Paladin Books

6 total works

Myles Away from Dublin

by Flann O'Brien

Published 21 February 1985

Flann O'Brien (Brian O'Nolan, aka Myles na Gopaleen) adopted not only a new name (George Knowall) for these rarely seen pieces, but also a new persona. Writing his column "Bones of Contention" for the "Nationalist and Leinster Times", he took on the character of the quizzical and enquiring humorist who might be found in a respectable public house in Carlow: erudite, urbane and informative, he is the country cousin of the Myles of Dublin, yet still a facet of the complex character who wrote "The Third Policeman" and "At Swim-Two-Birds". His delight in words, his uncanny ability to see through humbug, are unparalleled. Writers as disparate as James Joyce, Dylan Thomas, Graham Greene and Anthony Burgess have marvelled at his talent. New readers will discover that he is one of the funniest writers in any language, at any time. Brian O'Nolan, who also wrote under the pen names of Flann O'Brien and Myles na Gopaleen, was born in 1911 in Co Tyrone.
A resident of Dublin, he graduated from University College after a brilliant career as a student, where he briefly edited - and largely wrote - a comic magazine called "Blather", and joined the Civil Service, in which he eventually attained a senior position. He died in Dublin on 1 April 1966. His novels include: "A S-2-B", "The Dalkey Archive", "The Third Policeman", "The Hard Life and The Poor Mouth" (originally published in Irish as "An Beal Bocht").

Further Cuttings from Cruiskeen Lawn

by Flann O'Brien

Published March 1977

Hard Life

by Flann O'Brien

Published December 1961

Subtitled “An Exegesis of Squalor,” The Hard Life is a sober farce from a master of Irish comic fiction. Set in Dublin at the turn of the century, the novel does involve squalor—illness, alcoholism, unemployment, bodily functions, crime, illicit sex—but also investigates such diverse topics as Church history, tightrope walking, and the pressing need for public toilets for ladies. The Hard Life is straight-faced entertainment that conceals in laughter its own devious and wicked satire by one of the best known Irish writers of the 20th century.

The Third Policeman

by Flann O'Brien

Published September 1967

A masterpiece of black humour from the renown comic and acclaimed author of ‘At Swim-Two-Birds’ – Flann O’Brien.

A thriller, a hilarious comic satire about an archetypal village police force, a surrealistic vision of eternity, the story of a tender, brief, unrequited love affair between a man and his bicycle, and a chilling fable of unending guilt, ‘The Third Policeman’ is comparable only to ‘Alice in Wonderland’ as an allegory of the absurd.

Distinguished by endless comic invention and its delicate balancing of logic and fantasy, ‘The Third Policeman’ is unique in the English language.

The Hair of the Dogma

by Flann O'Brien

Published 26 September 1977

Myles Before Myles

by Flann O'Brien

Published 6 October 1988

"Myles Before Myles" is a wonderfully funny selection of writings from the pen of Brian O'Nolan (aka Flann O'Brien, Myles na Gopaleen, George Knowall). In this fun-filled extravaganza he is, above all, an entertainer, a 'gas man'. Like much of O'Nolan's most entertaining work, the pieces in this did not originally appear in book form, but in periodicals and newspapers now almost impossible to find. "Myles Before Myles" reveals that some of his wittiest and most unusual were published years before Myles na Gopaleen (or Flann O'Brien) had even been born, and were destined to lie in almost complete obscurity for many decades. Flann O'Brien is a cult hero whose comic genius has been praised by anyone who is anyone - from James Joyce to Graham Greene, Dylan Thomas to Anthony Burgess, Bendan Behan to S.J.Perelman. Old addicts (lucky enough to have discovered Flann in previous hilarious guises) will rejoice at the rediscovery of lost laughter and new readers will revel in one of the funniest writers in any language. Here is a feast for them all: a book full of the joys of Myles as student, as blatherer, as romancer, as Irishman, as poet - as Myles!
With a penetrating introduction from compiler, John Wyse Jackson, "Myles Before Myles" (out of print for some twenty years) is a brilliant addition to the O'Brien canon.