A Smug Comic Spirit - Rated 
Brian O'Nolan, born in Strabane in 1911, wrote under a number of pen-names - although Flann O'Brien is probably the best known. He studied at University College Dublin and spent nearly twenty years working in the Irish Civil Service. He also spent thirty years writing a column - The Cruiskeen Lawn - for the Irish Times under the name Myles na gCopaleen. "At Swim-Two-Birds" is his first novel, and was published in 1939.
The book's narrator is a university student who lives with his uncle in Dublin. His bedroom is permanently locked, whether he is in or out - an arrangement that allows him to occasionally take a day off and stay in bed, with his uncle thinking he's gone to college. (Well, when I say take a day off, he actually spends winter and early spring in his bedroom). While our hero doesn't have a very high opinion of his uncle - at various times, he describes his aged relative as rat-brained, cunning, concerned that he should be well thought of and abounding in pretence - his aged relative is a Holder of the Guinness Clerkship (Third Class) quite correctly thinks he doesn't study enough. Although he claims to reads James Joyce and Aldous Huxley, he appears to be more interested in backing the horses, and subscribes to a very dodgy tipster based in Newmarket. On the few occasions our narrator leaves his bedroom, there's a fair chance he wind up in the pub drinking porter with Kelly - a fellow student, though later a soldier. One such session leads to a three day hangover and - thanks to an impressive bout of vomiting - a very smelly suit.
In his spare time, our narrator is writing a book. One of the main characters is an author by the name of Dermot Trellis. Trellis lives at the Red Swan Hotel on Lower Leeson Street and, like our narrator, is rather fond of his bedroom - having spent the last twenty years in bed. Trellis, who considers evil to be the most contagious of all diseases, is writing a book on sin. The story will feature one villain after another - the most depraved of which is called Furriskey - and a woman of exceptional virtue, by the name of Sheila Lamont. Naturally, after a great deal of drinking, debauchery, high living and colourful language, Ms Lamont is eventually corrupted, ravished and killed. When Trellis starts working on his story, he decides all the characters from his book should also move into the Red Swan - to prevent any unauthorised boozing, he wants them locked up and asleep before he goes to bed himself. (It's a rather strange world our narrator has created : not only does Trellis have the cast from his book living with him, but - in Trellis' world - children need not be born young. For example, Furriskey was born at the age of twenty-five and a heavy smoker from the moment of his arrival. Furthermore, the Wild West exists in Ireland, and the Circle N is considered one of Dublin's more venerable old ranches). Although Furriskey, Sheila Lamont (with whom Trellis, inevitably, falls in love) and the Pooka Fergus McPhellimey (a magical Irish devil) are Trellis originals, several of the characters to feature in his book have been `borrowed' from other sources. Several cowboys were created by William Tracy, an author of Western romances set in Ireland, while the legendary Finn MacCool also features. Meanwhile, the cellar is apparently full of leprechauns.
Given the book's reputation, I came to it with high hopes - even more so, given how I had enjoyed "The Third Policeman". Unfortunately, I was badly disappointed. I've seen it blurbed as "a brilliant impressionistic jumble of ideas, mythology and nonsense", while others have referred to it as O'Brien's masterpiece. These assessments put a very positive spin on what I found. The book's narrator seems to have quite an opinion of himself, and I found myself occasionally wondering just how much of O'Brien there was in the character. He describes one of the stories featuring Finn MacCool as a "humourous or quasi humourous incursion into ancient mythology" - naturally, none of the sections that featured Finn were remotely funny. In fact, it appeared to me that these sections were rather high-handed attempts to mock Lady Gregory, and possibly even WB Yeats. Sections of the book are convoluted, over-long and tedious - even when he comes up with something that could have been funny, O'Brien generally kills the humour by labouring the point. One of the few things that did raise an unintentional smile was a conversation between Furriskey and Shanahan : "But the man in the street, where does he come in ? By God he doesn't come in at all, as far as I can see...Feed yourself up with that tack once, and you won't want more for a long time." With that, O'Brien has given a perfectly valid assessment of "At Swim Two Birds". Probably a good book for an Irish Literature course - but not necessarily one you'd read for pleasure.
The true Great Irish Novel - Rated 
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. It is not easily read, and i have to admit that on the first attempt I wasn't impressed. However, on the second attempt the true wit and humour of this brilliant novel came through. The final court scene is one of the most hilarious scenes i have ever read
Clever but incoherent and sentimental - Rated 
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 ragged conceptual string. Composed, according to his biographer, in a fairly desultory fashion, the book has no real structure and a deeply unsatisfying and rather sentimental climax, apparently written in a fit of uncharacteristic filial gooiness after the death of the author's father. It has none of the brilliant polish, effortless precision and emotional resonance of O'Brien's best two novels, The Third Policeman and An Béal Bocht (aka The Poor Mouth), and is just a bit of a ragbag. Unfortunately it has inspired many a would-be experimental novelist, often comfortably ensconced in a teaching job at an American university, to emulate its ragbag-ness.
Anthony Burgess considered it one of his 99 Great Novels, but the old boy was wrong. The Third Policeman is a better work by far.
Literary Brainstorm - Rated
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 Poor Mouth', both of which were a joy to read. Flann O'Brien was clearly a literary genius but in a completly different mould to, for example, John McGahern, his imaginative prose is almost exhausting in that the passages are so descriptive that the brain reaches overload. To my mind the descriptive power is not dissimilar to the writing of Gabrial Garcia Marquez. I might have missed the point but I think that all the pages in this book, apart from the beginning and the end , could be rearranged and it would have made just as much sense. Nevertheless it is a brilliant read and one that could easily be read again, and again....... Parts of the book are still rumbling around in my head many weeks after finishing it, a true measure of its quality.
In some respects I would agree with WhiteCrow, one of the other reviewers, and can see that some would be disappointed with this book. If you're looking for an easy read then you'll struggle but I suggest any reader should just be led along by O'Brien and enjoy the ride.
clever, yes - funny/enjoyable,no - Rated
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). This book is highly experimental (other reviewers have likened it to Ulysses - or, worse still, Finnegan's Wake - and their ilk).
Clearly the writer is clever, but in this case clever does not translate into funny or enjoyable. I think the book has many bizarre but unfortunately not very funny and rather tedious passages.
For me the cleverness does not make up for what I in the end think is a waste of time.
If you've not read any books by O'Brien yet, read "the poor mouth" which is an excellent book (as reading this one first might put you off O'Brien in which case you'd miss out).
(I am still planning to read other O'Brien books (the third policeman)on the strength of "the poor mouth", but ASTB has definitely made me wary.)
|
