Borstal Boy
  • Published: 1 June 1990
  • ISBN: 9780099706502
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $24.99

Borstal Boy

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Sep 2010
Paperback
1 Jun 1990
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A moving autobiography from the famous, even infamous Irish playwright and author, Brendan Behan. Continuing the longstanding tradition of political Irish literature, propagated by James Joyce and Sean O'Casey, this is the true story of life in the IRA.

'I have him bitched, balloxed and bewildered, for there's a system and a science in taking the piss out of a screw and I'm a well-trained man at it.'

So writes Brendan Behan, poet, writer and literary legend, of the episode that coloured his life. Arrested in Liverpool as an agitator for the IRA, he was tried and sent to reform school. He was sixteen years old.

The world he entered was brutal and coldly indifferent. Conditions were primitive, and violence simmered just below the surface. Yet Brendan Behan found something more positive than hate in Borstal: friendship, solidarity and healing flashes of kindness. Extraordinarily vivid, fluent, and moving, this is a superb and unforgettable piece of writing. Borstal Boy was adapted into a film in 2000.
  • Published: 1 June 1990
  • ISBN: 9780099706502
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $24.99
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About the author

Brendan Behan

Brendan Behan was born in Dublin in 1923. A member of the IRA, he was sentanced to three years in Borstal in 1939 and a further fourteen years in 1942.

He became a dominant literary figure almost overnight with the 1956 production of his play The Quare Fellow, based on his prison experiences. This recgonition was reinforced by the success of Borstal Boy and his second play, The Hostage.

Brendan Behan described his recreations as 'drinking, talking, and swimming' but no factual description could do justice to his flamboyant, larger-than-life character. Generally regarded as irreverent and unpredictable if not actually dangerous, there was nonetheless no publicity which ever obscured his marked talents or his great understanding of human nature.

Brendan Behan died in 1964

Also by Brendan Behan

Confessions Of An Irish Rebel
See all

Praise for Borstal Boy

He has more than charm, he has instinctive kindness and charity, a verbal grace, an unforced assertion of a strong personality

Sunday Times

The best thing in Irish writing since Sean O'Casey

The Spectator
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