Great Irish Writers
BRENDAN BEHAN
B
rendan Behan was a colourful character, renowned almost as much for his drinking exploits as his writing. He even once described himself as “a drinker with writing problems.” While this may have helped him gain a degree of notoriety, it should not take away from his legacy as one of Ireland’s greatest writers and poets. Born into a staunchly Republican family in Dublin in 1923, the young Brendan was exposed to great literature from an early age. His father Stephen, a house painter, used to read the works of Zola, Galsworthy and Maupassant among others to his children. Stephen had also taken part in the Irish War of Independence, as did his wife and Brendan’s mother Kathleen. She was a close friend of Michael Collins and remained politically active throughout her life. Coming from such a background, it is perhaps not surprising that Brendan joined the IRA’s youth wing Fianna Éireann at 14, before going on to join the IRA at 16. His first poems were published in Fianna Éireann’s magazine Fianna: The Voice of Young Ireland. Yet his involvement with the IRA would lead to his incarceration when he was caught on an unauthorised solo mission to blow up the Liverpool docks. He was sentenced to three years in Hollesley Bay Borstal and would not return to Ireland until 1941. His experiences during this time would serve as the inspiration for his famous memoir Borstal Boy. This was not Behan’s last brush
50
TRAVEL IRELAND MAGAZINE - MARCH 2020
with prison. In 1942, he was tried for the attempted murder of two Garda detectives and sent to Mountjoy Prison and the Curragh Camp. Behan was released under a general amnesty in 1946 and once again his time in prison would have an influence on his writing. His first play The Landlady was penned while he was in Mountjoy. It was also there Behan became fluent in the Irish language. He would later write in both Irish and English. Following his release from prison, Behan spent time in Galway and Kerry, as well as Paris, where legend has it he earned a living from writing pornography. Although he still drank heavily, he was disciplined in his writing and woke at 7am every morning and wrote until noon when the pubs opened. His breakthrough came with the release of his play The Quare Fellow in 1954. It was a huge success, running in Dublin and the West End in London. Behan managed to generate publicity for the play with a drunken appearance on the Malcolm
Muggeridge television show in the UK, which cemented his image as the drunken rebellious Irish writer. Unfortunately, Behan would only live for 10 more years after this. His heavy drinking led to him developing diabetes and he regularly suffered diabetic seizures and comas. This affected his work and although Borstal Boy was released to great acclaim in 1958, his later work was not as well received. In March 1964, he collapsed in the Harbour Lights and died at the age of just 41. Despite his short life, Behan left a large body of influential books, plays, poetry, as well as music. The latter includes the iconic song ‘The Auld Triangle’ which featured in The Quare Fellow and has regularly been performed by artists, such as Once star Glen Hansard. His work has also influenced artists as diverse as The Pogues, the Dropkick Murphys, Dexys Midnight Runners and Morrissey. To this day, Behan is remembered as one of the greatest and most colourful writers of the 20th century.
