Synge
2 A Gallous Story and a Dirty Deed: Druid’s Synge ~ Fintan O’Toole
5 A White Horse on the Street: Remembering Synge in Paris ~ Vincent Woods
11 Wild And Perfect: Teaching ~ The Playboy of the Western World ~ Roddy Doyle
Synge: A Celebration
Edited by
Colm Tóibín
A Carysfort Press Book
~~~~~
J.M. Synge and Molly Allgood.
Níl sí ag Eisteacht
by Sean Keating PPRHA. Reproduced by kind permission of Sir and Lady A.J. O’Reilly. Copyright permission granted by the Keating Estate.
~~~~~
First published in Ireland in 2005 as a paperback original by
Carysfort Press, 58 Woodfield, Scholarstown Road, Dublin 16, Ireland
© 2005 Copyright remains with the authors
Typeset by Carysfort Press
Cover design by Alan Bennis
Digitized by Green Lamp Media
The publication of this work was supported by a grant from the Arts Council’s.
Caution: All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be printed or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers.
This paperback is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated in any form of binding, or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Special thanks, at the beginning, to Lilian Chambers and Dan Farrelly from Carysfort Press for their kindness and patience and careful hard work. Also, to Rupert Murray, Fergal McGrath and Thomas Conway from Druid for the above in equal measure. Then to Michael Stack, who worked as editorial assistant, for his patience and diligence. Also, to the Trinity Library and staff. We are also indebted to Éimear O’Connor for her generous endeavours in acquiring permissions to use Sean Keating’s painting for the frontispiece. Finally, to a number of scholars who have written on the life and work of Synge, and whose books and essays have been invaluable to us in the making of this collection, especially Ann Saddlemyer, Andrew Carpenter, W.J. McCormack, Declan Kiberd, Nicholas Grene and Roy Foster.
Sebastian Barry
was born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College Dublin. He has been Writer Fellow, Trinity College Dublin, during 1995-1996, and has won numerous awards. His novels include
Macker’s Garden
(1982),
Time Out of Mind
(1983),
The Engine of Owl-light
(1987),
The
Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty
(1998),
Annie Dunne
(2002),
A Long Long Way
(2005). His plays include
Prayers of Sherkin
(1991),
The Only True History of
Lizzie Finn
(1995),
The Steward of Christendom
(1995),
Our Lady of Sligo
(1998) and
Hinterland
(2002). He lives in Wicklow and is a member of Aosdána.
Marina Carr
grew up in Co. Offaly. Her main theatrical works include
Low in the Dark
(1989),
The Deer’s Surrender
(1990),
This Love Thing
(1991),
Ullaloo
(1991),
The Mai
(1994),
Portia Coughlan
(1996),
On Raftery’s Hill
(1996), and
Ariel
(2002). Her awards include The Irish Times Best New Play Award, the Dublin Theatre Festival Best New Play Award in 1994 for
The Mai
, a McCauley Fellowship, a Hennessy Award, the Susan Smyth Blackburn Prize, and an E.M. Forster prize from the American academy of Arts and Letters. She is a member of Aosdána and lives in Dublin.
Anthony Cronin
is a poet, novelist, memoirest, biographer, and cultural critic. His many works include the novels
The Life of Riley
, and
Identity Papers
. His collections of poetry include
Poems
(1958),
Collected Poems, 1950-73
(1973),
New and Selected
Poems
(1982),
The End of the Modern
World
(1989);
Relationships
(1992), and
Minotaur
(1999). His non-fiction includes
Dead as Doornails
(1976),
Heritage Now
(1982/1983), and
Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist
(1996). A play,
The
Shame of it
, was produced in the Peacock Theatre in 1974. He has been associate editor of
The Bell
and Literary Editor of
Time and Tide
. In 1983 he received The Martin Toonder Award for his contribution to Irish Literature. He is a founding member of Aosdána, and lives in Dublin.
