Tragedy and Irish Literature

Tragedy and Irish Literature

Tragedy and Irish Literature Synge, O Casey, Beckett Ronan McDonald

Ronan McDonald 2002 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-92393-1 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2002 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-1-349-42510-5 ISBN 978-1-4039-1365-4 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781403913654 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McDonald, Ronan, 1970 Tragedy and Irish writing: Synge, O Casey, Beckett/Ronan McDonald. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. English drama Irish authors History and criticism. 2. Synge, J.M. (John Millington), 1871-1909 Criticism and interpretation. 3. O Casey, Sean, 1880-1964 Criticism and interpretation. 4. English drama 20th century History and criticism. 5. English drama (Tragedy) History and Criticism. 6. Beckett, Samuel, 1906 Dramatic works. 7. Ireland In literature. I. Title. PR8789.M43 2001 822.0512099417 dc21 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 2001036880

To My Father and Mother

Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations ix xi 1 Introduction: The Loss of Tragic Value and the Value of Tragic Loss Introduction 1 Undefined tragedy: varieties of value 9 Irish tragedians? Synge, O Casey and Beckett 27 2 A Gallous Story or a Dirty Deed? J. M. Synge and the Tragedy of Evasion Introduction: The evasion of confrontation and the confrontation of evasion 42 Reality or Romance? 49 The art of guilt 67 Identity and economics 76 3 Delusion and Disillusionment: The Tragedy of Meliorism in Sean O Casey s Early Drama Introduction: O Casey and meliorism 85 O Casey and politics 90 The Dublin trilogy: disillusionment to delusion 97 The Silver Tassie: holy war? 116 4 Beyond Tragedy: Samuel Beckett and the Art of Confusion Introduction: Beckett and tragedy 127 The anti-philosophical turn 132 The Irish geography of Beckett s memory: the politics of form 140 After Eden: loss, guilt and the Law 153 Afterword 172 Notes 175 Index 197

Acknowledgements A portion of Chapter 2 appeared, in an earlier form, in Irish Studies Review no. 17 (winter 1996/7) and was subsequently reprinted in Sarah Briggs et al. (eds) Reviewing Ireland: Essays and Interviews from Irish Studies Review (Sulis Press, 1998). I want to thank Charmian Hearne, who first commissioned this book, and all the staff at Palgrave who have brought it to fruition. This book grew out of a doctoral thesis at Oxford University and I would like to gratefully acknowledge the support of the following institutions: the National University of Ireland for the award of a travelling studentship, the British Academy for paying my fees, Hertford College for electing me to a Senior Scholarship, and the Prendergast Bequest for financial assistance. I owe thanks to Professor Terry Eagleton for his helpful and efficient commentaries on various drafts. I would also like to warmly thank my examiners, Bernard O Donoghue and George J. Watson for their ongoing support. John Kelly has also been a kind and encouraging mentor and friend. Many of the ideas which have germinated in these pages were planted during my BA and MA in UCD. In particular, I would like to express my deep and abiding gratitude to Professor Declan Kiberd, who first encouraged me to pursue academic work. My colleagues at the University of Reading have been unfailingly kind and have given me a stimulating and supportive environment in which to finish this book. In particular, I want to thank John Pilling. I have been fortunate to benefit from the beautiful prismatic counselling of my friends. Many of them valiantly suffered sections of this thesis over the course of its gestation. Karen McGrath was a bulwark of support and encouragement during my D.Phil. and beyond. I am abidingly grateful to her. Carol Tell has enriched my intellectual development for many years now. I would like to thank her for our many conversations. Julie Costello has offered unwavering friendship, encouragement and scholarly guidance. Ray Ryan has long been a fount of passion, pugnacity and practical advice and probably doesn t know how much I value his friendship. I would also like to thank Gerald Lang, Ben Levitas, Gary Lyons, Marc Mulholland, Richard Michaelis, Donnacha O Brien, Sean O Dowd, Jim O Hanlon and Patrick O Sullivan. Special thanks are due to Sarah Montgomery, who has sustained me with her warmth, wit and wisdom. I hope all these friends know how much I appreciate their ix

x Acknowledgements feedback and advice. Their sustenance, of course, goes far beyond the merely academic. I would like to thank my family. My sisters, Marlene Finuala and Frances, and my brother, Colm. My greatest thanks go to my accursed progenitors, Kathleen and Patrick McDonald. This book is dedicated to them, with love and gratitude.

Abbreviations A1 and A2 CDW CWI IV D P Sean O Casey, Autobiographies, 2 vols (London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1981) Samuel Beckett, The Complete Dramatic Works (London and Boston: Faber & Faber, 1986) J. M. Synge, Collected Works, gen. ed. Robin Skelton, 4 vols (London: Oxford University Press, 1962 8) Samuel Beckett, Disjecta: Miscellaneous Writings and a Dramatic Fragment, ed. Ruby Cohn (London: John Calder, 1983). Samuel Beckett, Proust and Three Dialogues with Georges Duthuit (London: John Calder, 1965). ST Sean O Casey, The Silver Tassie (London: Macmillan now Palgrave, 1928) T TP Samuel Beckett, The Beckett Trilogy: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable (London: Picador, 1959), p. 320. Sean O Casey, Three Plays: Juno and the Paycock, The Shadow of a Gunman,The Plough and the Stars (London: Macmillan now Palgrave, 1957) xi