John B. Keane Books

A universal parable of an ordinary man with extraordinary qualities. The Bull McCabe is a tragically flawed hero who like his more noble but no more heroic predecessors in Greek or Shakespearean tragedy is as much "sinned against" as sinning. This politically incorrect Irish hero pays the price for his all -consuming obsession with land and overwhelming desire to protect his family dynasty. Read and see this play and admire an ordinary man who is eloquent and persuasive enough to challenge the powerful Irish trinity of God, Law and Society. A hero before his time for all time!

Harking to one of his favorite themes, Keane, one of Ireland's foremost dramatists, once again focuses his action on a character who is at odds with the law but in tune with the sentiment of his fellow farmers. Big Bull McCabe, a farmer whose nineteen-acre farm has no water, has leased four acres of poor land from Maggie Butler for five years, gradually developing it into prime grazing pasture by fertilizing it, fencing it, and pulling the thistles, to give his cows access to water. Now Maggie wants to sell the land to the highest bidder, and Bull, having invested his time and effort, believes that he has rights to the property. When an "imported land grabber" from England offers an unusually high price for the land, Bull, his son, and a friend decide to take justice into their own hands.

The passion of local Kerry farmers for their land, and their consequent resentment of outsiders who threaten the land, take on particularly dark tones in this play. Bull, who seems to have sprung fully grown from the soil, believes that land has its own morality, that the laws which are imposed by "society" are irrelevant. He is willing to do whatever it takes to control the outcome. The other characters here are equally tied to the land, supporting Bull and adhering to a code of silence regarding his activities when the law and the local priest investigate the dispute.

Starkly realistic, the play is simple in concept, but its revelations of the local Irish culture and the response of these Kerry farmers to outsiders and "the clan of the round collar" taps into the "us vs. them" dynamic of the disenfranchised everywhere. Bull is no more extreme in his temper and his desire to protect what is "his" than is Mick Flanagan, the pub keeper, who treats his constantly pregnant wife Maimie like property. Dark and powerful in the tension it establishes between the "law" and the men it is supposed to govern, the play is firmly rooted in the local culture, establishing Bull McCabe as one of Ireland's most famous characters. Mary Whipple

This is a wonderful book - each story is a small jewel, carefully polished, so that by the end of the book you feel like you have personally met a whole new group of friends. Some of the stories are also extremely funny in a dry sort of way. My kids wanted to know what Mom was laughing at!

This is a collection of varied stories of life in rural Ireland. I found these to be the best yet John B. Keane's donations in this area. When you read these stories you feel your with real people and not just make-believe. You can always be assured of a good read with John B.

The Author, John B Keane, was a Kerryman through and through, and all his books wallow in the heritage of that county of Ireland. (Kerry is known in Ireland as "The Kingdom") Well known for his novels such as the Bodhran Makers and Durango, it is for his plays that Keane will be best remembered.

Celebrated on the stage of the National theatre of Ireland in the 1980's these three plays went on to tour widely round the world, and the Field was made into a powerful film starring Richard Harris, Tom Berenger, John Hurt and Brenda Fricker.

Each is a mixture of innocence and cynicism, earthy humour and godlike aspiration.

Sive, the tale of a beautiful girl sold under the table to an old man. A tale of corrupted innocence and how greed can shatter families.

The Field, a deep rooted story of the importance of land to rural people, how it transcends even family loyalties, but how it finally breaks the hardest of hard men.

Big Maggie, Keane at his best, giving voice to the repressed sexuality of the Irish woman.

Three wonderful plays with themes that transcend the parochial nature of their setting. They have a simplicity and universality that is almost the equivalent of Greek plays such as Antigone or Lysistrata.

This Book is such good value. Not only do you get three plays but i tell you you get Some entertainment. A most enjoyable read!

SIVE- I love Sive it is an extremely sad story about a young girls who is being sold into marriage by her uncle and aunt. Her grandmothewr is againstit especially because the man is about 70 and also bercause Sive is already in love with Liam Scuab. On the eve of her wedding sive makes a decision that will chande everything-Forever!

