- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Flamingo; (Reissue) edition (11 Oct 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0586089535
- ISBN-13: 978-0586089538
- Product Dimensions: 20 x 12.9 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 473,515 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
It is increasingly clear that O'Brien is Ireland's finest novelist after Joyce.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Considered by the author to be almost a work of science fiction, the book includes among its "characters" St Augustine, James Joyce and a man who is in danger of turning into a bicycle. There is also the first published portrait of the mad scientist, who was later to achieve fame as de Selby.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Dalkey Archive is a risky read - you risk never reaching for anything that O'Brien wrote again. He did not write that much but still it would be a pity to miss out At Swim-Two-Birds or The Third Policeman. Archive is a spin-off of the latter novel. Coherent, funny at places but it is more of sustained effort than tour-de-force which you have all the rights to expect from O'Brien.
There is little of plot here - two young Irish gentlemen meet by chance a mad scientist and having learned about his plan to annihilate humanity try to stop him from doing so. Characters as different as St Augustine and James Joyce make cameo appearances but they add little to the slim plot. The sad facts of the case are that O'Brien failed to make the expected splash with his first novel, his second wasn't even published and he went on making a brilliant career as a satirical columnist. When twenty years later At Swim-Two-Birds was resurrected and hailed as the first post-modern novel, he tried to go back to writing fiction but with little artistic success. And yet this is a classic so why not give it a chance?
There is little of plot here - two young Irish gentlemen meet by chance a mad scientist and having learned about his plan to annihilate humanity try to stop him from doing so. Characters as different as St Augustine and James Joyce make cameo appearances but they add little to the slim plot. The sad facts of the case are that O'Brien failed to make the expected splash with his first novel, his second wasn't even published and he went on making a brilliant career as a satirical columnist. When twenty years later At Swim-Two-Birds was resurrected and hailed as the first post-modern novel, he tried to go back to writing fiction but with little artistic success. And yet this is a classic so why not give it a chance?
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Dalkey Archives is essentially a portrait of the insane philosopher/mad professor De Selby, so often referred to in the extended footnotes of O' Brien's opus The Third Policeman.
The book's more satirical elements never impinge on the laughs to be had from the farcical expolits of De Selby in his twisted plot to deprive the work of oxygen.
Read The Third Policeman and then this. You will be extremely pleased.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you have read "The Third Policeman" then you do not need to read this. If you have not read "The Third Policeman" then do so because it is much much better then this. My understanding is that the 3rd PC was never published during the author's life and so he plundered some gold from it to inject some fizz into what is a pretty lacklustre affair.
Two stars simply for the gold stuff about the bicycles.
Two stars simply for the gold stuff about the bicycles.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
