his daughter.