This book considers the varied careers of controversial Irish adventurer Thomas Sheridan (17191788) in terms of a continuum of phonocentrist obsession. Variously employed as an actor-manager,
elocutionist, lecturer and educational theorist, Sheridan believed that the key to Irish national renewal and European cultural revival was the cultivation of the spoken word. His stewardship
of the Smock Alley Theater in Dublin was marked by considerable innovation along with bitter controversy. Brunström argues that the author's many failures are as interesting as his successed
and that he stands as a fascinating example of the power of a single idea, variously interpreted and implemented.
