Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador – Maracay, Edo.

Aragua

Brian Patrick Friel was a dramatist and writer, who born in Ireland in January
1929. He has notable works such as "Philadelphia, Here I come!", "Living Quarters",
"The Home Place", "Translations", and so on. "Translations" takes place at the village
of his markable fictional town "Ballybeg" in the early 19th century. The play shows
traces of how the 19th century was in Ireland, where the author uses the language to
show the culture and social issues themselves. The story begins when Manus is
teaching Sarah to say her name, and he taking the lead of the class, instead of his
drunk father. Yet, the climax of the story is when Yolland disappears, then Captain
Lancey said he must be found in 48 hours or the English will shoot the Irish
livestock. Even when all the main characters are battling with the own problems,
everyone is linked by the social situation: the English arriving in the town and take
them under their control.

Even when literature may have many different definitions and approaches,
Hancock in 2006 defined it as "the body of written works of a culture, language,
people or a period"; which is our writer, Patrick Friel, did. But the past definition
avoids the fact that "Translations" by Friel is not only written literature but oral.
Because of that, I would like to quote what Clay Reynolds said last year,
"These days, literary efforts are all qualified in one way or another, according to
period, of course, and national origin, as well as the ethnic categories, and
classifications based on age, gender, sociological subject matter, race, and so forth.
Sometime about thirty years ago, we embarked into a labyrinth of literary
classification that now has made distinctions meaningless."

So, to draw a comparison between both definitions, even when one talks about
only written elements, and the other blurred the lines of classification; both agree on
the fact that literature shared a social-cultural context.

Any piece of literature is done to share the ideas of the author. Despite the reality
the author lives, there is always going to be a social context for the characters of its
writings, and most of the time, this will be affected by the culture of the author. If we
look at the life of Brian Friel, he supported Irish Nationalism (which is a movement
that rules in favor of the Irish and it should be them who govern Ireland as a
sovereign state). So, if the background story is the English trying to domain his
fictional town, we can suppose Brian Friel was giving his point of view and, at the
same time, he was sharing Irish culture.

Ahlaam Moledina says (2018) "literature, for centuries, acted as a reflective tool
with which to mirror one's society through works which aesthetically or intellectually
provoke". The literature, somehow, makes people think, to questions themselves
about the plot – and even background details –; however, this never lost its artistic
merit. It has always been said literature is made for intellectuals, and it is a fact.
Literature is created to entertain but think.

"The influence of literature in society is evident in both cultural and academic

discussion, with conversations around class, race, and gender most often referencing
prominent writings surrounding these issues." (Ahlaam Moledina, 2018). If we look
carefully, we will realize that we can find the things named before in the play.

Most of the time spectators dismiss background – but very important – details.
Going step by step, the first thing to notice is the context. The play is set in a
(fictional) village in Ireland in the 19th century, indeed. Secondly, it is the distinction
of social classes and race; in one side, there is Manus' situation, he fell in love with
Maire, but she did not look at him twice because he is not worthy (with a plot twist
when, at the very end, he got everything to be worthy of Maire's love). Another clear
example is when Owen said "my job is to translate the quaint, archaic tongue you
people persist in speaking into the King's goo English", and let's take into
consideration that in the United Kingdom there was always a distinction among
inhabitants because of the languages spoken. And thirdly – just to mention a final
one, among many other examples – there is the allusion to Greek mythology.

To conclude this short analysis, I would like to talk about how somehow, there is
always present cultural element in the play! The author wanted to create a very
entertaining play, where he developed a fictional town with fictional characters and
fictional situations but using a very realistic social context of the 19th century. No
matter how literature is capable to encapsulate the culture and every element of this.
 REFERENCES

Hanconck P (2006). What is literature. Sydney, Australia

W. W. Robson (1984). The Definition of Literature. An Essay. Oxford University,

England.

Clay Reynolds (2020). How did scholar define literature?. Texas University, U.S

Ahlaam Moledina (2018). Does literature change anything?

Brian Patrick Friel (1980). Translations. Ireland.