On the hundredth anniversary of the production of Seán O’Casey’s Dublin plays at the Abbey Theatre, the Liam and Tom O’Flaherty Society will host a talk by Paul O’Brien on Tuesday 26 September in Galway City Library at 6.00pm.
Paul O’Brien is author of the recently-published political biography ‘Seán O’Casey: Political activist and writer’ which situates O’Casey in the literary and political context of his time.
Liam O’Flaherty from Inis Mór, who knew O’Casey personally and described him as a friend, has many political and literary crossovers with the Dublin writer.
The two men were socialists, participated in national and class struggles in Ireland and, significantly, produced literature from a working class perspective about the working class experience.
Both were centrally involved in the establishment of a literary and cultural project in Dublin during the 1920s called the Radical Club.
O’Flaherty described the broad objective of this Club as attempting to “draw in everybody interested in culture of any description in Dublin and form a nucleus of an organisation to resist the encroachment of the clergy, at the same time encouraging the appearance of new writers.”
Paul O’Brien will discuss these connections as well as the men’s literary and political contributions and their public row over O’Casey’s play The Plough and the Stars in the context of his new book ‘Seán O’Casey: Political activist and writer’.
The book places O’Casey at the centre of Ireland’s cultural and political history, charting his involvement in the shaping of modern Ireland. This is interwoven with a political and dramatic critique of post-independent Ireland and the wider world.
Like O’Flaherty, O’Casey wrote for a purpose. His life reflects the history of the early twentieth century in Ireland, a period shaped by revolution, counter-revolution and the struggle for a better world. History and politics are woven into the fabric of both their lives and their literature.
The event is being hosted free of charge by the Liam and Tom O’Flaherty Society and will take place in Galway City Library on St. Augustine Street, Galway from 6pm on Tuesday 26 September 2023. All members of the public are welcome and encouraged to attend.
