Pat McCabe has drawn inspiration from his experiences on both sides of the classroom

Writer Pat McCabe has drawn inspiration from his experiences on both sides of the classroom divide. Just don’t call his work ‘bog gothic’, says Colette Sheridan

PAT MCCABE’S early career as a teacher informed his novel, The Dead School, published in 1995, which has been adapted for the stage.

The writer, born 60 years ago in Clones, Co Monaghan, has chronicled the tumultuous transition from a Church- and State-dominated society to modern Ireland. Two male teachers personify the chasm. Nationalism and religion clash with individualism.