Stewart Parker

A Life

Marilynn Richtarik

The first biography of the important Irish playwright Stewart Parker
Based on Parker's personal papers (including his diaries, notebooks, and early drafts of his literary works - all still in private hands) and on extensive interviews with his family, friends, acquaintances, contemporaries, and collaborator
Covers all of Parker's major works, especially his drama for radio, television, the stage, and film
Parker's writing career is presented in the contexts of his life and times, so that the reader learns much about both his personal history and psychology and the history and culture of Northern Ireland
A lively and compelling narrative

Stewart Parker

A Life

Marilynn Richtarik

Description

Born in Belfast during World War II, raised in a working-class Protestant family, and educated on scholarship at Queen's University, writer Stewart Parker's story is in many ways the story of his generation. Other aspects of his personal history, though, such as the amputation of his left leg at age 19, helped to create an extraordinarily perceptive observer and commentator. Steeped in American popular culture as a child and young adult, he spent five years teaching in the United States before returning to Belfast in August 1969, the same week British troops responded to sectarian disturbances there. Parker had developed a sense of writing as a form of political action in the highly charged atmosphere of the US in the late 1960s, which he applied in many and varied capacities throughout the worst years of the Troubles to express his own socialist and secular vision of Northern Irish potential. As a young aspiring poet and novelist, he supported himself with free-lance work that brought him into contact with institutions ranging from BBC Northern Ireland to the Irish Times (for which he wrote personal columns and the music review feature High Pop) and from the Queen's University Extramural Department to Long Kesh internment camp (where his creative writing students included Gerry Adams). It is as a playwright, however, that Parker earned a permanent spot in the literary canon with drama that encapsulates his experience of Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Marilynn Richtarik's Stewart Parker: A Life illuminates the genesis, development, and meaning of such classic plays as Spokesong, Northern Star, and Pentecost--works that continue to shed light on the North's past, present, and future--in the context of Parker's life and times. Meticulously researched and engagingly written, this critical biography rewards general readers and specialists alike.

Stewart Parker

A Life

Marilynn Richtarik

Preface
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Chronology
1. A British Boyhood
2. Queen's University
3. Intimations of Mortality
4. 'Calling Myself a Writer'
5. Talking About (Cultural) Revolution
6. Back to Belfast
7. Living in Interesting Times
8. A Professional Playwright
9. Suddenly Somebody
10. Dark Night of the Soul
11. Leaps of Faith
12. Fruition
13. Show Business
14. Last Words
References

Stewart Parker

A Life

Marilynn Richtarik

Author Information

Marilynn Richtarik was educated at Harvard University and at Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar. Her first book, Acting Between the Lines: The Field Day Theatre Company and Irish Cultural Politics 1980-1984, was published by Oxford University Press in 1995. Author of numerous articles on Stewart Parker, Richtarik is recognized as an authority on his work and has written programme notes for productions of his plays in London, Dublin, Belfast, and Washington, DC. Since 1995 she has taught twentieth-century British and Irish literature at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is currently an Associate Professor of English.

Stewart Parker

A Life

Marilynn Richtarik

Reviews and Awards

Winner of the Robert Rhodes Prize for Books on Literature 2012, and Winner of SAMLA Studies Book Award 2013

"Parker has now been well served by Marilynn Richtarik, whose wonderfully researched and judicious biography emphasizes the diversity and skill of his writing ... a stylish and absorbing volume. Marilynn Richtarik has presented here a defining piece of research about an important literary figure, and her book will play a major part in the revival of interest in Stewart Parker's work." --James Moran, Times Literary Supplement

"A fluent, absorbing biography of the great -- and greatly missed -- Belfast playwright." --Declan Hughes, Irish Sun Independent

"Meticulously researched and detailed...this is a valuable contribution to Irish theatre scholarship. It is not a work of theatre criticism, however: it is a vivid, engaging portrait of a talented and charismatic man, and, through his life and work, a portrait of a city in turmoil." --Lisa Fitzpatrick, Times Higher Education

"Richtarik's map of that life is detailed and clearly the product of years of careful and reflective research It is patently a labour of love, intricately detailed and passionately researched. A boon to Parker aficionados and a foundation text for renewed interest in his drama." --Clare Wallace, Body

"Meticulously researched and engagingly written, Richtarik's biography of the stellar Northern Irish playwright, Stewart Parker, does an excellent job of cementing the reputation of a writer who died too young ... this is a welcome and exemplary critical biography of a playwright who clearly deserves the love, skill, and effort [Richtarik] has put into it." --Maureen Hawkins, Estudios Irlandeses

"In this book, the American academic Marilynn Richtarik establishes, with exemplary precision and insight, the way the writer emerges, the false starts and disappointments, the experiments that failed ... This is a biography you can trust; it also captures an important chapter of Irish cultural life." --Roy Foster, Irish Times

"A new in depth biography by the leading authority on his work ... a fascinating portrait of the man and a rich account of his artistic output." --Paul Harron, Ulster Tatler

"Richtarik's timely study reminds us that the work of men and women like Parker gives us a glimpse of a world transformed by the power of one human being's love for another." --Cultural Northern Ireland

"This biography by the leading authority on [Parker's] life is exhaustively researched but very readable. Everything you needed to know about Stewart is here." --Neil Donnelly, Belfast Telegraph

"Richtarik provides a thorough account of Stewart's rich, short life, adeptly offering historical background that is itself captivating. As for Stewart's works, she offers thorough production histories, solid synopses, and balanced critiques. An excellent resource." --W. W. Demastes, CHOICE

Stewart Parker

A Life

Marilynn Richtarik

From Our Blog

Ten reasons you should get to know Irish playwright Stewart Parker

By Marilynn Richtarik Stewart who? That's okay ' I'm used to starting at the beginning. (1)Â Â Â Â Â Stewart Parker just might be the most important Irish writer you've never heard of. Born in 1941, he began his career as a poet, tried his hand at experimental prose, and eventually dedicated himself to drama.

Posted on June 4, 2013

Read the blog post