The Aran Islands

"In the late 1890s, John M. Synge, in his middle twenties and unsure of his vocations made his way to Paris intending to study French literature and become a literary critic. There he met William Butler Yeats. The eminent poet advised Synge to drop his involvements with fin de siecle French authors, return to Ireland, and describe a society with which he had some natural connection. Yeats recommended that Synge visit the Aran Islands, primitive and absolutely authentic places about which little had yet been written."--BOOK JACKET. "Synge first traveled to the Aran Islands in 1898. His six-week trip proved to be a wonderfully fruitful and decisive experience. He then went back for part of each summer until 1902. The book that he wrote - and that he called his "first serious piece of work" - was published in 1907. What he learned from his visits to the Aran Islands led directly to the great plays for which he is chiefly remembered."--BOOK JACKET.