At Swim-Two-Birds

Synopsis

Widely regarded as one of the greatest Irish novels of the twentieth century, At Swim-Two-Birds is a brilliantly inventive comic masterpiece that gleefully dismantles the conventions of storytelling. Its narrator, a lazy Dublin student more interested in sleeping, drinking, and reading than studying, begins writing a novel about a mediocre author whose own fictional characters grow tired of his treatment and decide to rebel. As myths, legends, cowboys, devils, and literary figures collide, stories nest within stories in an exhilarating celebration of imagination.

Wildly funny, formally groundbreaking, and endlessly playful, At Swim-Two-Birds challenged ideas about what a novel could be and went on to influence generations of writers, from Anthony Burgess to Salman Rushdie. A landmark of modern Irish literature, it remains as fresh and inventive today as when it was first published.

About the Author

Flann O'Brien was the pen name of Brian O'Nolan (1911–1966), one of Ireland's most original novelists, satirists, and newspaper columnists. Best known for At Swim-Two-Birds and The Third Policeman, his work combines surreal humour, philosophical wit, and formal experimentation, securing his place as one of the great innovators of twentieth-century fiction.

Publisher
Dalkey Archive Press

Publication Date
March 31, 2020

Format
Paperback

Pages
224

Subjects
Classics · Literary Fiction · Irish Literature · Satire · Experimental Fiction

ISBN
9781628973884