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Brian Friel.
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Over the past two decades, Brian Friel has become one of Ireland's best-known playwrights. Following the example of William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge, Sean O'Casey, and others who were part ...
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In the following essay, Maxwell provides a sociopolitical and historical context to Friel's short fiction and delineates the major thematic concerns in his stories.
I
Brian Friel's ...
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In the following essay, Miner considers the theme of disillusionment in “Among the Ruins” and “Foundry House.”
Brian Friel is probably best known to both Americans and Cana...
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In the following essay, Deane explores the essential and enduring qualities of Friel's short stories.
If a story takes its form from the author's desire, it also gives form to the desire...
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In the following essay, Dantanus outlines the nature of Friel's literary landscape through an examination of his short stories.
Rural Ireland Visited and Transformed
In the Introduction and in ...
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In the following essay, O'Brien underscores the unifying aspects of Friel's stories and traces his transition from short fiction to drama.
Brian Friel was born near Omagh, County Tyrone,...
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In the following essay, Pine elucidates the defining thematic concerns of Friel's short stories.
Silence once broken will never again be whole
—Samuel Beckett1
Divination
Friel conveys ...
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In the following essay, Bonaccorso deems “Foundry House” Friel's best-known story, and asserts that is one of his most impressive achievements “given its cultural interest,...
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In the following essay, Cronin unfavorably compares Friel's short stories to his drama and accentuates the significance of the past in his work.
The great short story writers tend, naturally en...
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In the following essay, Bonaccorso explores the dynamics between society and the individual in “The Flower of Kiltymore” and “The Saucer of Larks.”
Between 1964 and 1967, w...
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In the following essay, O'Connor argues that Friel's stories are radical in the way they provoke thought about the social, moral, and political problems that face his characters.
The sho...
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In the following essay, Leary examines the themes of "life and death, exile and home, being and loss, " which recur throughout Friel's work.
Some day when I'm awf'l...
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In the essay below, Deane explores the functions of the "secret stories" that lie at the center of many of Friel's plays.
A closed community, a hidden story, a gifted outsider wit...
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In the essay below, Tillinghast offers a survey of Friel's plays, focusing on his "deft touch with theatrical devices and dramatic structure. "
Hugh: Indeed, Lieutenant. A rich l...
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In the following essay, Hawkins analyzes the "familial/ communal interactions" that produce a schizoid condition, which is found in both the characters and communities in Philadelphia, H...
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In the following study of "The Flower of Kiltymore," and "The Saucer of Larks," Bonaccorso considers Friel's more private story-telling voice.
Between 1964 and 1967,...
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In the following essay, Hawkins establishes some characteristics of Schizophrenia and applies these to an analysis of the characters and situations in Friel's work.
In Saints, Scholars, and Sch...
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In the following essay, Miner addresses the theme of disillusionment in Friel's "Among the Ruins" and "Foundry House" by examining the details of the characters�...
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In the following essay, Throne studies the features of the fathers in Friel's plays, drawing conclusions about the social and political implications of the characters.
In his introduction to Br...
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In the following essay, Binnie considers Friel's plays and his involvement with Field Day Theatre Company, drawing parallels to the work of Bertolt Brecht.
In the ancient and troubled frontier ...
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In the following essay, Tillinghast discusses the function of language in Friel's plays and its pertinence to issues of Irish society.
HUGH: Indeed, Lieutenant. A rich language. A rich literat...
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In the following review, Tracy considers the Dionysian motifs in Wonderful Tennessee and in some of Friel's other work.
A Donegal pier fills the stage left to right, one of those long stone pie...
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In the following essay, Lojek establishes the concept of "translation" as a central metaphor for Friel's concerns as a playwright.
The tremendous success of Brian Friel's 1...
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In the following essay on Friel's drama and his association with Field Day Theatre Company, Pelletier examines Friel's treatment of Irish history.
As a short-story writer and as a playwr...
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Brian Friel
Critical Essay by D. E. S. Maxwell