Roddy Doyle
was born in Dublin and worked as a teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1993. His novels are
The Commitments
(1987),
The Snapper
(1990),
The Van
(1991), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize;
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
(1993), which won the 1993 Booker prize;
The Woman Who Walked into Doors
(1996),
A Star Called
Henry
(1999), and
Oh, Play That Thing
(2004). His drama includes
War
(1989) and
Brownbread
(1993), as well as
The
Family
, written for television. He has written the scripts for films based on his novels, including
The Commitments
,
The Snapper
, and
The Van.
He lives in Dublin.
Anne Enright
was born in Dublin and is a novelist and short-story writer. She has published a collection of stories,
The Portable Virgin
(1991) which won the Rooney Prize that year. Novels include
The Wig My Father Wore
(1995), which was shortlisted for the Irish Times/ Aer Lingus Irish Literature Prize;
What Are You Like?
(2000), which won the Royal Society of Authors Encore Prize; and
The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch
(2002). Her stories have appeared in
The New Yorker
,
The Paris Review
and
Granta
. She was the inaugural winner of The Davy Byrne Award for her short story
Honey
. Her most recent work is a book of essays about motherhood,
Making Babies
(2004).
Hugo Hamilton
was born in Dublin of Irish-German parentage. He has brought elements of his dual identity to his novels.
Surrogate City
(1990);
The Last Shot
(1991); and
The Love Test
(1995). His short stories were collected as
Dublin Where the Palm Trees
Grow
(1996). His later novels are
Headbanger
(1996); and
Sad Bastard
(1998). He has also published a memoir of his Irish-German childhood,
The Speckled People
(2003). In 1992 he was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. He lives in Dublin and is a member of Aosdána.
Joseph O’Connor
was born in Dublin. His first novel,
Cowboys and Indians
(1991) was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. This was followed by a volume of short stories,
True Believers
(1991) and four novels:
Desperadoes
(1993),
The Salesman
(1998),
Inishowen
(2000), and
Star of the
Sea
(2002), which became an international bestseller and was published in 29 languages. It received the Prix Littéraire Zepter for European novel of the year, a Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Honorary Award, the Irish Post Award for Fiction, France’s Prix Millepages, Italy’s Premio Acerbi, A Nielsen-BookScan Golden Book Award, and an American Library Association Notable Book Award. His non-fiction includes
Even the Olives are Bleeding: The Life and Times of Charles Donnelly
(1993);
The Secret World of the Irish Male
(1994);
The Irish Male at Home and Abroad
(1996); and
Sweet Liberty: Travels in Irish America
(1996). He has written three stage plays:
Red Roses and Petrol
(1995);
The Weeping of Angels
(1997); and
True Believers
(2000). His screenplays include
A Stone of the Heart; The Long Way Home;
and
Alisa
. He has recently been awarded a Cullman Writing Fellowship at the New York Public Library.
Mary O’Malley
was born in Connemara, Co. Galway and educated at University College Galway. She taught for eight years at the University of Lisbon before returning to Ireland in 1982. Her collections of poems are:
A Consideration of Silk
(1990),
Where the Rocks Float
(1993);
The Knife in the Wave
(1997),
Asylum Road
(2001), and
The Boning Hall
(2002). She received a Hennessy award in 1990. Her next collection is due from Carcanet in 2006. She is a member of Aosdána, and lives in Connemara.
Fintan O’Toole
was born in Dublin. He has been a columnist with
The Irish Times
since 1988 and was drama critic of the
Daily News
in New York from 1997 until 2001. His books include
The Politics of Magic: The Work and Times of Tom Murphy
(1987);
Ex-Isle of Erin
(1997);
A Traitor’s Kiss: The Life of Richard Brinsley
Sheridan
(1998);
Shakespeare is Hard But So Is Life
(2002);
After the Ball: Ireland After the Boom
(2003); and
White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of America
(2005).
