梅芙·宾奇

梅芙·宾奇·斯内尔（Maeve Binchy Snell，1939年5月28日—2012年7月30日）经常被称为梅芙·宾奇（Maeve Binchy），是一位爱尔兰小说家、剧作家、专栏作家和演说家，以她对爱尔兰小镇生活和人物幽默的描写，对人性的兴趣，以及她经常巧妙惊奇的结局而闻名。她的小说被翻译成37种语言，在全世界销售了超过4千万册。2012年7月30日梅芙·宾奇去世，享年73岁。她被称为爱尔兰最受喜爱和最知名的作家之一。

她的作品在美国市场经常入选纽约时报畅销书榜和奥普拉的读书俱乐部。她以“完全没有恶意”和对其他作家的慷慨而闻名，她在2000年英国和爱尔兰的世界图书日民意调查中获得第三名，领先于简·奥斯汀，查尔斯·狄更斯和斯蒂芬·金。

Anne Maeve Binchy Snell (28 May 1939 – 30 July 2012) was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, columnist, and speaker. Her novels were characterised by a sympathetic and often humorous portrayal of small-town life in Ireland, and surprise endings. Her novels, which were translated into 37 languages, sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. Her death at age 73, announced by Vincent Browne on Irish television late on 30 July 2012, was mourned as the death of one of Ireland's best-loved and most recognisable writers.

She appeared in the US market, featuring on The New York Times Best Seller list and in Oprah's Book Club. Recognised for her "total absence of malice" and generosity to other writers, she finished third in a 2000 poll for World Book Day, ahead of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Stephen King.

Biography

Early life and family

Anne Maeve Binchy was born on 28 May 1939 in Dalkey, Dublin, the oldest of the four children of William and Maureen (née Blackmore) Binchy. Her siblings include one brother, William Binchy, Regius Professor of Laws at Trinity College Dublin, and two sisters: Irene "Renie" (who predeceased Binchy), and Joan, Mrs. Ryan. Her uncle was the historian D. A. Binchy (1899–1989). Educated at St Anne's (then located at No 35 Clarinda Park East), Dún Laoghaire, and later at Holy Child Killiney, she went on to study at University College Dublin (where she earned a bachelor's degree in history). She worked as a teacher of French, Latin, and history at various girls' schools, then as a journalist at The Irish Times, and later became a writer of novels, short stories, and dramatic works.

In 1968, her mother died of cancer at age 57. After Binchy's father died in 1971, she sold the family house and moved to a bedsit in Dublin.

Israel/Faith

Her parents were Catholics, and Binchy attended a convent school. However, a trip to Israel profoundly affected both her career and her faith. She later said to Vulture:

In 1963, I worked in a Jewish school in Dublin, teaching French with an Irish accent to kids, primarily Lithuanians. The parents there gave me a trip to Israel as a present. I had no money, so I went and worked in a kibbutz – plucking chickens, picking oranges. My parents were very nervous; here I was going out to the Middle East by myself. I wrote to them regularly, telling them about the kibbutz. My father and mother sent my letters to a newspaper, which published them. So I thought, It's not so hard to be a writer. Just write a letter home. After that, I started writing other travel articles.

One Sunday, attempting to locate where the Last Supper is supposed to have occurred, she climbed a mountainside to a cavern guarded by a Brooklyn-born Israeli soldier. She wept with despair. The soldier asked: "What'ya expect, ma'am – a Renaissance table set for 13?" She replied: "Yes! That's just what I did expect". This experience caused her to renounce her Catholic faith, and eventually become agnostic.

Marriage

Binchy, described as "six feet tall, rather stout, and garrulous", although she actually grew to 6'1", said in an interview with Gay Byrne of The Late Late Show that, growing up in Dalkey, she never felt herself to be attractive; "as a plump girl I didn't start on an even footing to everyone else". After her mother's death, she expected to lead a life of spinsterhood, saying "I expected I would live at home, as I always did." She continued, "I felt very lonely, the others all had a love waiting for them and I didn't."