“When Behan translated his play, "An Giall," into English, for the London stage, he did more than translate. He made it into a different play. I think the Irish version's much better; the English takes the serious issues addressed in the original, and cuts the ground out from under them. But, as "The Hostage," it became a hit. In this volume, you've got the original Irish, and a direct translation, which you can then compare to Behan's translation, to see what he did, and attempt to figure out why he did it. (That alcohol was involved should probably be mentioned now....)”
