"This study is a significant contribution to the current body of work on the influence of place in Irish writing. It treats Friel's theory of drama through explorations of real and imaginative places and the choice of 'harvest time' in which important action occurs."—Choice
"A deeply thoughtful, comprehensively informed study of the greatest living playwright of the English-speaking world. From now on, anyone who wants to write about Brian Friel will need to take this book into account."—Terry Teachout, drama critic, The Wall Street Journal
"Russell’s book does makes astute observations about the richness and strength of Friel’s theater drawn from a wide variety of topographies in different lights to reflect a range of communities and connections that emerge. The book is a thoughtful and stimulating read of Friel’s most canonical plays, capturing the changes from traditional kinds of communities to other possibilities of community."—Comparative Drama
"An in-depth and extensive exploration of place in some of the most important plays in the Irish theatrical canon and as such provides an important contribution to Friel studies."—Lisa Fitzgerald, Irish Studies Review
"Modernity, Community, and Place in Brian Friel’s Drama succeeds in breaking new critical ground and appears as a most timely and thorough engagement with its topics."—Estudios Irlandeses
Description
Modernity, Community, and Place in Brian Friel’s Drama shows how the leading Irish playwright explores a series of dynamic physical and intellectual environments, charting the impact of modernity on rural culture and on the imagined communities he strives to create between readers, and script, actors and audience.
About the Author
Richard Rankin Russell is professor of Irish and British literature at Baylor University. He is the editor and author of numerous books, including Poetry and Peace: Michael Longley, Seamus Heaney, and Northern Ireland.
