Brendan Behan and the Irish Language: A Reconsideration
Brendan Behan and the Irish Language: A Reconsideration
Author(s): Brian Ó ConchubhairSubject(s): Cultural history, Media studies, Studies of Literature, History of ideas, Sociolinguistics
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze - Filozofická fakulta, Vydavatelství
Keywords: Brendan Behan; nationalism; Irish Republicanism; social class; stereotypes; prison; language acquisition
Summary/Abstract: Brendan Behan played a crucial role in challenging the prevailing rural aesthetic that dominated Irish letters in the 1940s and 1950s. Like Máirtín Ó Cadhain and Flann O’Brien/Myles na gCopaleen, Behan maintained a vexed, and complicated relationship with the Irish language, Irish-language institutions and pressure groups. This essay reconsiders Behan’s relationship with the Irish language and explores some common assumptions to argue that in his life and writing, he successfully and repeatedly challenges and contradicts facile stereotypes and binary opposites about Irish life, culture, and people.
Journal: Litteraria Pragensia: Studies in Literature and Culture
- Issue Year: 34/2024
- Issue No: 67
- Page Range: 46-64
- Page Count: 18
- Language: English
