Flann OBrien

Flann O'Brien pseud. for Brian Ó Nualláin or O'Nolan 1911-66, Irish novelist and political commentator. Born in County Tyrone and raised in Dublin, he studied at University College, Dublin, entered the Irish civil service in 1937, and formally retired in 1953. From 1940 until his death, he wrote a political column called "Cruiskeen Lawn" for The Irish Times, under the pseudonym of Myles na Gopaleen; his biting, satiric commentaries made him the conscience of the Irish government. Under this name, he also wrote the novel An Be'al Bocht (1941, tr. The Poor Mouth, 1973), a parody of Irish country life. As Flann O'Brien, he published four comic novels in English, all of which display his brilliant abilities at wordplay and absurdist sensibility: At Swim-Two-Birds (1939, repr. 1960), a wildly funny literary send-up widely considered his masterpiece; The Hard Life (1961), a farce; The Dalkey Archive (1964), a satiric fantasy; and the surreal The Third Policeman (1967). He was also the author of a play, Faustus Kelly (1943).

Bibliography: See his Complete Novels (2007); biography by A. Cronin (1998); studies by A. Clissmann (1975), S. Asbee (1991), T. F. Shea (1992), K. Hopper (1995), and K. Donohue (2002).

O'Brien, Flann (1911–66) Irish novelist, b. Brian O'Nolan. His first and most ambitious novel was At Swim-Two-Birds (1939). He wrote three other novels in English – The Hard Life (1961), The Dalkey Archive (1964), and The Third Policeman (1967) – and one in Gaelic, An Béal Bocht (1941).