Brian Friel, Ireland, and The North

A study of one of Ireland's most celebrated playwrights, Brian Friel.

After nearly five decades as one of Ireland's most celebrated playwrights, Brian Friel has been the subject of ten books and dozens of articles. This study expands Friel criticism into a sizeable body of material and into a fresher interpretative direction. Along with considering Friel's more recent plays, the book analyzes his interviews and essays to chart the author's ideological evolution throughout a career of more than forty years. Moreover, a chapter is devoted to his often ignored articles for The Irish Press (1962–1963), a series that reveals unsuspected insights into Friel's disposition towards the Irish Republic. Refining our understanding of Friel's relationship to Republicanism is central to the argument; rather than assuming that the author embraces nationalist ideology, the book relocates the conceptual concerns of his work away from Dublin and to 'The North', this bridge between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.

Introduction: Friel, criticism, and theory; 1. The Irish Press essays, 1962–1963: alien and native; 2. The plays of the 1960s: assessing partition's aftermath; 3. The plays of the 1970s: interrogating nationalism; 4. Plays 1980–1993: the North; 5. Plays 1994–2005: retreat from Ireland: The Home Place.

After nearly five decades as one of Ireland's most celebrated playwrights, Brian Friel has been the subject of ten books and dozens of articles. Along with considering Friel's more recent plays, the book analyses his interviews and essays to chart the author's ideological evolution throughout his lengthy career.