Flann O'Brien's Ireland

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Flann O'Brien (aka Myles na Gopaleen) is a major figure in twentieth-century Irish and world literature. Regarded as a key figure in postmodern literature, his novels - At Swim-Two-Birds, The Third Policeman and An Béal Bocht are canonical texts for any student of postmodernism, humour studies and modernist metafiction. This course examines these texts in the context of the author's life and the Irish and European events which shaped his fiction and worldview. In addition to his three novels, his journalism including his famous column 'The Cruiskeen Lawn' in the Irish Times will be considered. Particular attention will be paid to the author's life and his fractious and complicated relationship to the Irish revival and the forces of modernity.