The book, which is set to come out in August, is a study of the playwright's career that cites more than 200 separate sources in its 257 pages.
EMORY, Va. -- An Emory & Henry College English professor has written a book that examines the career of one of today's most successful and celebrated playwrights, Brian Friel.
Dr. Scott Boltwood, an expert in Irish literature and drama and British literature, has written Brian Friel, Ireland, and The North. The book, which is set to come out in August, is a study of the playwright's career that cites more than 200 separate sources in its 257 pages.
This study seeks to take Friel scholarship into new areas by discussing his career within the context of Northern Ireland's Troubles and the debate concerning whether Northern Ireland is Irish or British -- a fierce debate that stokes much passion throughout Ireland.
Friel has written nearly 40 plays since 1958, but his career has been the subject of more than a dozen books and nearly 100 articles. His plays have been staged in Dublin, London, Paris and Johannesburg.
Emory & Henry produced its first Friel play in the late 1960s, when it produced his hit "Lovers." Since then the E&H Theater Department also has staged such award-winning works as "Translations" and "Dancing at Lughnasa."
Boltwood, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, has taught an Irish literature course many times to E&H undergraduates, offered a capstone seminar on Brian Friel's career, and taught Irish literature within the broader context of 20th-century English literature.
Emory & Henry has supported Boltwood in his work, funding short research trips to archives in Ireland and facilitating his ability to work as a visiting professor at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland.
In 2003-04, Boltwood was a research fellow at the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages in Londonderry, and he has just been invited be a visiting professor at one of Ireland's most renowned universities, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, as part of the universities Drama and Theatre Studies Department.
