SOURCE: Cronin, John. “‘Donging the Tower–The Past Did Have Meaning’: The Short Stories of Brian Friel.” In The Achievement of Brian Friel, edited by Alan J. Peacock, pp. 1-13. Gerrards Cross, England: Colin Smythe, 1992.

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 enough, to be associated with their most masterly tales: Joyce and ‘The Dead’; Lawrence and ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’; Sean O'Faolain and ‘A Broken World’; Frank O'Connor and ‘Guests of the Nation’. It may not be entirely without significance that one does not tend to think of Friel and his stories in this way. Admirably skilful as many of them are, no great classic of the form leaps to mind at mention of his name. An early reviewer of his second collection, The Gold...