'I thought that no man liveth and dieth to himself, so I put behind what I thought and what I did the panorama of the world I lived in - the things that made me.' Sean O'Casey, 1948

Sean O'Casey's six-part Autobiography, originally published between 1939 and 1955, is an eloquently comprehensive self-portrait of an artist's life and times, unsurpassed in literature.

"Drums Under the Windows" (1945) sees O'Casey's young (pre-writing) life taking shape amid the extraordinary tumult of Ireland in the early twentieth century, thus leading him into the fray of the Easter Rising of 1916. "Inishfallen, Fare Thee Well" (1949) charts the steps towards his emigration from Ireland in 1926: a move pressed upon O'Casey by his hard struggle against the restrictions and prohibitions wrought by Irish society, church and state.

Faber Finds is devoted to restoring to readers a wealth of lost or neglected classics and authors of distinction. The range embraces fiction, non-fiction, the arts and children's books. For a full list of available titles visit www.faberfinds.co.uk. To join the dialogue with fellow book-lovers please see our blog, www.faberfindsblog.co.uk.

'I thought that no man liveth and dieth to himself, so I put behind what I thought and what I did the panorama of the world I lived in - the things that made me.'

Sean O'Casey, 1948

Sean O'Casey's six-part Autobiography, originally published between 1939 and 1955, is an eloquently comprehensive self-portrait of an artist's life and times, unsurpassed in literature.

As its title suggests, "Rose and Crown" (1952) reflects O'Casey's experience of making a new home in England where, socialist passion intact, he makes a sharp study of the General Strike of 1926. "Sunset and Evening Star" (1954) offers both valediction and celebration: for though O'Casey views Ireland as 'a decaying ark... afraid of the falling rain of the world's thought', he can still envisage the nation's young 'throwing out some of the musty stuff, bringing the fresh and the new...'

Faber Finds is devoted to restoring to readers a wealth of lost or neglected classics and authors of distinction. The range embraces fiction, non-fiction, the arts and children's books. For a full list of available titles visit www.faberfinds.co.uk. To join the dialogue with fellow book-lovers please see

our blog, www.faberfindsblog.co.uk.

'I thought that no man liveth and dieth to himself, so I put behind what I thought and what I did the panorama of the world I lived in - the things that made me.'

Sean O'Casey, 1948

Sean O'Casey's six-part "Autobiographies," originally published between 1939 and 1955, is an eloquently comprehensive self-portrait of an artist's life and times, unsurpassed in literature.

This volume contains the first two parts: "I Knock at the Door" (1939) and "Pictures in the Hallway" (1942). The former charts the childhood of young 'John Cassidy' (as O'Casey was christened), powerfully marked by the death of his father and his affliction by the eye infection trachoma. "Pictures in the Hallway" carries the story into John's adolescence, and tentative steps into the adult world of work, the opposite sex and political awakening.

The most famous play by this remarkable Irish dramatist. Juno and the Paycock has been produced throughout the world and offers a compelling look at the family conflicts of struggling Irish matriarch Juno Boyle's Herculean attempts to keep her children safe and her husband "Captain" Jack Boyle sober despite his foolish schemes and the ongoing "troubles" in early 20th century Dublin.

Drama

Sean O'Casey

Characters: 10 male, 5 female

Three interior and exterior scenes

This play is gripping from beginning to end. It has to do with the futile efforts of the leader of one of the Irish revolutions. He is finally killed and his wife goes mad after losing her unborn child.

This educational edition, with the full play text and an introduction to the playwright, features a detailed analysis of the language, structure and characters of the play, and textual notes explaining difficult words and references. It contains: - The full playtext - An introduction to the playwright, his background and his work - A detailed analysis of language, structure and characters in the play - Features of performance - Textual notes explaining difficult words and references Professor Murray's notes, to be read alongside the full playtext provided here, will enable students to better understand, appreciate, enjoy and write about O'Casey's greatest play.

In his early forties, while continuing to support himself as a laborer, we wrote, in quick succession three realistic plays about the slums of Dublin, known as the Dublin Trilogy. Juno and the Paycock, the second installment of the trilogy, was performed in the Abbey Theatre in 1924—the Abbey theatre produced the first installment of the trilogy, The Shadow of a Gunman (not included in this volume) in 1923. Juno and the Paycock deals with the unpleasantness of war and the misery of the victims during the the Irish struggle for indepenence. It was awarded the Hawthornden Prize.

As his career progressed, O'Casey experiemented with expressionism and symbolism, which resulted in Within the Gates; Red Roses for Me, a semiautobiographical work; and Cock-a-Doodle Dandy. Due to an increase of nationalism during the Civil War and Irish Independence movement, his plays were received well, although, at times, with protest and restriction.

Sean O'Casey Plays 2, introduced by Arthur Miller, documents O'Casey's transition from realism to his use of expressionism and symbolism.

The Shadow of the Gunman and The Plough with Stars, two installments in the Dublin Trilogy, give a realistic look at life in the slums of Dublin. Meanwhile, The Silver Tassie, originally rejected by William Bulter Yeats (director of the Abbey Threatre), is a tragicomedy based on the cruel horrors of World War I. It shows the price which the common people have to pay for the stupidities of war. Purple Dust and Hell and Healing are also included in this volume which show O'Casey's use of expressionism and symbolism.

Three early plays by Sean O'Casey—arguably his three greatest—demonstrate O'Casey's ability to convey the reality of life and the depth of human emotion, specifically in Dublin before and during the Irish civil war of 1922-23, but, truly, throughout the known universe. In mirroring the lives of the Dublin poor, from the tenement dwellers in The Shadow of a Gunman and Juno and the Paycock to the bricklayer, street vendor, and charwoman in The Plough and the Stars, Sean O'Casey conveys with urgency and eloquence the tiny details that create a total character as well as the terrors, large and small, that the constant threat of political violence inevitably brings.

Ireland, World War One. Dashing Harry Heegan leads his football team to victory, arriving home in swaggering celebration before he grabs his kit and heads for the trenches. A nightmare world awaits, the men, reduced to cannon fodder, speaking in mangled incantations as the casualties stack up. Months later, Harry returns, a cripple at the football club party. Everyone but the shattered war veterans dance and forget. Peppered with acrid wit and dark vaudeville humour, The Silver Tassie, Sean O'Casey's powerful anti-war play of 1928, receives a major revival at the National Theatre in April 2014.

Regarded by O'Casey as his best play, this dark comedy about Irish rural life at mid-century symbolises the struggle between repression and liberty. Although the final victory is to the forces of oppression (in the shape of Father Domineer and his gombeen men) the play is highly amusing. Initially it was regarded as anti-Catholic and suppressed in Ireland and New York. This publication is the only definitive edition available, having been compared with the original manuscript (in the New York Public Library). Professor Krause is the official biographer of O'Casey.