William Trevor
William Trevor
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Born Maurice Harold Trevor Bruce, he was commonly known as William Trevor.
Birth and Death Dates
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Born: May 24, 1928, in Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland
Died: November 3, 2015, at the age of 87
Nationality and Profession(s)
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William Trevor was an Irish novelist, playwright, poet, and short story writer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential writers to have emerged from Ireland in the second half of the 20th century.
Early Life and Background
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Growing up on a farm in County Cork, Trevor's early life would later shape his writing themes, which often explored the human condition, relationships, and social issues. His family moved to England when he was four years old, and he spent most of his childhood there. However, Ireland remained a significant part of his identity.
Trevor began writing at an early age and was heavily influenced by Irish folklore and mythology. He attended Trinity College in Dublin but left without completing his degree. Instead, he moved to London to pursue a career in writing.
Major Accomplishments
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Throughout his long and distinguished career, Trevor received numerous awards and accolades for his work. Some of his most notable achievements include:
International Impact: His stories have been translated into over 20 languages, making him one of the most widely read Irish writers internationally.
Literary Awards: He was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Literature, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for his novel "The Silence in the Grafitti", and the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction.
Honorary Degrees: Trevor received honorary degrees from Trinity College, Dublin; University College, Cork; and the University of Sheffield.Notable Works or Actions
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Some of William Trevor's most notable works include:
"The Old Boys" (1964) - a collection of short stories that explores the lives of former pupils at an English public school.
"The Silent Majority" (1978) - a novel that examines the experiences of ordinary people living in Ireland during a period of social change.
"Felling" (2006) - a novella and short story collection that explores themes of love, loss, and human relationships.
Impact and Legacy
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Trevor's writing has had a profound impact on Irish literature and beyond. His exploration of the human condition, relationships, and social issues continues to resonate with readers worldwide. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential writers to have emerged from Ireland in the second half of the 20th century.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
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William Trevor's writing is remembered for its insight into human nature, its exploration of complex themes, and its ability to evoke emotions in readers. His quotes and passages are widely used because they offer profound reflections on life, relationships, and the human experience.
As a writer who captured the essence of Ireland's social and cultural landscape, William Trevor remains an important figure in Irish literature.
Quotes by William Trevor
William Trevor's insights on:
He’ll not confess he knew, in the end, that the drama of death does not come into it – that some pain’s too dull to be worthy of a romantic shroud. Courage could have brushed glamour over what little there was, but courage is ridiculous when the other person doesn’t want to know.
A person’s life isn’t orderly... it runs about all over the place, in and out through time. The present’s hardly there; the future doesn’t exist. Only love matters in the bits and pieces of a person’s life.
All this occupied his thoughts when he revisited the places of his war. Tramping over soil fed by the blood of men he had led and whose faces now stirred in his memory, it was his wife’s response that came – as if in compensation for too little said before – when he wondered why his wandering had led him back to these old battlefields: in his sixty-ninth year he was establishing his survivor’s status.
There is an element of autobiography in all fiction in that pain or distress, or pleasure, is based on the author’s own. But in my case that is as far as it goes.
The capacity you’re thinking of is imagination; without it there can be no understanding, indeed no fiction.
By the end, you should be inside your character, actually operating from within somebody else, and knowing him pretty well, as that person knows himself or herself. You’re sort of a predator, an invader of people.
I value mothers and motherhood enormously. For every inattentive or abusive mother in my fiction I think you’ll find a dozen or so who are neither.
Memories can be everything if we choose to make them so. But you are right: you mustn’t do that. That is for me, and I shall do it.