Brian Friel as Linguist, Brian Friel as Drama Translator

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how linguistic and translation issues have always been Brian Friel’s main concerns. The language question in Ireland is investigated in its multi-faceted implications in the light of Tom Paulin’s pamphlet, A New Look at the Language Question (1985). Friel first dramatises this question in Translations (1980) and then uses translation as a powerful means of intercultural exchange in his Russian play, Three Sisters (1981). According to drama translation theorist Aaltonen, the translation of a foreign dramatic text, as well as its entire production, unavoidably represents a “reaction to the Other” when it is chosen for a performance in another culture. Therefore, Friel’s Three Sisters is seen as an ‘Irish reaction’ to Chekhov’s Russia.