Flann O'Brien's innovative metafictional work, whose unruly characters strike out their own paths in life to the frustration of their author, At Swim-Two-Birds is a brilliant impressionistic jumble of ideas, mythology and nonsense published in Penguin Modern Classics. Flann O'Brien's first novel tells the story of a young, indolent undergraduate, who lives with his curmudgeonly uncle in Dubin and spends far too much time drinking with his friends. When not drunk or in bed he likes to invent wild stories peoples with ...
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Flann O'Brien's innovative metafictional work, whose unruly characters strike out their own paths in life to the frustration of their author, At Swim-Two-Birds is a brilliant impressionistic jumble of ideas, mythology and nonsense published in Penguin Modern Classics. Flann O'Brien's first novel tells the story of a young, indolent undergraduate, who lives with his curmudgeonly uncle in Dubin and spends far too much time drinking with his friends. When not drunk or in bed he likes to invent wild stories peoples with hilarious and unlikely characters - but somehow his creations won't do what he wants them to. A dazzling work of farce, satire, folklore and absurdity that gives full rein to its author's dancing intellect and Celtic wit, At Swim-Two-Birds is both a brilliant comic send-up of Irish literature and culture, and a portrayal of Dublin to compare with Joyce's Ulysses. Brian ??? Nuall???in, (1911-1966), better known by his pseudonym Flann O'Brien, was born in Strabane, County Tyrone, and studied at University College Dublin before joining the Irish Civil Service. Ifyou enjoyed At Swim-Two-Birds, you might like Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'This is just the book to give your sister if she's a loud, dirty, boozy girl' Dylan Thomas 'That's a real writer, with the true comic spirit' James Joyce, author of Ulysses 'A brilliant, beer-soaked miniature masterpiece' Time
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influenced by Joyce (who praised him), O'Brien's work is more accessible and more weighted toward the comic. This is unquestionably his masterpiece, though that doesn't mean to put it on a stodgy pedestal. It's literate but loopy, fun in the rich pile-on of authorial devices that anticipated and influenced what has come to be known as metafiction. I confess to having read it 3 times in the past 40 years; in my case a poor memory enabled me to enjoy it all over again.
