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Flann O'Brien (1911–1966)

Author of The Third Policeman

52+ Works 12,005 Members 247 Reviews 121 Favorited

About the Author

Writer Brian O'Nolan was born on October 5, 1911. He graduated from University College, Dublin. This gifted Irish writer had three identities: Brian O'Nolan, an Irish civil servant and administrator; Myles Copaleen, columnist for the Irish Times, poet and author of An Beal Bocht (The Poor Mouth: A show more Bad Story about the Hard Life, 1941), a satire in Gaelic on the Gaelic revival; and Flann O'Brien, playwright and avant-garde comic novelist. His masterpiece, At Swim-Two-Birds (1939), went almost unrecognized in its time. This novel, which plays havoc with the conventional novel form, is about a man writing a book about characters in turn writing about him. O'Brien starts off with three separate openings. The Third Policeman (1967), funny but grim, plunges into the world of the dead, though one is not immediately aware that the protagonist is no longer living. He died on April 1, 1966. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Courtesy of Dalkey Archive Press

Works by Flann O'Brien

The Third Policeman (1967) 4,227 copies
At Swim-Two-Birds (1939) 3,267 copies
The Poor Mouth (1973) 967 copies
The Dalkey Archive (1964) 851 copies
The best of Myles (1968) 744 copies
The Hard Life (1961) 560 copies
Stories and Plays (1973) 117 copies
At War (Lannan Selection) (1999) 112 copies
Myles Away from Dublin (1600) 73 copies
Myles Before Myles (1988) 64 copies
Flann O'Brien Reader (1978) 20 copies
Cruiskeen Lawn (2005) 11 copies
The Poor Mouth — Author — 2 copies
Fakirlik Edebiyati (2022) 2 copies
Durst und andere Dinge. (2002) 2 copies
FA170 (1391) 1 copy
De derde Politieman (1971) 1 copy
Irlanda 1 copy
No title 1 copy

Associated Works

Black Water: The Book of Fantastic Literature (1983) — Contributor — 499 copies
The Best of Modern Humor (1983) — Contributor — 292 copies
The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction (1999) — Contributor — 151 copies
Great Irish Detective Stories (1993) — Contributor — 89 copies
Extreme Fiction: Fabulists and Formalists (2003) — Contributor — 51 copies
The Penguin Book of Irish Comic Writing (1996) — Author, some editions; Author, some editions — 25 copies
The Wrong Turning: Encounters with Ghosts (2021) — Contributor — 13 copies
The Brother [VHS] — Based on work — 1 copy

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"The Best of Myles" by Flann O'Brien in One Book One Thread (February 2020)

Reviews

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-short-fiction-of-flann-obrien/

It’s a short collection of short pieces by the great man. The most interesting stuff is at the beginning, where he pokes fun at Irish language enthusiasts in a couple of pieces originally written in Irish (and heavily footnoted to explain the humour). Most of the middle section is material being tried out for deployment elsewhere (the story about the young man who was born for Ireland gets used twice).

At the end, Jack Fennell presents a story which he is certain is by a 21-year-old Flann O’Brien, and published in 1932 in, of all places, Hugo Gernsback’s Amazing Stories – “Naval Control”, as by “John Shamus O’Donnell”. He has argued the case further in a recent Journey Planet, and I for one am convinced. How glorious, that Gernsback may have published the future author of The Third Policeman!

To be honest, I think this is really a book for Flann O’Brien completists, but there are a lot of us about, and it comes with a good foreword and scholarly apparatus.
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nwhyte | 2 other reviews | Mar 24, 2024 |
This is a hilarious satire which parodies the typical Gaeltacht memoirs published in Ireland after 1922. These books were a mandatory part of the Irish school curriculum and those who went to high school in Ireland in the '80s will forever remember [b:Peig: The Autobiograpy of Peig Sayers of the Great Blasket Island|1998679|Peig The Autobiograpy of Peig Sayers of the Great Blasket Island|Peig Sayers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1447275760l/1998679._SY75_.jpg|671229]. The hardship of life in these remote regions was real, but the Irish have their own unique way of describing it. Tragedy doesn't seem all that bad, because in the end "Shur it'll all be grand". Flann O' Brien takes this to a whole new level in this extremely amusing parody.

Anois caithfidh mé an leagan Gaeilge, [b:An Béal Bocht|1638992|An Béal Bocht|Myles na gCopaleen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1356154219l/1638992._SY75_.jpg|969563] le [a:Myles na gCopaleen|757952|Myles na gCopaleen|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png], a léamh. Fuair mé sa phoist é inné agus tá mé ag súil leis é a chur i gcomparáid leis an aistriúchán Béarla.

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amurray914 | 18 other reviews | Feb 27, 2024 |
‘The Poor Mouth’ is a scathing yet amusing satire squarely aimed at the narratives and custodians of Gaelic Ireland, complete with endless rain, countless meals of potatoes and house shares with sheep and pigs. The protagonist, Bonaparte O’Coonassa, lives in the fictitious village of Corkadoragha where he ambles through a poverty stricken yet mildly philosophical and content life. This is a short, enjoyable read that immerses you in a beautiful, simple yet ridiculous tale which pulsates with Irishness. Without having read O’Brien’s other works yet, I’ve gleaned that this is only moderately surreal in comparison but it was still evidence of skilful writing and a risk-taking, experimental style that made for an engaging read. I’ll definitely be reading his others!… (more)
 
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Dzaowan | 18 other reviews | Feb 15, 2024 |
Another of the books I read twenty or more years ago. I read a lot of Flann O'Brien then and particularly enjoyed the collections of his journalism, but hadn't looked at any of his work since. I can say that I liked The Third Policeman just as much as the first time I read it, but with more years behind me see completely different things in it. Then it was a comic, absurd fantasy; now it reads as a much darker, surreal piece. The comedy is still there - the way bicycles and their riders start becoming more alike over the years - but it underpins what is essentially a vision of some sort of hell. There is a certain ornateness to the language which adds to the darkly comic feel, and it's certainly a book worth reading more than once.… (more)
 
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petermt | 121 other reviews | Dec 18, 2023 |

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