Thomas Augustine "Gus" Martin (13 November 1935 – 16 October 1995) was an Irish academic, Anglo-Irish scholar, teacher, writer, politician, broadcaster and

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

. During his career he was professor of Anglo-Irish Literature at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

(UCD), chairman of the board of the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre (), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland () is a theatre in Dublin, Ireland. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the p ...

, and a member of

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...

(the Irish senate) from 1973 to 1981.

Biography

Augustine Martin was born in

Ballinamore Ballinamore (, meaning "mouth of the big ford") is a small town in the south-east of County Leitrim in Ireland. Etymology , corrupted ''Bellanamore'', means "town at the mouth of the big ford", so named because it was a main crossing (ford) o ...

County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim, County Leitr ...

in 1935. Initially educated at the local national school, he completed his secondary education at

Cistercian College, Roscrea Cistercian College, Roscrea or Roscrea College is a private boarding school in Ireland. It is a Roman Catholic seven-day and five-day boarding school, boarding and day school for boys, founded in 1905. Its pupil population is primarily made up ...

(CCR), a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

where he captained the rugby team, was elected House Captain by the students and in his

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certificate ...

examination, scored an A in English, coming first in the country that year. In 1953 he entered

(UCD), where he took a Bachelor of Arts in 1957. He married Claire Kennedy (a

radiologist Radiology ( ) is the medical specialty that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide treatment within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiation), but tod ...

) in 1959, and they had four children. He taught English and Irish at his old school (Cistercian College) while he completed his Master of Arts degree. In 1964, he joined the English department of UCD as a lecturer specialising in Anglo-Irish literature and was subsequently involved with the redrawing of the

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

secondary school curriculum as a founder member of the Association for Teachers of English (ATE). During this period he edited the secondary school text books ''Exploring English'' (prose) and ''Soundings'' (poetry). In 1973, he competed his doctoral thesis on James Stephens. He won a

Jacob's Awards The Jacob's Awards were instituted in December 1962 as the first Irish television awards. Later, they were expanded to include radio. The awards were named after their sponsor, W. & R. Jacob & Co. Ltd., a biscuit manufacturer, and recipients ...

for broadcasting in 1968 for presenting ''Telefís Scoile'' programmes about English literature for

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

. He succeeded

Roger McHugh Roger Joseph McHugh (24 July 1908 – 1 January 1987) was an Irish academic, author, playwright, politician and Irish republican. He was educated Our Lady's Bower, Athlone; Synge Street CBS, Dublin and University College Dublin (UCD). McHugh ...

as Chair of Anglo-Irish Literature, at UCD in 1979. In 1973, he was elected to

(the Irish Senate) for the

National University A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. In the United States, the term "national university" connotes the highe ...

constituency, and re-elected in 1977 to serve until 1981. As a senator, he spoke for the arts and culture and was notably active in the opposition to the development of

Wood Quay Wood Quay () is a riverside area of Dublin that was a site of Viking settlement. It is now the location of the Dublin City Council offices. Location The site is bounded on the north side by Wood Quay on the River Liffey, on the west by W ...

, a 900-year-old

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

settlement in Dublin. In 1983, he was appointed to the board of the Abbey Theatre (the Irish national theatre), and in 1985 was appointed chairman. He was chairman of the Yeats International Summer School from 1978 to 1981, and subsequently founded the Yeats Winter School and the Joyce Summer School at Newman House. Martin died on 16 October 1995, aged 59. At the time of his death he was working on a biography of the Irish poet,

Patrick Kavanagh Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel ''Tarry Flynn'', and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life th ...

Published works

His literary works include: * ''An Anthology of short stories for Intermediate Certificate'' (1967), editor; * ''Introducing English: An Anthology of Prose and Poems'' (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1970), editor; * ''Winter's Tales from Ireland'' (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1970), editor; * ''James Stephens, The Charwoman's Daughter'' (1972), introduction; * ''James Stephens: A Critical Study'', (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan 1977); * ''‘Eusebius McGreal’, Third Degree, 1, 2'' (Dublin 1977); * ''Anglo-Irish literature'' (Department of Foreign Affairs, 1980); * ''Mary Lavin The House in Clewe Street'', (London: Virgao Press 1987), afterword; * ''W. B. Yeats, Collected poems'', (London: Arena 1983, 1990) editor and introduction; * ''The Genius of Irish prose'' TÉ Thomas Davis Lects.(Mercier/RTÉ 1985); * ''James Joyce : the artist and the labyrinth'' (1990), editor; * ''Friendship'' (Dublin: Ryan 1990); * ''The Collected Prose of James Clarence Mangan: Prose, 1832–1839'' by James Clarence Mangan, Martin Van De Kamp, Jacques Chuto, and Augustine Martin (published post-humously in May 1997). An anthology of his essays was published posthumously: ''Bearing witness: essays on Anglo-Irish'' edited by Anthony Roche (1996)Bearing Witnes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Augustine 1935 births 1995 deaths Academics of University College Dublin Alumni of University College Dublin Independent members of Seanad Éireann Irish literary critics Irish theatre directors Jacob's Award winners Members of Seanad Éireann for the National University of Ireland Members of the 13th Seanad Members of the 14th Seanad People educated at Cistercian College, Roscrea RTÉ television presenters People from Ballinamore Scholars and academics from County Leitrim Broadcasters from County Leitrim