Flann O'Brien
Flann O'Brien, born Brian O'Nolan in 1911 in Strabane, Ireland, was a multifaceted literary figure known for his novels, journalism, plays, and criticism. Fluent in both Irish and English, O'Brien's early education and background in Irish literature heavily influenced his writing style. His debut novel, *At Swim-Two-Birds*, published in 1939, is celebrated for its innovative narrative structure and satirical take on the conventions of realistic fiction, though it initially met with limited success. Following his first novel, he penned *The Third Policeman*, which showcased a shift toward a more accessible narrative but remained unpublished during his lifetime, only appearing in 1967.
O'Brien's subsequent works, including *The Poor Mouth*, a parody of life in the Irish Gaeltacht, garnered him some recognition, yet he struggled financially throughout his career. Despite his talents, O'Brien faced obstacles such as the pressures of making a living through writing, chronic illness, and alcoholism. His later works, like *The Hard Life* and *The Dalkey Archive*, reflected a departure from his earlier experimental style towards more conventional realism. Although his career did not consistently mirror the promise of his debut, O'Brien's unique voice and creative genius continue to resonate with readers and critics alike, marking him as a significant figure in Irish literature.
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Subject Terms
Flann O'Brien
Irish novelist
- Born: October 5, 1911
- Birthplace: Strabane, Ireland
- Died: April 1, 1966
- Place of death: Dublin, Ireland
Biography
Flann O’Brien had as many names as writing styles. As a novelist, journalist, playwright, critic, and short-story writer, he was known as Myles na Gopaleen, Brother Barnabus, the Great Count O’Blather, John James Doe, and George Knowall. Born Brian O’Nolan in Strabane, Ireland, on October 5, 1911, he was the third of twelve children. Because his father’s job required travel, the O’Nolans moved from Strabane to Dublin several times before they finally settled in Dublin in 1923. It was there that O’Brien began his formal education, a process he found neither challenging nor enjoyable. {$S[A]O’Nolan, Brian[ONolan, Brian];O’Brien, Flann}{$S[A]Gopaleen, Myles na;O’Brien, Flann}{$S[A]Barnabus, Brother;O’Brien, Flann}{$S[A]O’Blather, Great Count[OBlather, Great Count];O’Brien, Flann}{$S[A]Doe, John James;O’Brien, Flann}{$S[A]Knowall, George;O’Brien, Flann}
His family spoke both Irish and English, and O’Brien was fluent in both languages. As a student at University College, Dublin, he majored in Celtic studies, writing his master’s thesis on modern Irish poetry. During this time, O’Brien also wrote his first novel, At Swim-Two-Birds. His background in Irish literature profoundly influenced his first novel, often referred to as an antinovel. Although critically acclaimed as a landmark in comic creativity when it was published in 1939, it had little popular success.
After finishing college, O’Brien worked as a civil servant. As Myles na Gopaleen, he also began writing a column for the Irish Times, “The Cruiskeen Lawn.” Despite his busy schedule, by 1940 O’Brien had written The Third Policeman, the tale of a surreal journey through Hell. This novel marks a significant change in his style. He imposes a less convoluted structure on the novel, making the plot easier to follow, and he begins to move away from the literary devices that set At Swim-Two-Birds apart from the mainstream. Nevertheless, he could not convince his publisher that The Third Policeman would be more accessible to a wide audience than his first novel, and a disheartened O’Brien hid the unpublished manuscript, fabricating tales of its loss. It was not published until 1967, after his death.
Despite his disappointment, O’Brien quickly wrote his third novel, this one in Irish. The Poor Mouth, published in Irish in 1941 and eventually translated into English in 1973, is a brilliant parody of a memoir of life in western Ireland’s Gaeltacht region, where the old ways still flourished. Ironically, although he directed the parody at the Gaelic revivalists who idealized the old ways, the revivalists were his main audience, as they were the few who still had an interest in the Irish language.
Discouraged that his novels did not bring him financial success, O’Brien did not write another for twenty years. During the interim he wrote a trio of plays, several short stories, and articles for a variety of publications. Commercial success eluded him, although his column for the Irish Times brought him local fame.
