"And you would be flabbergasted at the number of bicycles that are half-human"

Salon celebrates St. Patrick's Day with a tribute to Ireland's greatest author, the late Flann O'Brien.

Comments

dhex | March 17, 2005, 5:02pm | #

i know this makes me a jerk, but i don't think flann o'brien is that funny. i kinda fell asleep during the third policeman.

Jesse Walker | March 17, 2005, 6:42pm | #

To each his own. I think it may be the funniest novel ever written.

Gary Gunnels | March 17, 2005, 7:42pm | #

Ireland's greatest author? You are ought of your fucking mind Walker.

Warren | March 17, 2005, 7:55pm | #

No shit Jesse. Ever read any Wilde?

Jesse Walker | March 17, 2005, 8:04pm | #

Of course I've read Wilde, along with Yeats, Joyce, Shaw, Swift, and the others. Of the big names, I suppose Swift would come closest to O'Brien in my eccentric personal pantheon.

Any other Mervyn Wall fans out there? The Unfortunate Fursey is a brilliant book.

Warren | March 17, 2005, 8:43pm | #

Swift was a boob, elevated to the literary pantheon by illiterate masses who mistake vulgar caricature for witty eloquence.

Gary Gunnels | March 17, 2005, 9:04pm | #

Warren,

Well, Swift was mostly a prose satirist and journalist, so I think lumping him in with folks Joyce is incorrect. My favorite writings by Swift are The Battle of the Books and A Tale of a Tub.

Gary Gunnels | March 17, 2005, 9:07pm | #

Warren,

Anyway, I await your attack on the work of the greatest English poet: Alexander Pope. :)

Jesse Walker | March 17, 2005, 9:11pm | #

Swift was the forefather of Twain, Bierce, and Mencken. Wilde was the forefather of Robert Smith and Morrissey. I think the choice is clear.

(I kid, I kid. Wilde's OK.)

Enderby | March 17, 2005, 9:16pm | #

But the Greatest Irishman of All Time is, hands down, Arthur Guinness. Grant me that one, me boyos.

Gary Gunnels | March 17, 2005, 9:19pm | #

Enderby,

Brilliant!

Enderby | March 17, 2005, 9:22pm | #

Gary,

Cheers, mate!

dhex | March 17, 2005, 10:47pm | #

"To each his own. I think it may be the funniest novel ever written."

maybe it's because my edition had a foreward which spoiled the big surprise without any forewarning.

rather forward of it, really.

Andrew | March 18, 2005, 11:38am | #

Fans of Flann O'Brien (particularly The Third Policeman) should investigate his modern imitator Robert Rankin. Start with the Brentford Trilogy.

Enderby | March 18, 2005, 8:14pm | #

Beg to disagree, Andrew, but a true Eirephile should start with a pint o' Guinness.

Fuck green beer!