Content deleted Content added
Restored revision 1171234808 by VeryTallTrees (talk): Last stable version. |
|||
Line 4:
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Flann
| image = Brian O'Nolan.jpg
| image_size = 250px
Line 26:
}}
'''Brian O'Nolan''' ({{lang-ga|Brian Ó Nualláin}}; 5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966), his [[pen name]] being '''Flann O'Brien''', was an [[Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland|Irish civil service]] official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth-century [[Irish literature]]. Born in [[Strabane]], [[County Tyrone]], he is regarded as a key figure in [[modernist]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=bloomsbury.com|title=Flann O'Brien & Modernism|url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/flann-obrien--modernism-9781623568757|access-date=2 August 2021|website=Bloomsbury|language=en|archive-date=2 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802213505/https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/flann-obrien--modernism-9781623568757|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[postmodern literature]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/10/flann-obrien.html |title=Celebrating Flann O'Brien |last=Kellogg |first=Carolyn |date=13 October 2011 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=25 October 2011 |archive-date=16 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016034704/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/10/flann-obrien.html |url-status=live }}</ref> His English language novels, such as ''[[At Swim-Two-Birds]]'' and ''[[The Third Policeman]]'', were written under the
O'Brien's novels have attracted a wide following both for their unconventional humour and as prominent examples of modernist [[metafiction]]. As a novelist, O'Brien was influenced by [[James Joyce]]. He was nonetheless skeptical of the "cult" of Joyce, saying "I declare to God if I hear that name Joyce one more time I will surely froth at the gob."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bostonreview.net/roger-boylan-we-laughed-we-cried-flann-obrien|title=We Laughed, We Cried|last=Intern|date=21 June 2012|website=Boston Review|language=en|access-date=19 September 2019|archive-date=17 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717174740/http://bostonreview.net/roger-boylan-we-laughed-we-cried-flann-obrien|url-status=live}}</ref>
Line 72:
===Civil service===
A key feature of O'Brien's personal situation was his status as an Irish civil servant, who, as a result of his father's relatively early death in July 1937, was for a decade obliged to partially support his mother and ten siblings, including an elder brother who was then an unsuccessful writer (there would likely have been some pension for his mother and minor siblings resulting from his
O'Brien rose to be quite senior, serving as private secretary to [[Seán T. O'Kelly]] (a minister and later President of Ireland) and [[Seán MacEntee]], a powerful political figure, both of whom almost certainly knew or guessed O'Brien was na gCopaleen.<ref>{{cite journal |title='Could Paddy Leave off from Copying Just for Five Minutes': Brian O'Nolan and Eire's Beveridge Plan |first=Steven |last=Curran |journal=Irish University Review |volume=31 |number=2 |date=2001 |pages=353–375}}</ref> Though O'Brien's writing frequently mocked the civil service, he was for much of his career relatively important and highly regarded and was trusted with delicate tasks and policies, such as running (as "secretary") the public inquiry into the [[Cavan Orphanage Fire]] of 1943<ref>[https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.1252062 An Irishman's Diary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108143119/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.1252062 |date=8 November 2020 }} by Frank McNally, [[The Irish Times]], 14 February 2013</ref> and planning of a proposed Irish National Health Service imitating [[National Health Service|the UK's]], under the auspices of his department—planning he duly mocked in his pseudonymous column.<ref>Curran, Steven (2001). "'Could Paddy Leave off from Copying Just for Five Minutes': Brian O'Nolan and Eire's Beveridge Plan", ''Irish University Review'', Vol. 31, No. 2 (Autumn - Winter), pp. 353-375.</ref>
Line 93:
{{cquote|I am no judge of poetry—the only poem I ever wrote was produced when I was body and soul in the gilded harness of Dame Laudanum—but I think Mr Kavanaugh [sic] is on the right track here. Perhaps the ''Irish Times'', timeless champion of our peasantry, will oblige us with a series in this strain covering such rural complexities as inflamed goat-udders, warble-pocked shorthorn, contagious abortion, non-ovoid oviducts and nervous disorders among the gentlemen who pay the rent [a well known Irish slang for pigs].}}
