Kiely, Benedict (1919- ), novelist and critic; born in Dromore, Co. Tyrone, and educated at UCD. He worked as a journalist, 1945-64, taught at several American universities, 1964-8, and followed a career as an author and broadcaster in Dublin. Poor Scholar: A Study of the Works and Days of William Carleton (1947) discerned the basis of that novelist's fiction in bilingual Co. Tyrone. His book Modern Irish Fiction (1950) addressed the achievement of contemporary Irish writers. His early novels deal with small-town life at the time of Kiely's upbringing. Land Without Stars (1946) tells the story of two brothers, rivals for the same woman. Call for a Miracle (1950) is an urban novel, dealing with a complex pattern of sexual relationships in Dublin. In a Harbour Green (1949) depicts the west of Ireland. Three subsequent novels (The Cards of the Gambler, 1953; The Captain with the Whiskers, 1960; Dogs Enjoy the Morning, 1968) merge strands of reality and fantasy. There Was an Ancient House (1955) presents a disillusioned view of life in a Jesuit novitiate. The later novels Proxopera (1977) and Nothing Happens in Carmincross (1985) reproach the violence of extremists. Short-story collections include A Journey to the Seven Streams (1963), A Ball of Malt and Madam Butterfly (1973), and A Cow in the House (1978). Drink to the Bird (1992) is an expansive memoir.

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