- In full:
- Brendan Francis Behan
- Born:
- Feb. 9, 1923, Dublin, Ire.
- Died:
- March 20, 1964, Dublin (aged 41)
- Notable Works:
- “Borstal Boy”
- “The Hostage”
- “The Quare Fellow”
- Movement / Style:
- Theatre of the Absurd
Brendan Behan
-
Who was Brendan Behan?
Brendan Behan (1923–1964) was an acclaimed Irish author known for his poignant poetry, earthy satire, and powerful political commentary.
Behan's upbringing in a family immersed in revolutionary and left-wing activism against British rule shaped his worldview. His early life was marked by involvement in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a lifelong struggle with alcoholism, which began at age eight.
His experiences, including arrests for revolutionary activities and drunkenness, fueled his writing. Behan's notable works include The Quare Fellow (1954) and The Hostage (1958), which blend personal gaiety with anguish to satirize social conditions and warfare.
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What is Brendan Behan known for writing?
Brendan Behan (1923–1964) was an Irish author known for his earthy satire and powerful political commentary. His notable works include the tragicomedy The Quare Fellow (1954), a statement against capital punishment, and The Hostage (1958), which satirizes social conditions and warfare. Behan's autobiographical account of his time in a reform school, Borstal Boy (1958), captures the immediacy of conversation between the inmates. His other works include Brendan Behan’s Island (1962), The Scarperer (1964), Brendan Behan’s New York (1964), and Confessions of an Irish Rebel (1965).
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Where was Brendan Behan from in Ireland?
Brendan Behan was born in Dublin, Ireland, on February 9, 1923. Reared in a family active in revolutionary and left-wing causes against the British, Behan began a lifelong battle with alcoholism at the age of eight. After leaving school in 1937, he learned the house-painter’s trade while concurrently participating in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) as a courier. He died in Dublin on March 20, 1964.
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What are some of Brendan Behan's most famous works?
Brendan Behan, an Irish author known for his satire and political commentary, has several famous works. The Quare Fellow (1954), a tragicomedy, explores reactions to capital punishment and was a success in Dublin, London, and New York. The Hostage (1958), considered Behan's masterwork, uses ballads and satire to depict the tragic situation of an English soldier held hostage by the IRA. Behan's autobiographical Borstal Boy (1958) recounts his time in an English reform school. Other notable works include Brendan Behan’s Island (1962), The Scarperer (1964), Brendan Behan’s New York (1964), and Confessions of an Irish Rebel (1965).
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How did Brendan Behan's life and background influence his writing?
Brendan Behan's upbringing in a family deeply involved in Irish revolutionary and left-wing activism heavily influenced his writing. His personal experiences, including his time in reform school for IRA activities and imprisonment for attempted murder, provided rich material for his works. Borstal Boy (1958) is an autobiographical account of his time in a reformatory. Behan's immersion in Irish culture and language, along with his struggles with alcoholism, also shaped the themes and tone of his earthy satire and political commentary in plays like The Quare Fellow (1954) and The Hostage (1958).
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What impact did Brendan Behan have on Irish literature and culture?
Brendan Behan, born in Dublin in 1923, significantly impacted Irish literature and culture through his earthy satire and political commentary. His works often reflected his experiences with Irish Republicanism and his time in prison, such as in Borstal Boy. Behan's plays, including The Quare Fellow and The Hostage, satirized social conditions and warfare, using ballads and slapstick to highlight personal anguish. Known for his command of the Irish language, he wrote sensitive poetry and plays like An Giall, later adapted into The Hostage. Behan's honest portrayal of Irish life, combined with his wit and political insights, solidified his place as a celebrated figure in Irish literature and culture.
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Brendan Behan (born Feb. 9, 1923, Dublin, Ire.—died March 20, 1964, Dublin) was an Irish author noted for his earthy satire and powerful political commentary.
Reared in a family active in revolutionary and left-wing causes against the British, Behan at the age of eight began what became a lifelong battle with alcoholism. After leaving school in 1937, he learned the house-painter’s trade while concurrently participating in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) as a courier.
Behan was arrested in England while on a sabotage mission and sentenced (February 1940) to three years in a reform school at Hollesley Bay, Suffolk. He wrote an autobiographical account of this detention in Borstal Boy (1958). He was deported to Dublin in 1942 and was soon involved in a shooting incident in which a policeman was wounded. He was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 14 years. He served at Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, the setting of his first play, The Quare Fellow (1954), and later at the Curragh Military Camp, County Kildare, from which he was released under a general amnesty in 1946. While imprisoned, he perfected his Irish, the language he used for his delicately sensitive poetry and for An Giall (1957), the initial version of his second play, The Hostage (1958).
Subsequent arrests followed, either for revolutionary activities or for drunkenness, which also forced various hospitalizations. In 1948 Behan went to Paris to write. Returning to Dublin in 1950, he wrote short stories and scripts for Radio Telefis Éireann and sang on a continuing program, Ballad Maker’s Saturday Night. In 1953 he began in the Irish Press a column about Dublin, later collected (1963) in Hold Your Hour and Have Another, with illustrations by his wife, Beatrice Salkeld, whom he had married in 1955.
The Quare Fellow opened at the small Pike Theatre, Dublin, in 1954 and was an instant success. A tragicomedy concerning the reactions of jailors and prisoners to the hanging of a condemned man (the “quare fellow”), it presents an explosive statement on capital punishment. The play was subsequently performed in London (1956) and in New York City (1958). The Hostage, however, is considered to be his masterwork, in which ballads, slapstick, and fantasies satirize social conditions and warfare with a personal gaiety that emerges from anguish. The play deals with the tragic situation of an English soldier whom the IRA holds as a hostage in a brothel to prevent the execution of one of their own men. A success in London, the play opened in 1960 off Broadway, New York City, where Behan became a celebrated personality.
Behan’s last works, which he dictated on tape, were Brendan Behan’s Island (1962), a book of Irish anecdotes; The Scarperer (1964), a novel about a smuggling adventure, first published serially in the Irish Press; Brendan Behan’s New York (1964); and Confessions of an Irish Rebel (1965), further memoirs.