Friel, Brian (Vol. 5) - Friel, Brian 1929–

Friel, Brian 1929–

Friel is an Irish dramatist and short story writer. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 21-22.)

The "real" world of Brian Friel's short stories reaches from Kincasslagh in the west of Donegal through Strabane, Derry City, and Coleraine to Omagh and County Tyrone. Alongside, at times superimposed on, these actual places are the imagined towns, villages, and country districts—Beannafreaghan, Glennafuiseog, Corradinna, Mullaghduff. These are composites and extensions of reality, given substance by an intense receptiveness to the atmosphere of a day or season, to the run of landscape, the play of light and shade, all the tangibles that localize a time and place. The vibrant solidity of the settings is perhaps the strongest single impression left by the world of these stories, memorable because never merely a background décor. (p. 31)

[The] protagonists of [Friel's] stories often have very strongly the feeling that...

[The entire page is 2402 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass