Study Group Details

Like Ibsen and Chekhov, Sean O’Casey’s work mirrors the conditions of modern life, but unlike them, he focuses on tenement life, not on the comfortable middle class. He sees, in Colm Toibin’s words, "beauty in a broken place." His tragicomedies, The Plough and the Stars, The Shadow of a Gunman, and Juno and the Paycock, tell of the impact on ordinary Dubliners of the bloody events in Ireland in the early 20th century: the Easter Rebellion (1916), the War for Independence (1919-21), and the Irish Civil War (1922-23). We will read and discuss these three classics of 20th century Irish literature.