Brendan Behan, the Irish poet and playwright, was known for his sharp wit and skill as a raconteur. He was also known for his drinking and, to some, unsavoury political background - he spent several years in various British penal institutions for IRA activities. But his earthy, satirical writing is marked, not by political rant or social bitterness, but by an acute commentary on the lives of common people. In spite of the poverty of his childhood, the alcoholism that killed him at the age of 41, and his tendency to play up to the stereotypical foreign image of the drunken, sociable Irishman, Behan contributed greatly to his country's literary heritage, and to our understanding of the human condition.
