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At Swim-two-birds (Penguin Modern Classics)
 
 

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At Swim-two-birds (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

by Flann O'Brien (Author) "Having placed in my mouth sufficient bread for three minutes' chewing, I withdrew my powers of sensual perception and retired into the privacy of my..." (more)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (24 Feb 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141182687
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141182681
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 1.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 11,812 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > O > O'Brien, Flann
    #4 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical

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Product Description

Product Description

Flann O'Brien's first novel is a brilliant impressionistic jumble of ideas, mythology and nonsense. Operating on many levels it incorporates plots within plots, giving full rein to O'Brien's dancing intellect and Celtic wit. The undergraduate narrator lives with his uncle in Dublin, drinks too much with his friends and invents stories peopled with hilarious and unlikely characters, one of whom, in a typical O'Brien conundrum, creates a means by which women can give birth to full-grown people. Flann O'Brien's blend of farce, satire and fantasy result in a remarkable, astonishingly innovative book.
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First Sentence
Having placed in my mouth sufficient bread for three minutes' chewing, I withdrew my powers of sensual perception and retired into the privacy of my mind, my eyes and face assuming a vacant and preoccupied expression. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "Where will you find, these days, as joyous a throat?", 5 Nov 2003
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
Published in 1939, the same year that James Joyce published Finnegan's Wake, this novel was lauded in its day by Joyce himself, Samuel Beckett, and Graham Greene. A wild concoction involving a completely disjointed narrative, multiple points of view, farce, satire, and parody, this "novel" offers any student of Irish literature unlimited subject matter--and equally unlimited laughs. In this unique experiment with point of view, author Brian O'Nolan has used a pseudonym, Flann O'Brien, to tell the story of the novelist/student N, who tells his own story at the same time that he is writing a book about an invented novelist (Trellis), who is himself developing another story, while Tracy, still another author, tells a cowboy story and appears in the previous narratives.

Believing that characters should be born fully adult, one of the writers tries to keep them all together--in this case, at the Red Swan Hotel--so that he can keep track of them and keep them sober while he plans the narrative and writes and rewrites the beginning and ending of the novel. But even when the primary writer stops writing to go out with his friends, the characters of the other (invented) fictional writers continue to live on in the narrative and comment on writing. Before long, the reader is treated to essays on the nature of books vs. plays, polemics about the evils of drink, parodies of folk tales and ballads, a breathless wild west tale starring an Irish cowboy, the legends of Ireland, catalogues of sins, tales of magic and the supernatural, almanacs of folk wisdom and the cures for physical ills, and even the account of a trial--and that's just for starters.

Totally unique, O'Brien's creation defies the conventions, both of its day and of the present, and even the most jaded reader will be astonished at the unexpected twists the narrative takes. Steeped in the traditions of the Irish story-teller, O'Brien keeps those traditions alive by creating multiple narrators to tell multiple stories simultaneously, while also skewering the very traditions of which he--and they--are a part.

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22 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "A pint of porter is your only man", 21 April 2001
By richardherley@aol.com (Hampshire, England) - See all my reviews
Nature of this review: unsolicited, impertinent, self aggrandising.

Nature of the reviewer: benign, well lubricated, an admirer of our English tongue, part Irish and cursed thereby to all the ills of that unhappy and rain-sodden race, including the following: unreasoning pride; pathological loquacity associated with but not inseparable from a fondness for porter; a predilection for exaggeration (the mundane being otherwise intolerable); an inability to take anything seriously. Conclusion of the foregoing. At Swim-Two-Birds is unquestionably the best book on my shelves, constructed by one of the finest authors who ever graced the world. Mr O'Brien has exploded all the absurd and deceitful conventions of the fictioneer and put the pieces back together in a confection which must, from time to time, if you have any sense of humour whatsoever, have you laughing out loud. He wipes the ground with such pretenders to the throne of absurdity as Monsieur Alfred Jarry, and even with worthier contenders such as the excellent, late, and much lamented Mr B.S. Johnson. Be warned: if you read this, you will NOT be the same again.

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10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A readable Finnegans Wake..., 11 Dec 2000
By A Customer
Quite simply, the funniest and cleverest book ever written. After the first glimpse, it takes at least three years to stop trying to write and talk O'Brienese.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Not my pint of plain
O'Brien was heavily influenced by James Joyce, and it shows in this book. If you enjoy Joyce you will undoubtedly enjoy this, as it is more of the same stream of consciousness,... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the greatest comic novel ever
At Swim-Two-Birds is one of the great comic novels.O'Brien's language is flawless, his imagination boundless and his dialogue both convincing and hilarious. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mark Wallace

2.0 out of 5 stars A Smug Comic Spirit
Brian O'Nolan, born in Strabane in 1911, wrote under a number of pen-names - although Flann O'Brien is probably the best known. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Craobh Rua

5.0 out of 5 stars The true Great Irish Novel
O'Brien's fusion of celtic wit, mythology and nonsense makes this a true postmodern masterpiece but truly stands up as a parody of Irish society. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Boz

3.0 out of 5 stars Clever but incoherent and sentimental
Flann O'Brien's most famous novel is not his best. At Swim-Two-Birds looks like a bold literary experiment, but in fact it's a lot of sophomoric jokes held together with very... Read more
Published 23 months ago by lexo1941

5.0 out of 5 stars Literary Brainstorm
Thought it worthwhile writing a review simply because ASTB is quite a challenging read when compared to the other books by O'Brien that I have read: 'The Third Policeman' and 'The... Read more
Published on 26 April 2007 by MrChance

2.0 out of 5 stars clever, yes - funny/enjoyable,no
I was very disappointed in this book.
It did not live up to the promise that was raised by "the poor mouth" (definitely a 5 star book). Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2006 by WhiteCrow

5.0 out of 5 stars Myles ahead
Flann O'Brien's best work is in this book. Not even The Third Policeman equates with it. It is a tour de force of pastiche, parody and taking the mick, as we say in Ireland. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2005 by Stockeditor

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure delight
It's wonderful and hilarious. The bit about the fictious characters in a novel plotting against their author while he's asleep is simply brilliant. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2000

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