McGahern, chronicler of Irish life, dies aged 71

John McGahern, whose death has robbed Ireland of one of its finest and most-revered writers, is to be buried in his beloved Co Leitrim tomorrow.

McGahern, who chronicled the minutiae of traditional Irish rural life in his books, plays and a hugely successful memoir, died suddenly in the Mater hospital in Dublin yesterday afternoon. He was 71 and suffering from cancer.

In a career spanning four decades, he knew both notoriety and celebrity. In the 1960s, his second novel, The Dark, was banned and he was dismissed from his teaching post but, by the end of his career, he was an enormous critical and popular success. In bare, beautiful prose, McGahern's books record the complex relations of rural society and the interplay between men and women.

Memories of his violent father inform his best-known work, Amongst Women, which was shortlisted for the Booker prize and won The Irish Times/Aer Lingus Fiction prize.

The President, Mary McAleese, yesterday led the tributes to McGahern. With his passing, Ireland had lost "an outstanding literary talent", she said.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern praised the writer's "beautiful use of language" in telling and retelling the stories of his time and place. "John McGahern faithfully lived out his vocation as a writer. The early sacrifice he paid for his work strengthened his resolve."

McGahern was also "a great wit and talker", the Taoiseach pointed out.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, referring to the censorship controversy, said he was "a fearless opponent of the hypocrisy and cant of which he, himself, was a victim in the 1960s".

Born in Dublin in 1934, McGahern grew up in Co Leitrim and Co Roscommon. Having trained as a primary school teacher, he taught in Clontarf, Dublin, until the parish priest who managed the school fired him.

He opted not to contest the banning of The Dark - an event that quickened the end of harsh censorship - and went into exile.

In the early 1970s, he returned to Ireland and Co Leitrim to live. From his farm near Mohill, he produced a succession of acclaimed novels, from The Leavetaking and The Pornographer in the 1970s to That They May Face the Rising Sun in 2001.

John McGahern, who is survived by his second wife, Madeline, will be buried at Aughawillan church in Co Leitrim tomorrow.