Referat Brendan Behan (1923-1964) - Life and work of the Irish author and playwright

Brendan Behan

(1923-1964)

Life and work of the Irish author and playwright

His life

born 09/02/1923

father: house painter, imprisoned as a republican (end of Civil War)

strong literary and cultural atmosphere in his home

1973: at 14 B. was apprenticed to his father's trade

already member of Fianna Eireann (IRA youth organisation), contributor to "The United Irishman"

IRA launched bombing campaign in England in 1939, B. was trained in explosives

arrested at his arrival in Liverpool

02/1940 sentenced to 3 years Borstal detention, used excellent library there

1942 Dublin: IRA parade, B. fired at a detective 14 years' penal servitude

became a fluent Irish speaker, Borstal experiences were published in "The Bell"

1946 released as part of a general amnesty, returned to painting

some years he concentrated on writing verse in Irish

Paris, 1950 return to Dublin, cultivated his reputation in the city's literary circles

1953: as Emmett Street: published "The Scarperer", Irish Times crime story, weekly column from April on

1954: The Quare Fellow well received in the tiny Pike Theatre

1955: marriage with Beatrice Salkeld, art painter

1956: production at Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal Stratford (London) wider reputation

drunken BBC interview, always media attention alcoholic

1958: An Giall / produced at Joan Littlewood's as The Hostage (changed)

Summer 1958: first collapse because of diabetes and liver complaint

lack of concentration tape records instead of writing

11/1963: daughter Blanaid

U 20 March 1964, Meath Hospital Dublin, IRA guard of honour escorted his coffin

newspapers: biggest funeral since Michael Collins and Charles Stewart Parnell

Bernhard Scheller said in the epilogue to "Borstal Boy":

"Behan shows a serious philosophy of life with the impetuosity of the youth and calmness at the same time; the detailed and accurate description of both rooms and nature, humans and landscapes is accompanied by wise verses and the play with words. National prejudices and social envy is reduced by subtle portrait sketches of prisoners, wardens, priests and accurately drawn women like the Mother Superior [] The author unobtrusively shows his wealth of songs, legends and old sayings and he can tell shining liar stories."

His work

The Quare Fellow

protagonist never seen on stage

condemned man in prison, execution imminent

execution touches lives of other prisoners, warders, hangman

the play is in part a protest against capital punishment

blend of tragedy and comedy underlines survival of the prisoners' humanity in their inhumane environment

production by Joan Littlewood brought him honour and made him famous

An Giall / The Hostage

2^nd play: An Giall

commissioned by Gael Linn (Irish-language organisation)

Behan translated into English

Joan Littlewood's production of The Hostage (1958) success in London and New York

tragi-comedy deals with a closed world

Dublin brothel where IRA imprisons English soldier

Littlewood diluted Irish naturalism with interludes of music-hall singing and dancing.

Borstal Boy

autobiographical, appeared in 1958

early chapters on prison life are among his best work

victim of his own celebrity, alcoholism and diabetes

English publishers suggested dictation Brendan Behan's Island (1962, readable collection of anecdotes and opinions Behan moved away from republican extremism of his youth

1964:Brendan Behan's New York

1965:Confessions of an Irish Rebel, disappointing sequel to Borstal Boy

1963: Hold Your Hour and Have Another, collection of newspaper columns from the l950s

Borstal: youth prisons named after the first of them opened 1902, youths from 16-21 were arrested there