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Ireland's president and prime minister were amonmgst those who paid tribute Thursday to John McGahern, one of the country's foremost novelists and short story writers who died in Dublin.
RTE state radio said he died Thursday after a long illness.
Born in Dublin in 1934, McGahern gained notoriety when his second novel, "The Dark," about adolescent sexuality and a repressive society, was banned by the Irish censorship authorities in 1965.
He was subsequently dismissed from his teaching post and moved to London where he worked as a part-time teacher and building labourer.
He then spent time as professor of literature and writer-in-residence in universities in the United States and Britain before he returned to Ireland.
President Mary McAleese said Ireland had lost "an outstanding literary talent."
She said McGahern made "an enormous contribution to our self-understanding as a people.
"His work often pitched him into a place of some discomfort, not only for himself but for the reader also. His was a challenging voice yet not without compassion, a voice that spoke of his great and honest love for his country and its people."
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern described him as "one of Ireland's finest writers ever."
"His beautiful use of language in telling and retelling the stories of his time and place are the enduring testimony of his life and his talent," he said.
"The early sacrifice he paid for his work strengthened his resolve. Through decades he slowly, meticulously and beautifully crafted some of the finest passages of literature ever written on this island."
McGahern was the author of several highly acclaimed novels and collections of short stories chronicling Irish rural life.
Other novels include "The Barracks" (1963), "The Leavetaking" (1974), "The Pornographer" (1979) and "That They May Face the Rising Sun" (2002).
His book "Amongst Women" was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1990.
Last year McGahern published "Memoir," a book about his intense love for his mother, who died when he was only nine, and his rage against his father, a rural policeman.
He received numerous awards and honours, including a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship, the American-Irish Award, the GPA award, the Prix Etrangere Ecureuil and the French Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
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AFP 301445 GMT 03 06
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