This is a critical study of Friel's entire oeuvre, relating Friel's work to the problems of subjectivity, representation, history and the body, with a view to offering some placement of Friel in relation to both postmodernism and traditional humanism. Central to this study is Friel's concept of 'translation', whereby he offers us the tension of shaping the new through a 'translation' or reformulation of the old.