At Swim-Two-Birds is a novel written by Brian O'Nolan (under the pseudonym Flann O'Brien). Released in 1939, it is an extremely metafictional and satirical examination of Irish culture and tells of the misadventures of an Irish youth.
Characters[]
- The student - a young, lazy, and alcoholic Irish student who serves as the main character of the frame narrative
- Dermot Trellis - the main character of the novel that the student is writing about, an Irish author who is menaced by his own characters
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
A wildly comic send-up of Irish literature and culture, At Swim-Two-Birds is the story of a young, lazy, and frequently drunk Irish collegestudent who lives with his curmudgeonly uncle in Dublin. When not inbed (where he seems to spend most of his time) or reading he is composing a mischief-filled novel about Dermot Trellis, a second-rate author whose characters ultimately rebel against him and seek vengeance. From drugging him as he sleeps to dropping the ceiling onhis head, these figures of Irish myth make Trellis pay dearly for his bad writing. Hilariously funny and inventive, At Swim-Two-Birds has influenced generations of writers, opening up new possibilities for what can be done in fiction. It is a true masterpiece of Irish literature.
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 innovaative book.
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| If on a winter's night a traveller | Italo Calvino | 1979 | A similarly metafictional novel |
| A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | James Joyce | 1916 | A novel with somewhat similar themes |
| Mist | Miguel de Unamuno | 1914 | A novel with a similar interaction between author and characters |