July 09, 2008

More Flann O’Brien Coverage

 

With the release of his complete novels by Random House’s “Everyman Library” Flann O’Brien is getting renewed attention. Roger Boylan begins his Boston Review article…

“‘If we don’t cherish the work of Flann O’Brien,’ said Anthony Burgess, the late English novelist (he of A Clockwork Orange and Earthly Powers), ‘we are stupid fools who don’t deserve to have great men.’ Burgess can rest in peace on that score, at least. Flann O’Brien’s work is becoming about as cherished as avant-garde literature can ever expect to be, and not just among the cognoscenti. Flann O’Brien is chic…

If you subscribe to the New York Review of Books, you may also want to look at John Banville’s 1999 piece on O’Brien’s At Swim-Two-Birds and Anthony Cronin’s biography No Laughing Matter: The Life and Times of Flann O’Brien. Or really, don’t bother, just hop over to Dalkey Archive and pick up a copy of At Swim-Two-Birds and read that as soon as you can (save the bulky Everyman’s edition for the library) and be among the “chic.”

Comments

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I am proud to be able to truthfully state that I discovered O’Brien at a time when he was neither popular nor profitable, courtesy of my teacher in Irish. I’m eternally grateful to him (my teacher) for that.

    – Johan Anglemark (07/09 01:44 PM)



Perhaps I’m an idiot or my brain had some temporary, undiagnosed malady at the time, but I didn’t find “At Swim Two Birds” funny or very enjoyable. Am I the only one? I’m fairly well read and rarely go against the grain regarding ostensibly acknowledged classics, but I didn’t find much to laugh at in the book. I’d like to check out The Third Policeman.

    – Jacob S. (07/09 06:19 PM)



Jacob S. should definitely read The Third Policeman. It should really be read before At Swim Two Birds to fully appreciate the author’s unique talents. At Swim Two Birds is quite a difficult book but easier, I think, if you have read Flann O’Brien before - inoculated, so to speak.

The Third Policeman is a surrealist (bordering on the sinister, at times) fusion of classic(?) Irish fantastical writing with an irreverant layman’s introduction to particle physics.

I was captivated by it.

    – Julian Kaye (07/22 03:46 PM)



It may require something of a knowledge of the culture or type of literature it is sending up, but The Poor Mouth is much more in the way of pure humour than his more serious other works, & certainly hilarious.

    – Andrew Kenneally (08/03 05:19 PM)


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"More Flann O’Brien Coverage" was posted July 09, 2008 and written by Bud Parr.

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Recent Comments

Hi Bud,

This is so bittersweet to read. I wish U of Penn more than luck in tackling the collection and making an exhibit for the books. I can’t wait to see the store again. I used to work at Gotham (all too) briefly, from the summer of 2001 to the fall of 2002 when I was 19 and in school for illustration. The building, the books, and especially the people (I had amazing co-workers, plus some really lovely customers) have a special place in my heart. I’m was hoping the link would mention Andreas (Andy) Brown, the last owner of GBM, but no such luck.

I was going to venture a guess that if the old man you met at the store was a GBM employee it might have been Phillip Lyman, but my understanding was Mr. Lyman was notoriously well-read (and had substantial library himself) so I suppose he would not have been reading Dante for the first time when you met him. More likely it was one of our splendid customers. It happened more than once that one customer on the floor would ask me about an author or title and I would meet them with my perfectly hopeless stare ‘n stammer—until another customer that had overheard the plea would effortlessly proffer the desired answer or suggestion. I learned so much working there, from everyone, but was a pretty useless specimen while the learning percolated. One of the more useful employees (our resident poetry expert) recently got a shout-out over at the New Yorker’s book blog after being made famous at the splendiferous Kwik Meal #1 cart:

New Yorker Link

One more book nerdy bit before I cut off the nostalgia trip. The above-mentioned Marc was the first person to Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino in my hands; I read it up in the 2nd floor gallery on my lunch breaks (lunch from Kwik Meal #1, of course), surrounded by art books and Edward Gorey paraphernalia. That book took (and takes, I’ve re-read it many times) me so many places, but when I’m lucky it takes me back to Gotham’s gallery, by the 2nd floor window where the constant refrain of the gold and diamond sellers coming in through the window mingled with the dulcet tones of NPR from a radio bigger than a microwave and the smell of old paper—all unchanged almost more than a decade later. At least in my mind. It’s still one of my favorite books (and authors), ever. Marc also blessed me with recommendations of Wallace Stevens’ Palm At The End of the Mind, Moby Dick with the Rockwell Kent illustrations, and my first ever NYC apartment: a little studio over in Astoria, Queens. Everyone at that store was overflowing and generous with knowledge, stories and history.

Places like Gotham do more than provide fodder for sentimental blog comment drivel though; I hope the lessons learned from the ongoing troubles are shaping a new generation of booksellers and customers that can find ways to thrive. Bookstores don’t belong in museums. Wise men fish there.

– (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
on “Well That's That”


Best wishes for the holidays, Bud.

I used to work in the Pan Am/Met Life Building in Manhattan.  I would walk over to Gotham at lunch and browse, browse, browse.  Books were the only thing I ever bought on that stree.  It’s a shame it’s gone.  Thanks for the update for those of us no longer living in NYC.  Atlanta is not so much a book haven.

Best,
Jim H.

– Jim H.
on “Well That's That”


Yeah, for all of our technology - which is great - I mean you and I are talking about this from two ends of the country - but there’s nothing like being there.

– Bud Parr
on “Well That's That”