At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien. (Brian O'Nolan, or Nolan, or Ó Nualláin alias Myles na
gCopaleen)
First published in the spring of 1939, it sold
a mere 244 copies. Despite the paltry sales of the novel, it found an audience
and over the years has been praised by writers and critics of widely divergent
types. Very little could be found to unite Dylan Thomas, Philip Toynbee,
Benedict Kiely, V. S. Pritchett, Anthony Burgess, and
John Wain, aside from their all finding qualities to
praise in this strange and various novel. A novel with
such a diverse list of admirers commands our attention.
The main
character, Trellis, is writing a novel in which he mixes characters of his own
invention with others borrowed from Irish classics, Irish myth and folklore,
and literature of his own experience, as for instance, with his use of cowboys
from the Western novels of William Tracy (invented for the purpose by O'Brien).
Trellis proves a far less successful novelist than he aspires to be. He
plagiarizes from William Tracy and others, particularly in the matter of
characters, violates his own precepts, fails to control either himself or his
characters, succumbs to sloth when he should be writing, and produces a
shapeless, aimless mess which literally overwhelms him.
“We regret to announce, said the
Freeman’s Journal, the passing of Mr William Tracey,
the eminent novelist, which occurred yesterday under painful circumstances at
his home in Grace Park Road. Early in the afternoon, deceased was knocked down
in Weaver’s Square by a tandem bicycle proceeding towards the city. He got up
unaided, however, laughed heartily, treated the accident as a joke and made his
way home on a tram. When he had smoked //two//[six] afterdinner
pipes, he //got up to go to the lavatory//[went to
ascend the stairs &] and dropped dead on the //stairs//[landing].
Subsequent examination revealed that the spleen ahd
been ruptured. A man of culture and old-world courtesy, his passing will be
regretted by all without distinction of creed or class, and in particular by
the world of letters, which he has adorned with distinction for many years. He
was the first man in Europe to exhibit twenty-nine lions in a cage at the same
time and the only writer to demonstrate that cowpunching
could be economically carried on in Ringsend. His
best known works were ‘Red Flanagan’s Last Throw’, ‘Flower O’ The Prairy’, and ‘Jake’s Last Ride’. Deceased was 59.”
Last update: 18
March 2010