Brendan Behan

Brendan Behan – Life, Works, and Legacy

Brendan Behan (1923–1964), Irish playwright, novelist, and republican, is known for The Quare Fellow, The Hostage, Borstal Boy, and his sharp wit. Explore his biography, creativity, famous quotes, and cultural impact.

Introduction

Brendan Francis Behan (9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish writer, playwright, poet, and former Irish Republican Army (IRA) activist. His life was marked by political commitment, imprisonment, heavy drinking, and a fierce literary voice that blended humor, pathos, and social critique. Behan wrote in both English and Irish, and remains celebrated in Ireland and beyond for his powerful dramatic works and his candid, often ironic, self-portrayals.

Early Life & Family

Brendan Behan was born in Dublin into a politically engaged, culturally literate family.

From an early age, Brendan was exposed to songs, stories, and the tensions of Irish nationalist life. His uncle Peadar Kearney wrote the lyrics for “Amhrán na bhFiann” (The Soldier’s Song), later adopted as the Irish national anthem.

He left formal schooling early (around age 13) to apprentice as a house painter, following a family tradition, but he continued to absorb language, politics, and literature by reading and through family conversation.

Political Activism & Imprisonment

Behan’s youth was entwined with republican activism. He joined Fianna Éireann, the youth wing of the IRA, at age 14, and by 16 was participating in IRA operations.

In 1939, as a teenager, he was arrested in England for carrying explosives with intent to damage property. He was sentenced to three years in a borstal (a juvenile detention center) at Hollesley Bay in Suffolk. That experience became the basis of his later memoir Borstal Boy.

Later, in 1942, Behan was tried and convicted for conspiracy to murder and attempted murder of police (Gardaí) related to IRA activities. He served time in Mountjoy Prison and at the Curragh internment camp.

While in prison, Behan began writing plays, essays, and poetry, and learned to speak Irish. His experiences behind bars deeply shaped his literary voice—particularly his understanding of confinement, justice, and personal transformation.

He was released under a general amnesty in 1946, and though his direct IRA activity largely receded afterward, the political themes remained central in his work.

Literary Career & Major Works

Behan’s writing is distinctive for its mixture of rawness, wit, tragedy, social commentary, and musicality. He tackled themes of nationalism, identity, human weakness, and the contradictions of Irish life.

Plays

• The Quare Fellow (1954)
  Behan’s first major play, The Quare Fellow, is set in Mountjoy Prison and explores the human fallout of capital punishment. The titular character is never seen, but his execution looms over the narrative, affecting guards, inmates, and visitors.

• An Giall / The Hostage (1958)
  Originally written in Irish as An Giall, Behan later translated and expanded it into The Hostage. The play mixes politics, music, and tragedy. A British conscript soldier is held hostage in a Dublin house populated by IRA sympathizers, revolutionaries, prostitutes, and colorful locals. The play shifts between comedic episodes and serious commentary, ending with a violent denouement that underscores the human cost of nationalist conflict.

Prose & Memoirs

• Borstal Boy (1958)
  This semi-autobiographical memoir recounts Behan’s time in the juvenile detention center in England. Through vivid character portraits, emotional introspection, and reflections on youthful idealism, Behan conveys how confinement shifted his views on violence, identity, and humanity.

• Brendan Behan’s Island; Brendan Behan’s New York; Confessions of an Irish Rebel
  In his later years, Behan produced additional works (some dictated when his health and capacity waned), exploring memory, travel, and political reflection.

Behan also wrote essays, short stories, poetry, and radio plays; his style is often conversational yet layered with irony, pathos, and social edge.

Personality, Struggles & Public Persona

Behan cultivated a persona of the “lovable drunk poet,” famous for his wit, gregariousness, and penchant for public drunken appearances. He once joked: “I am a drinker with writing problems.”

His alcoholism, diagnosed diabetes, and health decline increasingly limited his faculties in later years. Many of his later works had to be dictated, as he struggled to write physically.

Despite these struggles, Behan was beloved for his humor, sharp observation, irreverence, and willingness to mock both himself and Irish society. His public appearances—on television, in interviews, or in bars—blurred the line between performance and self-parody.

His death was sudden: in March 1964, he collapsed in a bar in Dublin and was taken to Meath Hospital, where he died at age 41.

Famous Quotes

Brendan Behan is remembered not only for his plays and prose but also for his sharp, expressive lines. Here are a few well-known quotes:

• “I am a drinker with writing problems.”

• “It’s not that the Irish are cynical. It’s rather that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody.”

• “The most important things to do in the world are to get something to eat, something to drink and somebody to love you.”

• “There’s no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.”

• “One drink is too many for me and a thousand not enough.”

• “Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it’s done, they’ve seen it done every day, but they’re unable to do it themselves.”

These lines reflect Behan’s mixing of humor, cynicism, life’s contradictions, and literary self-awareness.

Legacy & Cultural Influence

• Behan is seen as one of Ireland’s most energetic and controversial mid-20th century writers, combining political urgency with theatrical spectacle.

• The Quare Fellow remains a staple of Irish theatre and is studied for its treatment of capital punishment, penal systems, and social critique.

• The Hostage is often revived for its blend of politics, comedy, and tragedy—especially for how it humanizes those drawn into conflict.

• Borstal Boy continues to be read and adapted (including as a play) as a vivid coming-of-age narrative intertwined with Irish identity, idealism, and personal growth.

• Behan’s style—witty, blunt, above all “Irish” in voice—has influenced generations of Irish writers, playwrights, and spoken-word artists. His presence in popular culture (pub lore, memorials, quotations) remains strong.

• His life, with its triumphs and tragedies, continues to provoke discussions about creativity, self-destruction, political commitment, and the costs of artistic life.

Critics sometimes argue that Behan’s heavy drinking and erratic behavior overshadowed his literary gifts. But supporters contend that his flaws and brilliance were inseparable—a tragic, combustible mix that enriched rather than diminished his art.

Lessons from Brendan Behan

1. Art from adversity
   Behan converted suffering, confinement, and political conflict into narrative fuel—demonstrating how hardship can sharpen awareness.

2. Humor as critique
   He used wit not merely to entertain but to expose hypocrisies in politics, national identities, and social norms.

3. Voice & authenticity
   Behan wrote as he lived—with directness, self-contradiction, irreverence—and his authenticity is central to his lasting appeal.

4. Complexity over dogma
   Though once a militant republican, Behan’s later work shows disillusionment with violence and a recognition of human cost—not simplistic ideology.

5. Balance ambition and care
   His tragic decline underscores the need for self—but also suggests that passionate intensity must be paired with self-care.