Chekhov's Mistress
Considering Flann O’Brien
In honor of the recent release of his collected works (in one volume) Joseph O’Neill considers the life and work of Flann O’Brien, author of At Swim-Two-Birds and The Third Policeman among others:
“At Swim-Two-Birds laughingly trashes the assumptions that stabilize the relationship between reader and novel, creator and created, original and derivative, imagined and actual, highbrow and lowbrow, and just about any other binary opposite conventionally applicable to fiction: by any standards, a thorough deconstruction. If you’re considering writing a novel that you think might be clever about novels, read At Swim-Two-Birds and consider how stupid you may look by comparison.”
comments
Hah! Another love/hate relationship in my world of classics! You’ve taught me, Bud, to take it past the first fifty pages and find the goodness and with At Swim Two Birds, I did. Just as with Faulkner and Joyce.
I believe ASTB prepared me for books like Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveler that I thoroughly enjoyed as one of the most exciting novels I’ve read as a writer.
– susan (05/29 at 05:44 AM)
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About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: May 28, 2008
- Filed Under:
Wise Men Fish Here: Literature
- Comments:1
- Links to this Post: Technorati
