Puoi prendere un ascensore, schiacciare un qualsiasi pulsante ed il solito ‘caso’ puo’ aprirti mille vie.
Quale sceglierai?
Oppure quale sarai obbligato a scegliere?
Potrai tornare indietro e premere il pulsante corretto?
Nulla di tutto cio’, torna indietro e mettiti a leggere Flann O’Brien.

Se Borges fosse nato donna, e potrebbe anche essere vero, e Auster fosse nato uomo, e potrebbe… anzi e’ vero, il nascituro della coppia si potrebbe chiamare Flann O’Brien.

Ad un certo punto i personaggi di questo libro decidono di cambiare la storia in cui sono coinvolti.
Ma, caro Flann O’Brien, non possono farlo!!
Per lo piu’ possono decidere di trovarsi un altro autore (vedi Pirandello).

Alcuni brani:

La maggior parte degli scrittori perdono il tempo a dire cio’ che hanno gia’ detto, di solito molto meglio.
Una gran copia di rimandi ad opere gia’ esistenti permetterebbe al lettore di conoscere istantaneamente il carattere di ciascun personaggio, eviterebbe faticose spiegazioni e vieterebbe efficacemente ai ciarlatani, agli arrivisti, agli imbroglioni e agli illetterati la comprensione della letteratura contemporanea. (31)

Sul davanzale della finestra c’era una piccola sveglia di bachelite; essa si prendeva cura di ogni nuova giornata, non appena questa entrava nella stanza dalla finestra su Peter Place, e la distribuiva con precisione in ventiquattro ore. (39)

Ci fu un tempo in cui preferivo
Ai vili discorsi degli uomini
Gli accenti della tortora
Che svolazza presso le acque.

Ci fu un tempo in cui preferivo
Al tintinnio delle campane
La voce del merlo tra le rocce
E il bramito di un cervo nella tempesta.

Ci fu un tempo in cui preferivo
Alla voce di una bella donna
Il richiamo della starna di montagna
In pieno giorno.

Ci fu un tempo in cui preferivo
Il guaito dei lupi
Alla voce di un chierico
Che canticchia tra quattro mura.
(117)

Il guaio, sia per Cryan che per la maggior parte della gente, disse Byrne, e’ che non rimangono a letto abbastanza a lungo. Quando l’uomo dorme, e’ sommerso e perso in una molle, atona felicita’: sveglio, invece, e’ irrequieto, torturato dal proprio corpo e dall’illusione dell’esistenza. Perche’ gli uomini, per secoli, si sono dati da fare per dominare il corpo sveglio? Mettetelo a dormire, e’ il metodo migliore. Che serva soltanto per rigirare di quando in quando l’anima addormentata… (127) (Oblomov docet)


( )

Although frequently humorous and completely comprehendible at a small scale, I found O'Nolan's most famous work to be very complex and much of it to be quite a slog to get through. At times it seems to be either a parody or imitation of Joyce, but it has peculiar elements, such as the relationship of the author or purported author(s) to the characters and the characters to each other that if not unique are certainly unusual. Many odd things are here including found texts and instructions for reading a gas meter. I found The Third Policeman to be much more approachable. It might be that if I were more familiar with Irish legends, Irish literature, and Gaelic I could get more out of this. ( )

This book is purported to be one of humor. Not grasping the Irish humor and the double entendre therein, I floundered throughout most of this book and did not grasp the intended humor. The beginning and the end were exceptionally challenging for me as I tried to make sense of them. I allowed myself to flow with the story within the story in the middle of the book and could enjoy some of it. The form of a story within a story and with the embedded story to be one about characters in novels is very intriguing. Unfortunately, I could not maintain the correct altitude of attention to appreciate most of this book. ( )

5 stars ... 1 star.... a bit more elegant and dense that Spike Milligan... but i am again swept into rough waters with this book. It's fantastic. It's impossible. I do like the Joycean parts where the "author" (???) asks direct questions in the text: "What did he mean in that last passage" and answers in dry, clear words. I am still but a fourth into it - i will continue. ( )

Reason read: 2022, June BOTM, Reading 1001.
I found it amusing but not sure what I read. The structure jumps about and goes from the unnamed narrator, his uncle, to tales about all these myths and personages. The narrator is a person who is rather isolated as he stays in his room, in his bed and he does entertain the idea of writing and even writes a bit. I think he might be a rather smart, perhaps socially awkward person who likes to drink or he might just be lazy. The Legacy might be the structure, the inclusion of the myths and folklore. It is a writing about a guy who writes, whose characters turn on him. I am not sure if the novel is plot or character driven because it is hard to follow but there is a plot. It might be more experimental and modernistic than plot or character driven. It was interesting to be introduced to so many new mythological and folklore. It wasn't hard to listen to the audio because the accent was so fun, and the Anglo Gaelic sentences were great. It is short so that helps too. I really liked many of the sayings in the book. I think it is quite quotable. I liked the intro where he discusses that a book can start and end in many different ways. I think I've read that idea in another book that was about writing and reading novels. Given that the book was published in 1939, this author was ahead of its time. This was his debut novel. I've read The Third Policeman a while back which is also a weird book. The author had a wonderful sense of humor. ( )