THE FIELD- Everyone knows the bull but the bull will go to whatever lenghts he must to get the most important thing in the world(to him) and that is land. But will he succeed and will Mrs.Butler-the widow who is selling theland get a fair price. Main characters include the bull,the birtd and Tadgh. Is tadgh like his father-Is he his fathers son?

BIG MAGGIE- Now widowed ansd free Maggie decides that she will wear the trousers but she finds that the harder she gets the childrenb just fly thenest and all move away. even her son(the homebird) has to choose between his mother or the love of his life. His decision will also change what is to come. Will Maggie continue to fight alone? Does Maggie even know.

I got the chance to see Druid Theatre's interpretation of "The Hiker" recently and of Keane's canon this is surely one of his richest, most emotional and satisfying. It tells the story of a father returning home to die after 20 years complete absence and how each of the family come to terms with it.

There are several themes at play. Firstly is the "power of the land". The loving way that Kate the mother talks of how Joe turns the farm around from a near fallow condition to its full potential. The descriptions of the Hiker caressing "every blade of grass".

The second is a well-aimed stab at the shallowness and pretensions of the Irish bourgeoisie, a common device in all his plays. And while the play is over forty years old, the knife twists just as smartly today as it did then. Simey's all consuming concern over the impact the Hiker will have on his potential practice. The mother's delight at her daughter's marriage to a suitable husband (a gormless and weak-willed doctor). The vacuous twitterings,`"gracias"-that's spanish you know' and slightly racist observations of the daughter regarding her honeymoon in Spain and yet the iron fist beneath the velvet glove exposed in her completely dismissive manner towards her estranged father. This is evident in that she expressly forbids her husband from attending to the Hiker.

The best wine is however kept until last. The interplay between Joe and the Hiker, father and son is just masterly and heart rendingly touching. Joe is initially dissmissive and angry, but these emotions are tempered by flashbacks commented on such as "his patience with me, how he'd hike for miles with me on his shoulder". The final transformation to some form of forgiveness is expressed in tenderly removing the hiker's coat and sitting him by the fire and calling out a few minutes later in frustration and pain "why didn't you take me with you, nothing else would have mattered, you were my God". And as this occurs we see the stoic gravel-voiced bull of a son stripped away to a seven year old heart broken child while his father just holds him, carressing his face and whispering apologies that were aching to be spoken for many a year.

The interaction between the Hiker and his wife and sister-in-law are good, particularly in the denoument where the actions of 20 years before are explained and (partially) understood. However, it is the father and son interplay that remains the most dominant and affecting part of the play, as was evidenced in the tear stained faces of many of the audience after the final act on the night that I saw it.

I'm part of a Drama Society in Ireland, and at the moment we are doing this play. Let me give you a short version of the play. There are 7 characters in them the most important being the Hiker himself. He has 3 children, 2 boys and a girl. He left his family 20 years ago because basically his wife's sister Freda would not give Kate (HIkers wife)and himself time to give the marriage a chance because Freda was in love with him too!!When he returns, Joe (eldest son) hits him. Simey(2nd son) hates the hiker and is only worried about his reputation as a vet even though the hiker is dying he doesnt care! Mary (daughter) doesnt even speak to him and has no time at all for him. Joe is the only one who will love his father through it all. He asks Kate and Freda not to go against his wishes and they dont. This is not our first year doing a play by JB we have done Big Maggie and also Many Young Men of Twenty and i enjoyed this more because of the size of the cast. With the other two plays we needed a cast of 20-25 and the audience would not get to know the characters really well. With this play the audience knew everyone. The play is in the form of two acts. Its a play that you could laugh at but there is also tradedy in it also.

Hope you enjoy is as much as i did. Its clearly one of JB best

Over the last year I've considered myself truly fortunate to have discovered the work of John Keane. In September of 2004 I stopped by the Dublin Writer's Museum and saw his books prominently featured. Much harder to spot in America and not fiction that I had previously run across. On a whim I took a chance and bought one of his books: it was one of the best gambles I've made.

