Brian Friel's Dramatic Artistry makes an important contribution to our understanding of the work of Ireland's greatest living playwright. The fifteen essays collected here provide us with new perspectives on Friel's most familiar works, such as¿Translations, Faith Healer, and Dancing at Lughnasa. They remind us of the importance of neglected works like The Gentle Island and Volunteers. And, perhaps most importantly, they give much needed attention to his most recent dramas, such as Give Me Your Answer, Do! and Performances. The editors have gathered together a refreshingly broad range of voices for this collection: we encounter new work from some of the leading English-speaking authorities on Friel's work, while also enjoying fascinating essays from scholars working in Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Hungary. Accessible, authoritative, and informative, this book will deepen our knowledge - and, crucially, our enjoyment - of Friel's oeuvre.¿

Copyright Acknowledgements - Preface - Paulo Eduardo Carvalho - Introduction: Transparent, Oblique Voices - PORTRAITS OF THE ARTIST - Csilla Bertha and Donald E. Morse - `Singing of Human Unsuccess¿: Brian Friel¿s Portraits of the Artist - Giovanna Tallone - Restless Wanderers and Great Pretenders: Fox Melarkey and Frank Hardy - Csilla Bertha ¿ Music and Words in Brian Friel¿s Performances - AMBIGUITIES OF LANGUAGE - Ger FitzGibbon - Interpreting Between Privacies: Brian Friel and the Boundaries of Language - Christopher Murray - Palimpsest: Two Languages as One in Translations - Márton Mesterházi - The Hungarian Translator¿s View of Translations and the Problems in Translating it into Hungarian - PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL TORMENTS - Giovanna Tallone - Unveiling the Vice: A Reading of Faith Healer - Michael Parker - Telling Tales: Narratives of Politics and Sexuality in The Gentle Island - RITUAL AND CEREMONY - Richard Allen Cave - Questing for Ritual and Ceremony in a Godforsaken World: Dancing at Lughnasa and Wonderful Tennessee - DISABILITY AND EMPOWERMENT - Ruth Niel - Disability as Motif and Meaning in Brian Friel¿s Drama - Christopher Murray - Molly Sweeney and its Sources: A Postmodern Case History - POLITICS IN AND OF THE THEATRE - Paulo Eduardo Carvalho - About Some Healthy Intersections: Brian Friel and Field Day - Michael Parker - Forms of Redress: Structure and Characterization in The Freedom of the City - Mária Kurdi - An Interview with Richard Pine about Brian Friel¿s Theatre ¿ Contributors - Index.