false<![CDATA[The Complete Novels]]>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180144068m/1003981.jpg10039812Flann O’Brien, along with Joyce and Beckett, is part of the holy trinity of modern Irish literature. His five novels -- collected here in one volume -- are a monument to his inspired lunacy and gleefully demented genius.
O’Brien’s masterpiece, At Swim-Two-Birds, is an exuberant literary send-up and one of the funniest novels of the twentieth century. The novel’s narrator is writing a novel about another man writing a novel, in a Celtic knot of interlocking stories. The riotous cast of characters includes figures “stolen” from Gaelic legends, along with assorted students, fairies, ordinary Dubliners, and cowboys, some of whom try to break free of their author’s control and destroy him.
The narrator of The Third Policeman, who has forgotten his name, is a student of philosophy who has committed murder and wanders into a surreal hell where he encounters such oddities as the ghost of his victim, three policeman who experiment with space and time, and his own soul (who is named “Joe”).
The Poor Mouth, a bleakly hilarious portrait of peasants in a village dominated by pigs, potatoes, and endless rain, is a giddy parody aimed at those who would romanticize Gaelic culture. A naïve young orphan narrates the deadpan farce The Hard Life, and The Dalkey Archive is an outrageous satiric fantasy featuring a mad scientist who uses relativity to age his whiskey, a policeman who believes men can turn into bicycles, and an elderly, bar-tending James Joyce.9901102007The Complete Novelstotal:39|5:20|4:14|3:5|2:0|1:0|391711131642falsefalseSun Jan 25 07:24:29 -0800 2009Sun Jan 25 08:01:23 -0800 2009
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31falsefalseWed Mar 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009Tue Oct 07 10:54:43 -0700 2008Wed Mar 18 12:54:39 -0700 2009
At-Swim-Two-Birds.
-- This book took me quite awhile to get into. Having read The Third Policeman, I was expecting to be blown away from page one. However, O'Brien did nothing but set the stage for confusion and puzzlement!
I was no expert at Irish Literature and ...more...]]>
00falsefalseMon Mar 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008Wed Jan 21 15:47:29 -0800 2009Wed Jan 21 15:51:36 -0800 2009
STOP SMILING review of The Complete Novels of Flann O'Brien.
Flann O’Brien, the pen name of Brian O’Nolan, was 11 in 1922, the year Ulysses was published. O’Brien distinguishes himself from the lot who comprise the Sons O’Joyce as one of the first, and one of the best; no t...more...]]>
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00falsefalseSun Jan 04 14:53:38 -0800 2009Tue Jan 06 10:18:39 -0800 2009
The Third Policeman, but nothing else in this collection of five novels. Hopefully, over the next few years, I'll read the rest, but I'm not in a big rush.
As for The Third Policeman, I really enjoyed it, although is it a bit obstuse and absurd--the key to it is remembering that...more...]]>
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The Third Policeman so far, which is quite good and quite funny. Due to time and geography I guess a comparison to Joyce and Beckett is inevitable, but I gotta say this is nothing like what I've read of either. It actually struck me as a less didactic G. K. Chesterton, particularly ...more...]]>
30falsefalseMon Aug 25 18:26:22 -0700 2008Tue Aug 19 09:39:11 -0700 2008Mon Aug 25 18:26:22 -0700 2008 As a bonus, ...more...]]>
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At-Swim-Two-Birds Was considering skipping The Third Policeman, since I read it last year, but I guess I'm partying hard with this book. WOOOOOO.]]>
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