Borstal Boy

Borstal Boy PDF Author: Brendan Behan
Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
ISBN: 9781567921052
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Get Book Here

Book Description
This miracle of autobiography and prison literature begins: "Friday, in the evening, the landlady shouted up the stairs: 'Oh God, oh Jesus, oh Sacred Heart, Boy, there's two gentlemen here to see you.' I knew by the screeches of her that the gentlemen were not calling to inquire after my health . . . I grabbed my suitcase, containing Pot. Chlor., Sulph Ac, gelignite, detonators, electrical and ignition, and the rest of my Sinn Fein conjurer's outfit, and carried it to the window . . ." The men were, of course, the police, and seventeen-year-old Behan. He spent three years as a prisoner in England, primarily in Borstal (reform school), and was then expelled to his homeland, a changed but hardly defeated rebel. Once banned in the Irish Republic, Borstal Boy is both a riveting self-portrait and a clear look into the problems, passions, and heartbreak of Ireland.

Borstal Boy

Borstal Boy PDF Author: Brendan Behan
Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
ISBN: 9781567921052
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Get Book Here

Book Description
This miracle of autobiography and prison literature begins: "Friday, in the evening, the landlady shouted up the stairs: 'Oh God, oh Jesus, oh Sacred Heart, Boy, there's two gentlemen here to see you.' I knew by the screeches of her that the gentlemen were not calling to inquire after my health . . . I grabbed my suitcase, containing Pot. Chlor., Sulph Ac, gelignite, detonators, electrical and ignition, and the rest of my Sinn Fein conjurer's outfit, and carried it to the window . . ." The men were, of course, the police, and seventeen-year-old Behan. He spent three years as a prisoner in England, primarily in Borstal (reform school), and was then expelled to his homeland, a changed but hardly defeated rebel. Once banned in the Irish Republic, Borstal Boy is both a riveting self-portrait and a clear look into the problems, passions, and heartbreak of Ireland.

Brendan Behan's Borstal Boy

Brendan Behan's Borstal Boy PDF Author: Frank McMahon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Behan, Brendan. Borstal boy
Languages : en
Pages : 136

Get Book Here

Book Description
Play about Behan's early life in the Irish Republican Army. Winner of the Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play.

Brendan Behan

Brendan Behan PDF Author: Ulick O'Connor
Publisher: Abacus
ISBN: 0349140960
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 371

Get Book Here

Book Description
When Brendan Behan died in 1964 at the age of 41, he had rung the changes in his short life: bomber, gunman, borstal boy, alcoholic and, finally, international literary figure with the success of The Quare Fellow , The Hostage and Borstal Boy . But Behan drowned his talent in a whiskey bottle and became the caricature of an Irish stage drunk, clowning his way with oaths and stories between bars in Dublin, London, Paris and New York. Written in association with his widow, his mother and others of his family and friends, and old IRA comrades, this is a biography of Brendan Behan.

Brendan Behan

Brendan Behan PDF Author: Michael O'Sullivan
Publisher: Roberts Rinehart
ISBN: 1461660270
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Get Book Here

Book Description
Hailed as the new O'Casey by Irish critics in 1958, Behan is now often portrayed as the archetypal Irishman and spectacular drunk. Behind the myth lies the more compelling story of a writer who was never able to fully harness his larger-than-life personality and talent.

The Crazy Life of Brendan Behan

The Crazy Life of Brendan Behan PDF Author: Frank Gray
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781449068950
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Get Book Here

Book Description


After The Wake

After The Wake PDF Author: Brendan Behan
Publisher: The O'Brien Press
ISBN: 1847177301
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 137

Get Book Here

Book Description
Brendan Behan's genius was to strike a chord between critic and common man. When he died, at the age of 41, he was arguably the most celebrated Irish writer of the twentieth century. After the Wake is a collection of seven prose works and a series of articles. It includes all that exists of an unfinished novel, 'The Catacombs', and pieces together items whose comic and fanciful accounts evoke Flann O'Brien. Also featured are works of acknowledged excellence, 'The Confirmation Suit' and 'A Woman of No Standing'. This writing bears all the hallmarks of the author's talent – an ability to bring characters to life quickly and unforgettably, a sharp ear for dialogue and dialect, and a natural vocation for story-telling. This diverse collection is a delightful and entertaining windfall from one of Ireland's most colourful writers. An essential complement to Behan's master works.

The Complete Plays

The Complete Plays PDF Author: Neil LaBute
Publisher: Grove Press
ISBN: 9780802142122
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Get Book Here

Book Description
In Seconds of Pleasure Neil LaBute unleashes his imagination in stories that offer unflinching insight into our very human shortcomings and impure urges with shocking candor."--Jacket.

Reading Brendan Behan

Reading Brendan Behan PDF Author: John McCourt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781782053378
Category : Irish literature
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Looks beyond the author's all-too-well-known personality and focuses on what ultimately matters - the writing. Focuses on Behan's rich and eclectic body of creative works, his poetry and plays in Irish and English, his short stories and his extraordinary autobiographical novel, Borstal Boy

'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream

'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream PDF Author: W. H. A. Williams
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252065514
Category : Irish
Languages : en
Pages : 348

Get Book Here

Book Description
The image of the Irish in the United States changed drastically over time, from that of hard-drinking, rioting Paddies to genial, patriotic working-class citizens. In 'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream, William H. A. Williams traces the change in this image through more than 700 pieces of sheet music--popular songs from the stage and for the parlor--to show how Americans' opinions of Ireland and the Irish went practically from one extreme to the other. Because sheet music was a commercial item it had to be acceptable to the broadest possible song-buying public. "Negotiations" about their image involved Irish songwriters, performers, and pressured groups, on the one hand, and non-Irish writers, publishers, and audiences on the other. Williams ties the contents of song lyrics to the history of the Irish diaspora, suggesting how ethnic stereotypes are created and how they evolve within commercial popular culture.

Dead as Doornails

Dead as Doornails PDF Author: Anthony Cronin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this account of life in post-war literary Dublin, Anthony Cronin writes of the frustrations and pathologies of this generation: the excess of drink; the shortage of sex; the insecurity and begrudgery; the limitations of cultural life in mid-century Ireland, and the bittersweet pull of exile.