Celebrating Flann O'Brien

Flann O’Brien- an exhibition 

To mark the centenary of Flann O'Brien's birth this week there is an exhibition of material relating to his life and work in the James Hardiman Library foyer.  Using material from our extended library and archivs collections you will find 

on display early editions of An Béal Bocht, a rare copy of a Margaret Gillan a play translated into Irish from Brinsley MacNamara's orginal Margaret Gillan.  Also included in the exhibition are contributions by Flann O'Brien to an early edition of The Bell, extracts from his famous Irish Times column "Cruiskeen Lawn". From our archival collections there is an original copy of the script of a play The Dead Spit of Kelly which was submitted by O'Brien to the Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast under his real name Brian O’Nolan, and from our official publications collection a copy of an infamous report O'Nolan wrote in his capacity as a civil servant into a fire in St. Joseph's Orphanage, Cavan. For more on the script of the Dead Spit of Kelly read this blog post by the Lyric Theatre archvist Sarah Poutch: Flann O'Brien and the Dead Spit of Kelly

Flann O’Brien and 'The Dead Spit of Kelly'

This week I discovered a copy of the Brian O’Nolan script The Dead Spit of Kelly amongst many others which were considered for production at the Lyric Theatre. The play, which is about a Dublin taxidermist who murders his employer and assumes his identity, was originally broadcast on RTE for whom O’Nolan wrote sporadically. He is of course more well-known for his fiction, written under the nom de plume Flann O’Brien, and for his bilingual column in the Irish Times under the name Myles na gCopaleen. 

O’Nolan was born in Strabane, county Tyrone in 1911. He studied at UCD, during which time he wrote widely. However, after graduating and moving into the civil service, he found himself constrained by the rules against civil servants publicly expressing political views. This prompted his use of pseudonyms which, while obeying official rules, meant little as his identity was an open secret amongst his colleagues. They found his writing sufficiently entertaining to merit their turning a blind eye.

As Flann O’Brien he wrote two novels famous now despite lukewarm receptions during O’Nolan’s lifetime. At Swim-Two Birds is considered his masterpiece, a complex metafictional work which incorporates existing characters from legend and fiction. The Third Policeman was withdrawn from circulation by the author after failing to find a publisher, only being made available posthumously. It has however found a new audience in recent years due to its inclusion in an episode of the American television drama Lost. Broadcast in February 2006, the episode sparked revived interest in O’Nolan’s work, with the novel selling 15,000 copies in the two days following the show. While O’Nolan has always had a cult following, it is gratifying that this unexpected limelight for The Third Policeman might bring new readers to his work.

For those interested in learning more on Brian O'Nolan's background, there is a three part radio interview with his brother (the artist Michéal O'Nolan) available here.

Sarah Poutch