Brian Friel

Surveying the life, work and accolades of Irish playwright Brian Friel, this literary companion investigates his personal and professional relationships and his literary topics and themes, such as belonging, violence, patriarchy and hypocrisy.
Character summaries describe his most significant figures, particularly St. Columba, the victims of Derry’s Bloody Sunday, and Hugh O’Neill, the Lord of Tyrone.
Entries analyze Friel’s style in detail, from his column in the Irish Times and his short fiction in the New Yorker to his most recent plays, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Translations, and Dancing at Lughnasa.

Mary Ellen Snodgrass is an award-winning author of English and Latin textbooks and reference works for 35 years. She taught at Hickory High School and Lenoir Rhyne University in North Carolina for 23 years. Her writing focuses on women’s and world literature and history and general research topics, including epidemics, the history of money, clothing, food, and dance. She lives in Hickory, North Carolina.

Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 216
Bibliographic Info: glossary, appendices, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6574-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2781-6
Imprint: McFarland
Series: McFarland Literary Companions

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments  vi
Preface  1
Introduction  3
A Chronology of Friel’s Life and Works  5
Friel Genealogy  30
Brian Friel: A Literary Companion  33
Glossary  173
Appendix A: Historical Timeline from the Friel Canon  179
Appendix B: Writing and Research Topics  182
Bibliography  189
Index  199

“features over 65 entries on Friel and his work…. Snodgrass often utilizes graphs and tables in her entries to illustrate relationships between literary characters and works, and her biographical research is particularly strong. This resource is a credible aid to Friel scholarship. Highly recommended”—Choice; “a fascinating literary reference work exhibiting a high level of scholarship…highly recommended”—ARBA.