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Author Frank McCourt's legacy
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Frank McCourt, the schoolteacher turned late-blooming memoirist, died Sunday of cancer. He was 78.
McCourt was known for verbally spinning a great tale long before he even penned the words to his debut book, Angela’s Ashes. A poor boy born in America but raised in Ireland, McCourt returned to the states at the age of 19, worked in a NYC hotel, was drafted into the army, and eventually went to college on the GI Bill and became a respected and beloved high school creative writing teacher.
As a teacher he tried to show his students that their lives were significant enough to write about. Many of his former students went on to become writers and journalists.
McCourt was an encouragement to others who dream of someday becoming a published author. His first book was published when he was 66 years old. He also went on to publish two more memoirs, 'Tis and Teacher Man.
One of his quotes struck a chord with me, as I’m sure it does with others who have loved stringing words together since they were children. He said, “In school if they told me to write an essay of 150 words I’d write 500 words.”
A great writer will pull you into a story and make you live it as well. Angela’s Ashes was published in 1996. I read that book nearly 13 years ago, yet I can still recall living the dismal experience of young Frank, suffering with clawing hunger pangs and licking the grease from a discarded newspaper that his uncle’s fish and chips had been wrapped in. Vivid scenes like that stay with a person because they connect on a very human level. That's what good writing does to a reader.
A Pulitzer Prize winner, McCourt was also known for his selflessness toward others in the publishing industry. He made himself available and was unpretentious in his public appearances, was generous with his time at writers’ conferences, and supported the work of struggling novelists.
McCourt was disarmingly honest and humorous. When writing a short article on how a memoirist should tell friends and family about his work, McCourt explained about having to change characters’ names or alter scenes to protect real people. And then he also said, “The only way around all this nervousness is the novel—and that is what I'm trying now. Yes, yes, I still have to cover my tracks—and my ass—but I'll have greater freedom.”
For more information: Academy of Achievement: Frank McCourt
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