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Bezig met laden... The Complete Novels (Everyman's Library) (editie 2008)door Flann O'Brien, Keith Donohue (Introductie)
Informatie over het werkThe Complete Novels (Everyman's Library) door Flann O'Brien
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. Wonderful stuff and nonsense. Don't expect to understand the plots of these novels - in some cases don't look for any kind of plot. But if you are looking for a readable, highly entertaining and sometime very funny alternative to your secret inability to finish any work by James Joyce, look no farther . . . . ( ) Containing the five novels by Flann O’Brien, one of many pseudonyms of the Irish writer Brian O’Nolan (1911 – 1966), this volume is a solid introduction to his fiction. The bizarreness, humor and fantasy in the novels are striking. At Swim-Two-Birds contains such oddities as a Good Fairy contemplating sex with humans, and a writer that has remained in bed for twenty years and only reads books with green covers. In The Third Policeman a gentleman farmer who has devoted his life to studying a character known only as de Selby - who is perhaps the world’s worst philosopher, physicist and other things - embarks on a surreal journey after helping to murder a man for money to publish his treatise – on de Selby. One theme, which reoccurs in The Dalkey Archive, is the idea that bicycles and humans can take on each other’s properties. Beginning with the narrator’s name, Bonaparte Coonassa, The Poor Mouth is the most straight-forward humorous of the novels. Originally written in Gaelic, it parodies and makes much of the Gaelic culture and language. In The Hard Life two brothers try to make their way in life after being either abandoned or orphaned. With its Horatio Algerish elements, it is the only one of the novels to not delve into the realm of fantasy. de Selby appears in the flesh in The Dalkey Archive with a mad plan to rid the earth of oxygen. It also features the reappearance of the Sergeant of The Third Policeman who espouses the bicycle/human transference theory. An elderly and confused James Joyce is also here – attempting to join the priesthood. The Complete Novels is a handsome book, and contains a helpful introduction, bibliography, and a chronology placing the author’s life in historical context. "The Third Policeman": so droll! Admittedly, I read it after hearing it tied to "Lost" but come on, Desmond. It's better seen as a goofy literary partner to Dylan Thomas and "Pale Fire": a foggy tale about mood and humor, not about mind-benders. As a bonus, O'Brian's grasp of particle physics isn't entirely outlandish. At this moment, you're just a few electrons away from merging with your chair. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Onderdeel van de uitgeversreeks(en)
Flann O'Brien, along with Joyce and Beckett, is part of the holy trinity of modern Irish literature. His five novels-collected here in one volume-are a monument to his inspired lunacy and gleefully demented genius. O'Brien's masterpiece, At Swim-Two-Birds, is an exuberant literary send-up and one of the funniest novels of the twentieth century. The novel's narrator is writing a novel about another man writing a novel, in a Celtic knot of interlocking stories. The riotous cast of characters includes figures "stolen" from Gaelic legends, along with assorted students, fairies, ordinary Dubliners, and cowboys, some of whom try to break free of their author's control and destroy him. The narrator of The Third Policeman, who has forgotten his name, is a student of philosophy who has committed murder and wanders into a surreal hell where he encounters such oddities as the ghost of his victim, three policeman who experiment with space and time, and his own soul (who is named "Joe"). The Poor Mouth, a bleakly hilarious portrait of peasants in a village dominated by pigs, potatoes, and endless rain, is a giddy parody aimed at those who would romanticize Gaelic culture. A naïve young orphan narrates the deadpan farce The Hard Life, and The Dalkey Archive is an outrageous satiric fantasy featuring a mad scientist who uses relativity to age his whiskey, a policeman who believes men can turn into bicycles, and an elderly, bar-tending James Joyce. With a new Introduction by Keith Donohue Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)823.912Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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