John Millington Synge

In 1898 John Millington Synge made his first of many trips to the Aran Islands in an attempt to record and archive the tales, poems and songs of the three western islands off of the Galway coast. The memoir he kept of his time their makes up this book, awash with stories of the wonderful characters he met along the way and all their anecdotes. He manages to capture a the way of life that is long since gone and it is lucky for us that he took the time...

Synge's first play, originally performed in 1903, is a bleak one-act set in an isolated farmhouse in Ireland. A tramp wanders into what seems a tragic scene-a wife mourning her dead, and considerably older, husband. But when the wife leaves to find her lover, and the supposedly dead man returns to life, events take an unexpected turn.

Two beautifully crafted dramas set among the folk of the Aran Islands and western Irish coastlands. The Playboy of the Western World deals with its young hero's progress, in the eyes of others, from timid weakling to paragon of bravery. Riders to the Sea is a dark elegy to the fragile existence of those who live at the mercy of the sea. Reprinted from authoritative editions, complete with Synge's preface to The Playboy of the Western World. New introductory...

First performed in 1910, Deirdre of the Sorrows is based on Irish mythology. It was unfinished at time of the author's death and completed by the poet William Butler Yeats and Synge's fiancée, the actress Molly Allgood. Deirdre, a beautiful young woman, is desired by a powerful but older king, Conchubor, whose pursuit of her leads to tragedy.

Edmund John Millington Synge (1871-1909), an Irish poet, playwright and prose writer, was also one of the cofounders of the storied Abbey Theatre. Synge was known as a strange and enigmatic man, quiet and reserved, not even understood by his own family members. After graduating from school, Synge decided to pursue music, but his shy nature prevented him from performing, causing him to turn to literature as a creative outlet. When it opened at the...