Translations - Brian Friel

Yesterday I had an AS-Level English Literature, in which I had to write an essay on Brain Friel's "Translations", so I thought since it's still fresh in my mind, I should talk about the author and the book and share this. The play "Translations" is set in 1833 Ireland in a village called Baile Beg, despite the fact it was written by Friel in 1980. This time gap allows the author to distance himself from the times and introduce humnour into what was a ominous time in Ireland with the continual threat of an oncoming potato blight, which audience will already be aware of, creating dramatic irony. The play is set in a hedge school, ...  Read the complete review

Great book to study at A-level, gives you a brilliant insight of the history of Irish language and their state of mind when everything in Northern Ireland was transferred into English and the making of the ordanance map!!!

politically incorrect and extremely poor - Advantages: none - Disadvantages: politcally incorrect, dismal

This play is set in 1833, at a hedge school in the village of Baile Beag in Ireland. At this time the English army had begun to arrive in order make maps of Ireland and change the place names from Gaelic to English supposedly in order to be able to work out 'what is yours in law', really the main purpose of the new place names and the maps is so the English can work out where everywhere is in case of a war and 'for purposes of more equitable taxation'. The play centres around several main themes: language and power, language and identity, progress and stagnation, love, past and mythology and personal versus political. Each of these themes ...  Read the complete review

If you want a book, which has political significance, an excellent plot, based on the lives of millions of Catholics, and something which provides excellent understanding, depth and sensitivity to the troubles of Ireland. This is the book. Reading this book, leaves you more informed, even though it's only 56 pages long, those pages provide you with more detail than anything else can. Written by Brian Friel, if I was to be honest I have not read any of his books before. The play is set in a hedge-school-places of secret education after the penial laws in Ireland forbade the education of Catholics. The existence of hedge schools were ...  Read the complete review