Biographical Note: Behan, Brendan (February 9, 1923--March 20, 1964), Irish dramatist, memoirist, novelist, and journalist. Behan was born in Dublin and lived in one of the several tenements that his grandmother owned. His father, Stephen Behan, was a Republican and was arrested shortly after his marriage to Kathleen Kearny during the Irish Civil War. Brendan shared the same views as his parents and became an active member of the IRA at an early age. He was in and out of jail most of his life. The time Behan spent in jail provided inspiration for some of his subsequent works, including the The Quare Fellow. His other notable works include The Borstal Boy and The Hostage.
Background: Brendan Behan joined the IRA and started performing missions for them at a very early age. He was arrested at sixteen for carrying homemade explosives. He went to prison for a few months and then to Borstal, a boarding school. This time was inspiration for The Borstal Boy. The same situation reoccurred in 1942 when Behan was arrested for shooting at two policemen. He was supposed to serve 14 years in Mountjoy jail. The prisoners, warders, and jail itself gave Behan a lot of insight for The Quare Fellow. "He noted the steel galleries where warders stood sentry and, towards the bottom of 'D' wing, a red metal door with a barred gate covering it. This was the door to the hang-house that was to become so potent a motif in The Quare Fellow, the work that brought him international fame." (O' Sullivan, 86)
Précis of work: The Quare Fellow revolves around the reaction of several characters to a hanging, which is itself absent from the stage (Brannigan, 80). According to one Behan's letters the characters are mostly based on tenement dwellers in Dublin that he knew. The jail is based on Mountjoy jail where Behan spent time. Behan uses humorous and sarcastic dialogue to illustrate the "dehumanizing consequence of ritual, legalized murder." (Brannigan, 82) He also discusses the hypocrisy of a Christian state that preaches the salvation of sinners while committing them to their death.
HEALY: Well. We have one consolation, Regan, the condemned man gets the priest and the sacraments, more than his victim got maybe. I venture to suggest that some of them die holier deaths than if they had finished their natural span.
WARDER REGAN: We can't advertise "Commit a murder and die a happy death", sir. We'd have them all at it. They take religion very seriously in this country.
This conversation exemplifies Brendan Behan's point by employing the witty and sarcastic dialogue that was discussed earlier.
Annotated Bibliography:
O'Sullivan, Michael. Brendan Behan: A Life. Roberts Rinehart Publishers; Boulder, 1999.
This book chronicles the life of Brendan Behan from his birth to his death in very great detail. It provides insight into the author's life experiences, which helps understand certain aspects of the play. The book also gives background information for The Quare Fellow.
Watt, Stephen. Love and Death: A Reconsideration of Behan and Genet. Century of Irish Drama: Widening the Stage. Indiana University Press; Bloomington, 2000: 130-145.
This essay attempts to take a new look at the works of Brendan Behan with an emphasis on interpreting the works in light of the era in which they were written, the post-war era. Watt critiques The Quare Fellow as well as exploring other critiques of the play and Behan's other works.
Brannigan, John. Brendan Behan: Cultural nationalism and the revisionist writer. Four Courts Press; England, 2002.
This book explores Behan's life and its affect on his writing. It provides a detailed criticism of each of his plays, including The Quare Fellow. Brannigan investigates Behan's work from a nationalist point of view.
Behan, Brendan. Literature Online Biography. Copyright © H. W. Wilson Company, Inc. LION Biography of Behan
This website provides a detailed yet concise biography of Brendan Behan. It also contains a large list of works about the author, some with full text available within the website.
By Colby Goodloe
For HONR 209V
Fall 2002