false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170533321m/59642.jpg 59642 13 Hailed as "the best comic fantasy since <i>Tristram Shandy</i>" upon its publication in 1964, <i>The Dalkey Archive</i> is Flann O'Brien's fifth and final novel; or rather (as O'Brien wrote to his editor), "The book is not meant to be a novel or anything of the kind but a study in derision, various writers with their styles, and sundry modes, attitudes and cults being the rats in the cage." Among the targets of O'Brien's derision are religiosity, intellectual abstractions, J. W. Dunne's and Albert Einstein's views on time and relativity, and the lives and works of Saint Augustine and James Joyce, both of whom have speaking parts in the novel. Bewildering? Yes, but as O'Brien insists, "a measure of bewilderment is part of the job of literature."<br><br><br>Set in the late 1940s in the village of Dalkey (some twelve miles south of Dublin), <i>The Dalkey Archive</i> also includes in its cast the mad scientist De Selby (featured in O'Brien's novel <i>The Third Policeman</i>), the magniloquent Sergeant Fottrell (whose "molly-cule theory" holds that a man can turn into a bicycle), and the local da Vinci, a looderamawn named Teague McGettigan. Doing his damnedest to find order in this metaphysical chaos is Mick Shaughnessy, who--with the aid of strong drink, his friend Hackett, and Mary, the young woman for whom they both compete--undergoes a crisis of faith both sublime and ridiculous. 969591 book 1964 The Dalkey Archive (Irish Literature Series) total:202|5:49|4:74|3:66|2:12|1:1| 202 764 295 15 4 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 00:01:17 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 00:03:18 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 29 03:03:48 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 14 05:49:06 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Oct 25 23:29:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 23:33:03 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Feb 24 21:20:45 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 21:20:45 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Feb 07 06:55:36 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 07 06:55:36 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1991 Sat Nov 10 07:58:31 -0800 2007 Sat Nov 10 08:04:52 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 13:53:49 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 13:56:57 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Aug 19 05:51:19 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 19 06:07:16 -0700 2008 The third policeman -- The Dalkey Archive have some interesting moments, mainly the autobiographic character that crosses the book. De Selby - recurrent personage - and the bicycles are here to guarante...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jan 30 00:32:14 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 23:21:25 -0800 2008 The Third Policeman. Not to say it's not diverting and funny, it's just not vintage O'Brien.]]> 4 0 false false Thu May 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 29 23:22:34 -0700 2008 Thu May 29 23:05:09 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Wed Feb 27 12:21:16 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 12:22:38 -0800 2008 3 0 true false Thu Sep 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 21:18:31 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 18 12:26:36 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Thu Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Tue Mar 11 07:49:37 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 16 09:51:04 -0700 2009 1 2 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 19 20:47:27 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 05 14:23:53 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Wed Jul 15 06:03:42 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 05:58:42 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 06:09:37 -0700 2009 ]]> 4 0 false false Thu Nov 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 20 05:10:43 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 20 05:11:08 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Tue Nov 17 12:53:57 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 17 12:53:57 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Nov 13 19:12:23 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 25 13:18:29 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 12 10:27:56 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 10:27:56 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Tue Nov 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 19:12:17 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 19:12:46 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=59642