Sean O'Casey: Writer at Work: A Biography

By Christopher Murray

Se n O'Casey was the quintessential Dublin playwright. In critical works that include his Dublin Trilogy - The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, and The Plough and the Stars - he portrayed the traumatic birth of a nation and delved into the Irish national character. Christopher Murray's Se n O'Casey: Writer at Work takes a fresh look at the last of the great writers of the Irish literary revival.

O'Casey was a self-made man of letters torn between a humanist vision of life rooted in his Dublin childhood and a utopian loyalty to the Soviet Union. Rich in original material, Se n O'Casey reconstructs a life committed to writing as a moral endeavour. Murray vividly establishes 'O'Casey's Ireland, ' the Dublin of O'Casey's childhood, and the political situation in Ireland. Murray further explores O'Casey's rise as an international figure - much of his income after leaving Ireland came from the United States - and contrasts his mature socialist work with the early nationalistic writing.

In Se n O'Casey Murray paints a dazzling picture of a passionate and generous artist who is among the best dramatists of the twentieth century.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 077352889X
• ISBN13: 9780773528895
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Length: 590 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.1" x 6.3" x 9.5"