The infamous, rabble-rousing revolutionary Irish author Brendan Behan’s darkly humorous landmark autobiography Borstal Boy solidified the writer’s role as rebel Ireland’s resident scéalaí (storyteller). Based on Behan’s time in an Irish juvenile reformatory, and his subsequent experiences in prison, Borstal Boy crackles with colloquial banter and beams with the youthful vigor characteristic of classic coming-of-age tales, juxtaposed against the authentically grim realities of incarcerated life.

Behan came from radical roots; his father a veteran of the Irish War for Independence and his mother a revolutionary activist who was close associates with National hero Michael Collins. Joining the Irish Republican Army’s youth organization at the age of fourteen, he became a full member of the IRA at 16, and soon after was arrested after being found with explosives while en route to bomb a British shipyard. Refusing to inform on his associates, Behan was sent to a series of prison camps and English reform schools where he was condemned to serve alongside British and Irish juveniles alike, reshaping his understanding of the widespread bloodshed and deep disparities between Irish Catholics and English Protestants.

While surprisingly devoid of political pontifications, Behan’s lively command of “gutter-talk” and an array of poetic and musical interludes dissolve the national and religious divisions and emphasizes a working-class ethos that offers a Marxian critique of “The Troubles”.

Write Brain TV is proud to present this singularly radical and stylistically brash work of Irish literature.