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Post by Tomas on Sept 27, 2019 13:30:27 GMT
Rather than consulting wikipedia at instant reflex. Could someone here be extra kind to sum up a basic characteristic of this dramatist-writer for an ignorant man like me on the forum? (I´ve never read a single line by him but the impact of his oeuvre seem to have been massive and his name are mentioned in most every list of famous people; the only Irish dramatist lines ever read by me was an exception of John Millington Synge and was never able to make head or tails on the stories.)
Was he a Conservative? Is he just as great artist seen from today as in his day? |
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 27, 2019 13:45:39 GMT
Rather than consulting wikipedia at instant reflex. Could someone here be extra kind to sum up a basic characteristic of this dramatist-writer for an ignorant man like me on the forum? (I´ve never read a single line by him but the impact of his oeuvre seem to have been massive and his name are mentioned in most every list of famous people; the only Irish dramatist lines ever read by me was an exception of John Millington Synge and was never able to make head or tails on the stories.)
Was he a Conservative? Is he just as great artist seen from today as in his day? He was certainly not a conservative, he was a socialist and a revolutionary in both politics and art. I've never read or seen anything by him. Rather remarkably, I guess. I've actually read about half a biography about him, despite this. I assume he has earned his eminence, after all this time. |
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Post by cato on Sept 27, 2019 18:14:37 GMT
I have seen one of his plays in the Abbey a few years ago before the feminists took it over - Shadow of a Gun man I think. It was written I think shortly after the Civil war and is quite anti militarist anti nationalist anti middle class and generally left wing. It struck me as very iconoclastic which probably took some guts to write and produce back then. However it did strike me as being produced by someone totally disillusioned with the whole National Independence project .
Casey wasn't on his own in this regard and it is striking how quickly most of the artistic types fell out of love with the new Irish state. Perhaps that is why he appeals to some today who also reject that regime and the catholic middle class who came into their own in 1922.( As requested Tomas this is all from the top of my head.)
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Post by Tomas on Sept 27, 2019 20:58:14 GMT
Thanks for putting things straight. I sneaked into wikipedia almost by accident close to posting so saw the label socialist at the opening of the page. According to first views now it appears he was a heavy figure in his own camp, and very much in line with that camp position in its time (being anti this and that more than pro maybe he was also what Chesterton thought of as a disgrace: ahead of his times instead of wholly in his own?). No conservative at all then. Maybe more dogmatic anti-conservative than anything?? Strange how much in society has turned around so decisively that many old labels strongly needs to be put into multi-level context, even to grasp the basics of their meaning; same words can be really different for every historical period. "The past is not what it once was" said an old textbook we had at university, and "... is not what we now think" could well be added! Apart from myself being ignorant of Irish personages it often strikes me how almost every old time figure, by some stupid anachronistic delusion shortcut on my fault, at first glance can often appear very different from what they really were. Cf. old rural men, however radical or otherwise they might have been, appearing old-fashioned in relation to 21th century people simply because they lived earlier.
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Post by Séamus on Sept 28, 2019 9:24:54 GMT
Rather than consulting wikipedia at instant reflex. Could someone here be extra kind to sum up a basic characteristic of this dramatist-writer for an ignorant man like me on the forum? (I´ve never read a single line by him but the impact of his oeuvre seem to have been massive and his name are mentioned in most every list of famous people; the only Irish dramatist lines ever read by me was an exception of John Millington Synge and was never able to make head or tails on the stories.)
Was he a Conservative? Is he just as great artist seen from today as in his day? I've never read much in the way of plays,besides some Shakespeare,but it might be of interest if I quote from a different angle given by a Professor Stephen Ryan, a 1960s chairman in Scranton University PA- "though marred by some bitterness and ill-founded judgement,a gentle,kindly man,O'Casey was a lover of his fellow man and acutely conscious of the exploited and downtrodden. If he chose false solutions for the world's ills,his genuine concern cannot be denied" He remarks that the works that Sean is generally best remembered for- Juno,Gunman,Plough, were written for Yeats' Abbey Theatre. W.B. disliked his later experiential style. The very anti-clerical plays,in Ryan's opinion, were those written after he moved to Britain. 'The Church' bar/club in Dublin always claimed his baptism as part of it's history (it was St Mary's Church of Ireland parish church)as it does it's liturgical connections with other prominent protestants like the Guinness family. The Protestantism to secularism symbolism is appropriate |
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Post by Tomas on Sept 28, 2019 13:34:22 GMT
Rather than consulting wikipedia at instant reflex. Could someone here be extra kind to sum up a basic characteristic of this dramatist-writer for an ignorant man like me on the forum? (I´ve never read a single line by him but the impact of his oeuvre seem to have been massive and his name are mentioned in most every list of famous people; the only Irish dramatist lines ever read by me was an exception of John Millington Synge and was never able to make head or tails on the stories.)
Was he a Conservative? Is he just as great artist seen from today as in his day? I've never read much in the way of plays,besides some Shakespeare,but it might be of interest if I quote from a different angle given by a Professor Stephen Ryan, a 1960s chairman in Scranton University PA- "though marred by some bitterness and ill-founded judgement,a gentle,kindly man,O'Casey was a lover of his fellow man and acutely conscious of the exploited and downtrodden. If he chose false solutions for the world's ills,his genuine concern cannot be denied" He remarks that the works that Sean is generally best remembered for- Juno,Gunman,Plough, were written for Yeats' Abbey Theatre. W.B. disliked his later experiential style. The very anti-clerical plays,in Ryan's opinion, were those written after he moved to Britain. 'The Church' bar/club in Dublin always claimed his baptism as part of it's history (it was St Mary's Church of Ireland parish church)as it does it's liturgical connections with other prominent protestants like the Guinness family. The Protestantism to secularism symbolism is appropriate Interesting facts, thanks! I like the person caged in that disposition, a well-meaning unfortunately disappointed fellow... Something similar to what was said about Scottish history, "behind every mischievous trouble there was always a Campbell" though for Ireland another, impersonal, nemesis. Protestantism, and Socialism, is always taking a toll. The theological virtues, and in his case perhaps hope prominently, can be seen to be hurt badly by lack of religious nourishment - almost everywhere. Have you any idea why in particular he got disliked by the great Yeats, was is only due to the mentioned experimental aestethics in later art? |
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