The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty

O’Flaherty’s novel The Informer, first published in 1925, is set in the aftermath of the Irish civil war. It tells about an outlaw who is the object of a Dublin manhunt. The Informer is one of O’Flaherty’s most well-known pieces of fiction.

Like ‘‘The Sniper,’’ O’Flaherty’s short story ‘‘Civil War,’’ included in the 1925 collection of the same name, explores the experience of the war through two Republican soldiers—one an idealist and one a realist—who are trapped on a rooftop, waiting for death.

Liam O’Flaherty’s Ireland (2001), by Peter Costello, features biographical information about O’Flaherty, excerpts from his fiction, and photographs from his time period.

The Letters of Liam O’Flaherty (1996), edited by A. A. Kelly, can provide additional information on this writer.

O’Henry’s ‘‘The Gift of the Magi’’ (1905), Guy de Maupassant’s ‘‘The Necklace’’ (1884), and Saki’s ‘‘The Open Window’’ (1914) all provide variations—both humorous and tragic—on the same type of surprise ending employed by O’Flaherty.

James Joyce’s Dubliners (1914), a collection of short stories about the lives of people in Dublin, includes the masterpiece ‘‘The Dead.’’

Sean O’Casey’s play Juno and the Paycock, perhaps his most popular, was originally staged in 1924 and set during the Irish civil war. This tragicomedy chronicles the fortunes of one family as they struggle for Irish independence.

Sean O’Faolain’s first collection of short stories, Midsummer Night Madness and Other Stories, was first published in 1932.