The Third Policeman by Flann O'brien

The Third Policeman by Flann O'brien

The Third Policeman is Flann O'Brien's brilliantly dark comic novel about the nature of time, death, and existence.

Told by a narrator who has committed a botched robbery and brutal murder, the novel follows him and his adventures in a two-dimensional police station where, through the theories of the scientist/philosopher de Selby, he is introduced to "Atomic Theory" and its relation to bicycles, the existence of eternity (which turns out to be just down the road), and de Selby's view that the earth is not round but "sausage-shaped." With the help of his newly found soul named "Joe, " he grapples with the riddles and contradictions that three eccentric policeman present to him.

The last of O'Brien's novels to be published, The Third Policeman joins O'Brien's other fiction (At Swim-Two-Birds, The Poor Mouth, The Hard Life, and The Dalkey Archive) to ensure his place, along with James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, as one of Ireland's great comic geniuses.

Flann O'Brien is the pseudonym of Brian O'Nolan, an Irish novelist and political commentator who was born in 1911 in County Tyrone and raised in Dublin. He 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. He died in 1966.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781628975772
ISBN 10	1628975776
Title	The Third Policeman
Author	Flann O'brien
Series	Dalkey Archive Essentials
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Dalkey Archive Press
Year published	2024-08-06
Number of pages	215
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.