SOURCE: "Introduction," in William Trevor, Twayne, 1993, pp. 1-8.

In the following excerpt, Morrison discusses Trevor's Irish nationality and recurring themes within his works.

From some perspectives William Trevor might seem to be a British author: he lives in Devon, on the southwest coast of England; his publishers are two important British firms, Penguin and the Bodley Head; he has been awarded an honorary CBE by Queen Elizabeth II for his valuable services to literature. His work usually occupies a foot or two of shelf space in major bookshops throughout the United Kingdom. And his speech is accented by an urbane mix of various regions of Britain. Even so, William Trevor remains an Irish author—Irish by birth and by owned identity. That simple fact is essential to any full appreciation of his fiction.

In a 1976 interview with Jack White on Irish television (RTE), Trevor stated that Irish history...