When O’Brien retired from civil service in 1953, he still did not return to novel writing. Instead, in addition to writing “The Cruiskeen Lawn,” he tried his hand at everything from a television play to formula detective stories. Trying to find a more satisfying and dependable way to support himself, he also sought unsuccessfully several positions at Trinity College.
When At Swim-Two-Birds was republished in 1960, it finally brought O’Brien recognition and inspired him to write his last two novels. The Hard Life and The Dalkey Archive were nothing like his first three novels. Looking for an audience, O’Brien exchanged the literary traditions he knew best for realism, a tool he had neither the training nor literary spirit to ply skillfully. Despite the weaknesses in these last two novels, O’Brien had finally achieved some popularity when he died of cancer in 1966.
O’Brien established his genius in At Swim-Two-Birds, his satiric, distinctively Irish fantasy that mocks the popular conventions of the realistic novel. He incorporates a multitude of styles, characters, settings, and fictive devices—many drawn directly from Irish literary tradition—in a box-within-a-box narrative. The narrator, a college student, writes about the novelist Dermot Trellis, who impregnates one of his characters, causing her to give birth to a son, Orlick, who is also a writer. By promptly breaking each reality he establishes, the author ridicules the impertinent notion that a writer should try to fool the audience into taking fiction too literally. In one short novel, O’Brien manages to lay bare and make vulnerable the literary devices that writers of realism use to bring fiction to life. In exposing the inner workings of the contemporary realistic novel, O’Brien revels in the very nature of fiction, forcing the reader to join him.
With each novel, O’Brien moved further away from his Irish roots and toward realism. However, because he had already skillfully exposed realism’s mechanisms, revealing modern literary conventions for the tricks they are, his attempts to remask them in the later novels render those works less than convincing.
There has been much speculation about O’Brien’s creative decline. The strain of trying to make a living at his art certainly took its toll. Naill Sheridan, a close friend of O’Brien, suggested that O’Brien’s long career as a journalist may have scattered and drained his energy, leaving him unable to focus on writing seriously. O’Brien also spent much of his later life plagued by increasingly debilitating alcoholism and chronic illness, which blunted his creativity. Although his career did not fulfill the promise of his first novel, appreciative audiences still recognize O’Brien as a writer whose creative genius surfaced often and powerfully, if not consistently.
Bibliography
Asbee, Sue. Flann O’Brien. Boston: Twayne, 1991. This volume includes a chapter of biography followed by solid discussion of O’Brien’s major prose fiction. Includes chronology, notes, and an annotated bibliography.
Clissmann, Anne. Flann O’Brien: A Critical Introduction to His Writings. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1975. An exhaustive discussion of all the author’s writings in English, with lengthy chapters on the major novels. Contains a bibliography.
Clissmann, Anne, and David Powell, eds. “A Flann O’Brien-Myles na Gopaleen Number.” Journal of Irish Studies 3 (January, 1974). A special issue devoted to O’Brien’s work. Contains juvenilia, stories, critical essays on O’Brien, and the texts of two of his short plays. Also includes a selection of O’Brien’s letters and a valuable checklist of his publications.
Clune, Anne, and Tess Hurson, eds. Conjuring Complexities: Essays on Flann O’Brien. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen’s University of Belfast, 1997. A solid volume of critical essays on O’Brien’s work. Includes bibliographical references and an index.
Cronin, Anthony. No Laughing Matter. London: Grafton, 1989. As close as there is likely to be to a conventional biography of the complex and somewhat reclusive O’Brien. The focus is on the man, rather than on the work, and some little-known personal details illustrate the narrative. A thorough treatment of a difficult subject.
O’Keeffe, Timothy, ed. Myles: Portraits of Brian O’Nolan. London: Martin Brian and O’Keeffe, 1973. An invaluable source of biographical information and critical commentary on O’Brien. Contains reminiscences by friends, colleagues, and one of the author’s brothers. Among the critical commentaries, the essay by J. C. C. Mays, “Flann O’Brien: Literalist of the Imagination,” stands out.
Shea, Thomas F. Flann O’Brien’s Exorbitant Novels. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1992. A chapter on early experiments followed by discussions of O’Brien’s major fiction. Includes notes and bibliography.