Life
1912- ; b. Newcastle Co. Down; s. of seed and tea wholesale merchant with
Samuel McCausland Ltd.; reporter on Northern Whig, 1931-33; joined
family seed firm; served in Ulster gunnery regiment in World War Two, winning
the Military Medal and a commission, 1940; released to take up family
business on death of his f., 1941; issued num. science and anatomy books about animals; novels include The Landslide
(1943) and Ratman’s Notebooks (1968), the latter filmed as Willard (1971)
and afterwards reprinted under that title, with translations in many languages; appt.
Forrest Reid’s literary executor, and co-edit a special issue of Threshold 28 (1976); associated with CND in Northern Ireland; director
of companies in Ireland, Brtian, and Scotland, and farmer in Co. Antrim,
where he breeds Shetlands; m. with four children. DIL IF2
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Works
The Landslide (London: Faber & Faber 1943); Bombardier (London:
Faber & Faber 1944); Monkeyface (London: Faber & Faber
1948); The Burnaby Experiments (London: Faber & Faber 1952); Ratman’s Notebooks (London: Michael Joseph 1968).
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Criticism
The Burnaby Experiments, The Landslide, Monkeyface, and Ratman’s
Notebooks, see J. W. Foster, Themes and Forces (1974), pp.210-218.
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Notes
Dictionary of Irish Literature (ed. Robert Hogan) has notice on Gilbert by John Boyd.
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