Christopher Murray. Sean O'casey, Writer at Work: A Biography (Book Review‪)‬

Christopher Murray. Sean O'Casey, Writer at Work: A Biography. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2004. 590 pages. 29.99 [euro]. Christopher Murray begins this study by addressing the essential dilemma in depicting the life of an individual like Sean O'Casey who, despite the enduring place he occupies in Irish culture and consciousness, still attracts intense partisan debate. The image of O'Casey, the proud, untutored slum dramatist who had to fight formidable obstacles to become one of Ireland's greatest playwrights, is so pervasive that a biographer might be tempted to write in fulfilment of that preconception. Yet, a would-be biographer is also aware that the alternate strategy of simply accumulating details gleaned from archival materials or pried from the people's memories could never hope to add up to biographical truth, that the past as a holistic construction, especially of personal history, is irredeemably inaccessible. How then must a biographer negotiate between the Scylla and Charybdis that threatens the craft? Suspicious of impressionistic responses, Murray opts for the role of chronicler but, as one of Ireland's foremost drama critics, he combines his finely tuned appreciation of Irish cultural history with a judicious concern to investigate rather than advocate, to discover rather than vindicate. When focused on the paradoxical life and still controversial dramatic achievement of Sean O'Casey, Murray's sensible and considered perspective produces an authoritative critical biography that greatly enhances our understanding of this central figure in Irish theatrical history.