Flann O'Brien

Hailed as the paramount expression of metafiction and Irish culture, and uproariously funny and inventive, At Swim-Two-Birds has influenced generations of writers, broadening the possibilities of what can be done in ficiton. This comic novel is the story of a loafing and inebriated Dublin-based university student who composes a mischief-filled novel about a protagonist doomed to fail as a writer. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.

At Swim-Two-Birds

With the publication of The Third Policeman, Dalkey Archive Press now has all of O'Brien's fiction back in print.

The Third Policeman

"Wit, humor, satire, the exact fall of a Dublin syllable, the ear for the local turn, the flight of fancy that can spin into a Dublin joke or a Limerick limerick all these are his." The New York Times

The Dalkey Archive

"O'Brien was one of the comic geniuses of the 20th century . . . The Poor Mouth is wildly funny and Steadman's drawings catch the spirit." Boston Globe

A Bad Story about the Hard Life

The Poor Mouth

A comic look at Irish life. The narrator is Finbarr, an orphan raised amid the odor of good whisky and bad cooking. With a mixture of admiration and unease he watches his brother, Manus, turn into a young man of business, successful enough to move to England.

An Exegesis of Squalor

The Hard Life

Ücüncü Polis

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 Ó Nualláin, (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

Le narrateur de Swim-Two-Birds est un jeune étudiant irlandais qui vit à Dublin en compagnie de son oncle et préfère aller au pub avec ses amis plutôt que de travailler. À partir de ce simple argument commence l'histoire la plus folle, la plus cocasse, la plus joyeuse. Ou plutôt les histoires : car notre étudiant en écrit lui-même, où il invente des courses-poursuites entre policiers irlandais et Indiens d'Amérique, des femmes qui donnent naissance à des adultes, et autres extravagances. Roman à tiroirs, aventures à l'intérieur des aventures, toutes plus folles les unes que les autres. Premier roman de Flann O'Brien (1911-1966), Swim-Two-Birds, publié en Irlande en 1939, y est un roman aussi célèbre et aimé que l'Ulysse de Joyce. Véritable bacchanale d'humour, de farce, de fantaisie et d'intelligence, Swim-Two-Birds est présenté ici dans une nouvelle traduction, qui rend justice à son génie.

Swim-two-birds

A compilation of five novels by one of the leading novelists of modern Irish literature features such works as "At Swim-Two-Birds," "The Third Policeman," and "The Poor Mouth."

The Complete Novels

When The Best of Myles was published in 1968, it was hailed (by S. J. Perelman among others) as one of the supreme comic achievements of the English language. Now, in response to the clamorous demands of men of science and the arts, men of steam, of straw and of the law, comes Further Cuttings from Cruiskeen Lawn. Flann O'Brien adopted the name "Myles na Gopaleen" for the hilarious Cruiskeen Lawn column which he wrote for The Irish Times from 1940-1966. Whereas The Best of Myles covered the first five years of the column's life, this companion edition covers the period from 1947-1957. Here can be found the true transcripts of Myles's clashes with the law courts on charges of larceny, currency offenses, marrying without the consent of his parents, gang warfare, and using bad language; here too are bizarre obituaries, bores, banalities, jovialities and immoralities, and the return of the preposterous Brother. Also included is the first-ever Myles article.

From Cruiskeen Lawn

Further Cuttings

An unprecedented gathering of the correspondence of one of the great writers of twentieth century, the Collected Letters of Flann O'Brien presents an intimate look into the life and thought of Brian O'Nolan, a prolific author of novels, stories, sketches, and journalism who famously wrote and presented works to the reading public under a variety of pseudonyms. Spanning the years 1934 to 1966, these compulsively readable letters show us O'Nolan, or O'Brien, or Myles Na gCopaleen--or whatever his name may be--at his most cantankerous and most intimate.

The Collected Letters of Flann O'Brien

A Further Selection from "Cruiskeen Lawn"

The Hair of the Dogma

A Further Selection from 'Cruiskeen Lawn'

This riotous collection at last gathers together an expansive selection of Flann O'Brien's shorter fiction in a single volume, as well as O'Brien's last and unfinished novel, Slattery's Sago Saga. Also included are new translations of several stories originally published in Irish, and other rare pieces. With some of these stories appearing here in book form for the very first time, and others previously unavailable for decades, Short Fiction is a welcome gift for every Flann O'Brien fan worldwide.

Short Fiction of Flann O'Brien

Neil Murphy

Keith Hopper

Presents a collection of short stories and part of an unfinished novel by the Irish writer.

John Wyse Jackson

A wonderfully funny collection of writings taken from the pen of Flann O'Brien, originating in periodicals and newspapers long lain in obscurity.

Myles Before Myles

Stories and Plays

Questo romanzo rivelò Flann O’Brien nel 1939, l’anno di "Finnegans Wake" (e Joyce riconobbe subito in lui «un vero scrittore»). Oggi sappiamo che con questo libro cominciava a spuntare un nuovo, inconfondibile ramo nel grande albero irlandese della follia e della letteratura. Ma Flann O’Brien, bisogna aggiungere, non somiglia che a se stesso. «Come Dio, occorre definirlo con una tautologia» scrisse di lui Anthony Burgess. I non pochi lettori che hanno già amato "Il terzo poliziotto" ritroveranno qui il sapore di un singolare, allarmante humour nero, surreale e iperreale, imperturbabile nella sua capacità di sconvolgere a ogni passo le carte dell’immaginazione. Non sarebbe urbano chiedere a qualcuno di raccontare la trama di un romanzo di Flann O’Brien. Basterà quindi dire, per chiarire le cose, che si tratta di un romanzo-dentro-un-romanzo-dentro-un-romanzo, che è esilarante, che contiene parodie di un vasto numero di generi letterari – dalla poesia dei bardi gaelici alla disputa erudita – e che Dylan Thomas lo consigliava come «il libro giusto da regalare alla propria sorella se è una sporca ubriacona chiassosa». Infine: è un romanzo di alto virtuosismo linguistico, che ha avuto la fortuna di trovare in Italia il traduttore più congeniale che si potesse escogitare, per estro e umori: J. Rodolfo Wilcock. Alla fine di queste pagine, il lettore non mancherà di assentire pensosamente alle parole di Graham Greene: «Ho letto questo libro con passione e divertendomi dall’inizio alla fine, oltre che con quella specie di esultanza che si prova a teatro quando qualcuno sfascia delle porcellane sulla scena».

Flann O'Brien

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