At Swim-Two-Birds
by Flann O'Brien
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"The story of an Irish college student who - half to amuse himself and half to avoid work - writes an irreverent novel about the figures of Irish myth and legend in which characters come to life and riot against their author, At Swim is a wildly comic send-up of Irish literature and culture.".
"O'Brien opened up a whole new world of possibilities for fiction and subsequent novelists have played with his zany ideas, chief among them being the idea that characters in fiction have earned the right to be "recycled" - after all, they've proven their reliability as characters! - not retired once their stories are finished."--BOOK JACKET.
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| Edition | Availability |
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1
At Swim-Two-Birds
1998, Dalkey Archive Press
in English
- 1st Dalkey Archive ed.
156478181X 9781564781819
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2
In Schwimmen-zwei-Vögel: oder Sweeny auf den Bäumen
1990, Haffmans Verlag, Zürich : Haffmans Verlag
in German
- [Rev. ed.]
3251010980 9783251010981
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3
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Book Details
Published in
Normal, IL
First Sentence
"Having placed in my mouth sufficient bread for three minutes' chewing, I withdrew my powers of sensual perception and retired into the privacy of my mind, my eyes and face assuming a vacant and preoccupied expression."
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Flann O'Brien's first novel is a brilliant impressionistic jumble of ideas, mythology and nonsense. Operating on many levels it incorporates plots within plots, giving full rein to O'Brien's dancing intellect and Celtic wit. The undergraduate narrator lives with his uncle in Dublin, drinks too much with his friends and invents stories peopled with hilarious and unlikely characters, one of whom, in a typical O'Brien conundrum, creates a means by which women can give birth to full-grown people. Flann O'Brien's blend of farce, satire and fantasy result in a remarkable, astonishingly innovative book.
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| July 27, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
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