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At Swim-Two-Birds

  • Book
  • 1939
  • #Fiction
Flann O'Brien
@FlannOBrien
(Author)
www.goodreads.com
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3.87/5 10.7k ratings
1 Recommender
1 Mention
1 Collection
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 college student who lives with his curmudgeonly u... Show More

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 college student who lives with his curmudgeonly uncle in Dublin. When not in bed (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 on his 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.

(From Goodreads)

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Number of Pages: 239

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Sam Burt @wordsburt · Jun 19, 2018
  • Curated in Must-read Novels About Writers
“Flann O’Brien’s first novel tells the story of a young, indolent undergraduate, who lives with his curmudgeonly uncle in Dubin and spends far too much time drinking with his friends. When not drunk or in bed he likes to invent wild stories peoples with hilarious and unlikely characters—but somehow his creations won’t do what he wants them to.”
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