This magnificent and long book of short stories absolutely sparkles with carefully drawn, always engaging and focused tales of characters that command the page with energy and wit that is wholly and mysteriously their own. John Keane rolls out the welcome mat for the reader - he is absolutely honest and at the same time conspiratorial as he pulls you into the world of his characters. Ireland telegraphs through very strongly in these tales, however, the characters, the intrigue and the resounding integrity of these stories is absolutely universal and timeless. It would be misleading to simply categorize Keane as an Irish author. I've read many of these stories multiple times and they only get better with each reading. An Irish Christmas Feast is one of the very few books I've bought and given as a gift. Not a book to borrow, An Irish Christmas Feast is a book to own.

This collection of Irish stories is a real favorite of mine -- John B. Keane gives us a peek into the rural country lives of his ordinary but colorful townfolk. Circumstances abound and never fail to produce a most humorous or heartwarming story. One particular story can always be relied upon to send me into fits of laughter, no matter how many times I read it!

Note: Amazon has incorrectly linked a short story collection and this audiotape of the same name. These products are completely different, containing different stories. This review is for the audiotape, ISBN 1-57093-051-9. The audiotape consists of seven stories: "The Curriculum Vitae," "Spreading Joy and Jam at Christmas," "A Cock for Christmas," "The Magic Stoolin," "Many Years Ago," "Cider," and "The Great Christmas Raid at Ballybooley." Since all the copies available through the MarketPlace are for the book version, one can only hope that Amazon will separate these products so that vendors can list this terrific audiotape!

Anyone with a touch of the Irish (and who isn't Irish on some level, especially at this time of year?) will delight in this collection of down-home stories written and narrated by John B. Keane, famous for his novels and stories of traditional life in Kerry. Keane's Irish lilt and unfamiliar local vocabulary require careful listening--preferably at least twice to be sure that one understands all the words and the goings-on, though the stories are such a delight that a third or even a fourth listen is as charming as the first. Telling about Christmas among the residents of poor farm communities (who often don't realize how "poor" they are because of the richness of their lives), Keane creates a magical portrait of lives lived close to the earth and to each other.

In "Curriculum Vitae," he tells of a postman who defies everyone with influence and hires the poor father of an enterprising young daughter to be assistant postman during the holidays. "Spreading Joy and Jam at Christmas" tells of the wealth of jam that "makes" Christmas for a young girl and her mother. "A Cock for Christmas" is a love story of a Kerry dove and two imported birds who fly to Paris for the holidays, and "The Magic Stoolin" centers around a keg of porter which falls off a lorry and is hidden in a pile of turf so that it can become the centerpiece at a local Christmas party. These and "Many Years Ago" are all relatively short pieces, ranging from five to eleven minutes long.

The two longest stories are by far the most involving--"Cider" and "The Great Christmas Raid at Ballybooley" are classics for their revelation of Irish character. "Cider" is the tale of a young man of seventeen who has discovered hard cider, something he does not want his parents to know. His encounter with a banshee on Christmas Eve, while he is drunk, leads to a new understanding of his own father. "The Great Christmas Raid..." is a hilarious Irish tall tale, in which everybody wins--at the expense (not surprisingly) of the British. These stories are twenty-two and twenty-three minutes long, long enough to completely involve the reader in the magic of Keane's Irish communities and the warmth and humor of their spirits. For anyone who loves John B. Keane, the opportunity to hear him reading his own stories is priceless. n Mary Whipple

John B. Keane simply must be commended for this collection. He brings back memories of the best Christmas you've ever experienced, and brings to mind the spirit of sharing that flows with that time of year. It's a pity that we can't show that good cheer yearround. Keane entertains, excites, and... admonishes us to consider the humanity in us all.

I read this book several years ago, and it prompted me to read other letters of John B. Keane. The 'Celebrated Letters' are brilliant, and sum up Irish country life. However, the Letters of a Love Hungry Farmer is the only one which brought a genuine tear to my eye.

This is a short book, filled with details of life in Donegal in the latter part of the 19th century. It requires a fairly good knowledge of the Irish language (or a lot of patience and a good dictionary) to get through it. The story concerns a boy and a girl growing up in the Gaeltacht in the Rosses..along the Donegal seacoast. The people are desperately poor so the boy goes off to make his fortune. The girl waits for him (and waits...and waits...and waits...) I dont want to give away too much of the story, but this book is a little treasure filled with pictures of life at that time and place. Highly recommended for anybody interested in Ireland and its history.