SOURCE: "Two Forgotten Irish Novelists," in The Irish Monthly, Vol. LVIII, No. 685, July, 1930, pp. 338-349.

In the following essay, Lachal studies the works of John and Michael Banim, arguing that the Banim brothers, unlike their aristocratic predecessor Maria Edgeworth, were able to truly appreciate the drastic changes that needed to be made to improve the lives of most Irish people.

The work of the "O'Hara Family" has been to a great extent forgotten. It is regrettable, for John and Michael Banim, who wrote under this nom-de-plume, did much for Ireland. They may be called the first national novelists. They were great admirers of Scott, and had the ambition to do for Ireland what Scott did for his country by his tales.

Maria Edgeworth, of course, preceded them, but can she be called a national novelist in any full sense? True she came of an old County Longford family...