The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of determining a stylistic relationship between the playwriting techniques of Brendan Behan and those of accepted models, both traditional and modern. The approach is divided into two avenues of research. The first is that of establishing a historical perspective for the style of Behan's dramaturgy; the second is that of comparing the reactions to Behan's work by his contemporary critics. The purpose of this study is to analyze the playwriting techniques of Brendan Behan, giving particular emphasis to his methods of characterization and structure. This analysis is not an attempt to evaluate Behan's effectiveness or skill as a playwright. It is, instead, in the form of a comparison-and-contrast report which attempts to present antithetical ideas of playwriting and to arrive, finally, at a synthesis of critical opinion concerning Behan's methods of play construction.

Nathalie Lamprecht Abstract Class, Sexuality and Nationalism: Identity Building in the Prose Writings of Brendan Behan focuses on Irish author, playwright and rebel Brendan Behan's prose fiction. It uses notions of Irish autobiography, memory and narrativity in order to analyse his collected short stories, his only crime novel The Scarperer and his columns, originally published in the Irish Press, as well as his most extensive work, the autobiographical novel Borstal Boy. Due to the autobiographical nature of most of these texts, throughout this thesis biographies of the author function as co-texts. The aim of this thesis is to find out how Behan uses the themes of class, sexuality and nationalism in order to create identity in his prose. Mostly, the author is critical of his time's accepted version of Irishness, creating characters principally based on himself that do not fit the mould.