Borstal Boy (Nonpareil Books) - Softcover

Behan, Brendan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1567921051 ISBN 13: 9781567921052

Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher Inc, 2000

Synopsis

This miracle of autobiography and prison literature begins: "Friday, in the evening, the landlady shouted up the stairs: 'Oh God, oh Jesus, oh Sacred Heart, Boy, there's two gentlemen here to see you.' I knew by the screeches of her that the gentlemen were not calling to inquire after my health . . . I grabbed my suitcase, containing Pot. Chlor., Sulph Ac, gelignite, detonators, electrical and ignition, and the rest of my Sinn Fein conjurer's outfit, and carried it to the window . . ." The men were, of course, the police, and seventeen-year-old Behan. He spent three years as a prisoner in England, primarily in Borstal (reform school), and was then expelled to his homeland, a changed but hardly defeated rebel. Once banned in the Irish Republic, Borstal Boy is both a riveting self-portrait and a clear look into the problems, passions, and heartbreak of Ireland.

About this title

Review:

"He has more than charm, he has instinctive kindness and charity, a verbal grace, an unforced assertion of a strong personality" (Sunday Times)

"The best thing in Irish writing since Sean O'Casey" (The Spectator)

Book Description:

A moving autobiography from the famous, even infamous Irish playwright and author, Brendan Behan. Continuing the longstanding tradition of political Irish literature, propagated by James Joyce and Sean O'Casey, this is the true story of life in the IRA.

About this edition

• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher Inc
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1567921051
• ISBN 13: 9781567921052
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 386