|
|
Article: Belated Behan: Brendan Behan and the cultural politics of memory.
- Article from:
- Eire-Ireland: a Journal of Irish Studies
- Article date:
- September 22, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Irish American Cultural Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
ON the evening of 30 November 1939, Brendan Behan went to his family home, 70 Kildare Road in Dublin, and packed a suitcase. The suitcase contained chlorate of potash and paraffin wax, which was mixed with gelignite to form an explosive compound. It also contained ampoules of sulfuric acid, which, when inserted into wax-filled condoms, would corrode and ignite the explosives. While Behan packed his case, his tense, disapproving family gathered around his father at the fireside, who was reading aloud from a favorite book of Behan's childhood, Dickens's The Pickwick Papers. Behan left the house with familiar tales of Mr. Pickwick, Mr. Snodgrass, and Mr. Winkle ringing in his ...