J. M. Synge

The Aran Islands (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press) J. M. Synge Illustrated edition

Edmund John Millington Synge (1871-1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore. He was one of the cofounders of the Abbey Theatre. Synge wrote many well known plays, including Riders to the Sea (1904), which is often considered to be his strongest literary work. He is best known for the play The Playboy of the Western World (1907), which caused riots during its opening run at the Abbey theatre. He suffered from Hodgkin's disease, a form of cancer at the time untreatable. He died just weeks short of his 38th birthday and was at the time trying to complete his last play, The Last Black Supper. Other works include: In the Shadow of the Glen (1903), The Well of the Saints (1905), The Tinker's Wedding (1908) and Deirdre of the Sorrows (1910).