The Sniper is a short story written by the Irish novelist and short story writer Liam O'Flaherty. It was published in January 1923, in the middle of the Irish Civil war, which took place between 1922 to 1923. The story The Sniper too is centered around the same war, and speaks of the dehumanizing nature of war.
Liam O'Flaherty was born on August 28, 1896, in a village on Inishmore Island, on the western coast of Ireland. As a young man, he had been interested in becoming a Roman Catholic Priest, but later renounced his religion and opted for a more varied career. He became a soldier in the World War I, but was badly wounded in a bombing incident. On recovering, he left the army and travelled widely to places like Canada, South America, USA, Middle East,etc., and took up various jobs like hotel porter, miner, factory worker, dishwasher, bank clerk, deckhand, etc.
When O'Flaherty returned to Ireland, he became interested in communism, and was a founding member of the Communist Party of Ireland. He joined the Irish Republican Army and protested against the treaty signed between England and Ireland, as it made Ireland a part o the British Commonwealth, rather than giving it complete freedom.
His political activities eventually forced him to flee Ireland, and so he settled in London where he began to write seriously. His first short story was The Sniper, and it was published in a small London based weekly named 'The New Leader'. His other major novels include Thy Neighbour's Wife, The Informer, Skerrett, Famine, and Insurrection.
O'Flaherty died on 7 September 1984, in Dublin, Ireland, at the age of 88.
