Christopher Murray

Brian Friel

Since the success of "Philadelphia, Here I Come!" in 1964, Brian Friel has written over twenty plays, successively confirming his reputation as a major dramatist of the twentieth century. But Friel had written plays and short stories before that, giving up his teaching job to become a full-time writer in 1960 and living for part of that time in the United States. This collection of essays, diary extracts and interviews from 1964 to 1999 delves into his work and life both before and after his landmark play. Highlighting his working processes and analyzing the work in relation to both social and political sensibilities, the volume offers a wealth of material in celebration of a writer described by the Observer as "the most profound and poetic of contemporary Irish dramatists."

Essays, Diaries, Interviews : 1964-1999

A Critical Companion to the theatre of Ireland's foremost living playwright; Christopher Murray's study is the definitive guide to Brian Friel's work for students and theatre-goers alike.

Tradition and Modernity

The Theatre of Brian Friel

A tribute to the life and work of the Nobel Prize-winning writer offers insight into the ways in which he reshaped the literary world as well as the experience of the theater, in a collection of essays by such authorities as John Banville, Richard Kearney, and Rosemary Pountney. Original.

Playwright & Poet

Samuel Beckett

Brian Friel is Ireland's foremost living playwright, whose work spans fifty years and has won numerous awards, including three Tonys and a Lifetime Achievement Arts Award. Author of twenty-five plays, and whose work is studied at GCSE and A level (UK), and the Leaving Certificate (Ire), besides at undergraduate level, he is regarded as a classic in contemporary drama studies. Christopher Murray offers the definitive guide to Friel's work; both a detailed study of individual plays and an exploration of Friel's dual commitment to tradition and modernity across his oeuvre. Beginning with Friel's 1964 work Philadelphia, Here I Come! it follows a broadly chronological route through the principle plays, including Aristocrats, Faith Healer, Translations, Dancing at Lughnasa, Molly Sweeney and The Home Place. Along the way it considers themes of exile, politics, fathers and sons, belief and ritual, history, memory, gender inequality, and loss, all set against the dialectic of tradition and modernity.

Introduces children to a variety of North American animals that live in parks and nature preserves.

A Walk Through the National Parks

My Book of Animals

Go to the Ark is a fascinating story on how the animals made their way to the Ark to escape God's judgment. All throughout their journey, the animals encounter some of the common stumbling blocks Christians face in their walk with Jesus. This story is an allegory of apologetics that will identify these stumbling blocks and help equip the believer to counteract them. This story will also cause you to think deeply about what you believe in light of God's judgment. As you journey with the animals you will be encouraged as your faith is strengthened with each encounter. Relax, get comfortable, and begin reading a story like no other!

A Modern-Day Allegory on How the Animals Got to the Ark

Go to the Ark

Christopher Murray's work on Sean O'Casey is a critical biography. In addition to the normal biographical elements, Dr Murray provides a strong interpretative context for the life. For example, he looks afresh at the Dublin of the 1880s and 1890s in order to provide an updated background to O'Casey's childhood. He pays a great deal of attention to the political situation from 1880 to 1922, setting it against O'Casey's own treatment in his six volumes of autobiography. In general he attempts to establish O'Casey's Ireland.This leads naturally to a fresh examination of the great Dublin trilogy, The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars, the three works on which O'Casey's reputation stands. The rejection of his next play, The Silver Tassie, by the Abbey Theatre precipitated O'Casey's move to England.

Writer at Work : a Biography

Sean O'Casey

This work provides an overview of Irish theatre, read in the light of Ireland's self-definition. Mediating between history and its relations with politics and art, it attempts to do justice to the enabling and mirroring preoccupations of Irish drama.

Christopher Murray

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