Like the Brother: Flann O’Brien and John Millington Synge

2023/05/02 by Joseph Brooker · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical Studies of British Isles #Irish and British Studies #Scottish History and National Identity

paper · pdf · doi:10.16995/pr.8648

openalex publication_date 2023/05/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02

Abstract

This article explores Brian O’Nolan’s (Flann O’Brien’s, Myles na gCopaleen’s) relation to John Millington Synge. Synge (1871–1909) was the premier dramatist of the Irish Revival, and O’Nolan’s response to Synge is metonymic of his response to that pre-revolutionary cultural formation. The article provides a mainly chronological factual account of O’Nolan’s references to Synge, with particular focus on a significant Cruiskeen Lawn column from 1942. It interprets and contextualises each of these textual occasions to draw out their cultural significance. Standing back from these particular textual instances, the article then aims to characterise O’Nolan’s relation to Synge as a whole, and to consider what this tells us about O’Nolan’s relation to the Revival.

Discussions

• 💥First in the shortlist for the Flann O'Brien Awards for best article is Joseph Brooker's ‘“The Play, boy, of the Wet, Stern World”: Flann O’Brien and John Millington Synge’. Brooker's piece provides [bsky, 7 points, 0 comments]

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