Faber and Faber

Faber and Faber entered John McGahern’s literary career when publishers were seeking his work. After deciding that his first novel was too flawed to show, he told the publisher that he would be willing to write another. Faber and Faber offered him a contract for The Barracks on the strength of its first chapter, then encouraged him to submit the manuscript for an important prize. He entered and won, turning a contract for a new book into a decisive public breakthrough.

Engagement with McGahern

The publisher’s offer followed the appearance of extracts from McGahern’s earlier work in the magazine X, which had attracted publishers’ attention. Although Faber and Faber was among those who contacted him, McGahern did not submit the novel that had prompted their interest: he judged it too flawed. His response redirected the encounter toward a future work, and the first chapter of that work was enough for the publisher to make a commitment.

The Barracks and the Prize

Faber and Faber contracted McGahern to write The Barracks before the novel was complete. While it remained in manuscript, the publisher persuaded him to enter it for a major prize, despite his belief that he had little chance of winning. The award established the novel’s early success and brought McGahern’s writing beyond the private, largely discarded work that had preceded it.

Consequences

The contract and prize ended what McGahern described as the secret life of reading and writing. His photograph appeared in most newspapers, and articles followed. The response also reached his teaching life: colleagues were pleased, though some initially regarded him with suspicion, as if publication had made him no longer one of their own. That unease did not last against the ordinary demands of teaching. Faber and Faber’s role in the episode was therefore both editorial and catalytic: its contract advanced a second novel, and its encouragement helped carry that work from manuscript into public recognition.