The Cambridge Companion to J. M. Synge

Introduces students to the work of one of Ireland's most important playwrights.

P. J. Mathews (Edited by)

9780521110105, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 November 2009

214 pages
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.5 cm, 0.47 kg

John Millington Synge was a leading literary figure of the Irish Revival who played a significant role in the founding of Dublin's Abbey Theatre in 1904. This Companion offers a comprehensive introduction to the whole range of Synge's work from well-known plays like Riders to the Sea, The Well of the Saints and The Playboy of the Western World, to his influential prose work The Aran Islands. The essays provide detailed and insightful analyses of individual texts, as well as perceptive reflections on his engagements with the Irish language, processes of decolonisation, gender, modernism and European culture. Critical accounts of landmark productions in Ireland and America are also included. With a guide to further reading and a chronology, this book will introduce students of drama, postcolonial studies, and Irish studies as well as theatregoers to one of the most influential and controversial dramatists of the twentieth century.

Chronology
Part 1. The Synge Texts: 1. Re-thinking Synge P. J. Mathews
2. The Shadow of the Glen and Riders to the Sea Oona Frawley
3. The Playboy of the Western World Shaun Richards
4. The Well of the Saints and The Tinker's Wedding Mary Burke
5. The Aran Islands and the travel essays Elaine Sisson
6. Deirdre of the Sorrows Declan Kiberd
Part II. Theorising Synge: 7. J. M. Synge: European encounters Ben Levitas
8. Synge and the Irish language Alan Titley
9. Synge and gender Susan Cannon Harris
10. Postcolonial Synge C. L. Innes
11. Synge and modernism Gregory Dobbins
Part III. Synge on Stage: 12. Synge in performance Nicholas Grene
13. J. M. Synge in America Brenda Murphy
14. Synge and contemporary Irish drama Anthony Roche
Guide to further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Literature & literary studies [D]