''The Irish Times'' has, traditionally, published a lot of letters from readers, devoting a full page daily to such letters, which are widely read. Often an epistolary series, some written by O'Brien and some not, continued for days and weeks under a variety of false names, using various styles and assailed varied topics, including other earlier letters by O'Brien under different pseudonyms. The letters were a hit with the readers of ''The Irish Times'', and [[R. M. Smyllie]], then editor of the newspaper invited O'Brien to contribute a column. Importantly, ''The Irish Times'' maintained that there were in fact three pseudonymous authors of the "Cruiskeen Lawn" column, which provided a certain amount of cover for O'Nolan as a civil servant when a column was particularly provocative (though it was mostly O'Brien). The managing editor of ''The Irish Times'' for much of the period, Gerard "Cully" Tynan O'Mahony (father of the comedian [[Dave Allen (comedian)|Dave Allen]]), a personal friend and drinking companion of O'Brien,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://irishconstabulary.com/temporary-cadet-g-j-c-tynan-o-mahony-of-the-irish--t1313.html|title=Temporary Cadet G J C Tynan O'Mahony, of the Irish Times|website=The Royal Irish Constabulary Forum|access-date=23 July 2019|archive-date=5 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805062902/https://irishconstabulary.com/temporary-cadet-g-j-c-tynan-o-mahony-of-the-irish--t1313.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and likely one of the other occasional authors of the column, was typically one of those pressed for a name but was skilfully evasive on the topic. (Relations are said to have decayed when
The first column appeared on 4 October 1940, under the pseudonym "An Broc" ("The Badger"). In all subsequent columns the name "Myles na gCopaleen" ("Myles of the Little Horses" or "Myles of the Ponies"—a name taken from ''The Collegians'', a novel by [[Gerald Griffin]]) was used. Initially, the column was composed in Irish, but soon English was used primarily, with occasional smatterings of German, French or Latin. The sometimes intensely satirical column's targets included the Dublin literary elite, Irish language revivalists, the Irish government, and the "Plain People of Ireland". The following column excerpt, in which the author wistfully recalls a brief sojourn in Germany as a student, illustrates the biting humour and scorn that informed the "Cruiskeen Lawn" writings:
Line 117:
He contributed substantially to ''[[Envoy, A Review of Literature and Art|Envoy]]'' (he was "honorary editor" for the special number featuring James Joyce<ref>'In 1951, whilst I was editor of the Irish literary periodical ''Envoy'', I decided that it would be a fitting thing to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the death of James Joyce by bringing out a special number dedicated to him which would reflect the attitudes and opinions of his fellow countrymen towards their illustrious compatriot. To this end I began by inviting Brian Nolan to act as honorary editor for this particular issue. His own genius closely matched, without in any way resembling or attempting to counterfeit, Joyce's. But if the mantle of Joyce (or should we say the waistcoat?) were ever to be passed on, nobody would be half so deserving of it as the man whom under his other guises as Flan [sic] O'Brien and Myles Na gCopaleen, proved himself incontestably to be the most creative writer and mordant wit that Ireland had given us since Shem the Penman himself.' – [[John Ryan (Dublin artist)|John Ryan]], Introduction to ''A Bash in the Tunnel'' (1970) [http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/authors/r/Ryan_J2/life.htm John Ryan (1925–92) Ricorso] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927101936/http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/authors/r/Ryan_J2/life.htm |date=27 September 2013 }}</ref>) and formed part of the (famously heavy drinking) ''Envoy'' / McDaid's pub circle of artistic and literary figures that included [[Patrick Kavanagh]], [[Anthony Cronin]], [[Brendan Behan]], [[John Jordan (poet)|John Jordan]], [[Pearse Hutchinson]], [[J.P. Donleavy]] and artist [[Desmond MacNamara]] who, at the author's request, created the book cover for the first edition of ''The Dalkey Archive.'' O'Brien also contributed to ''[[The Bell (magazine)|The Bell]]''. He also wrote a column titled ''Bones of Contention'' for the ''[[Nationalist and Leinster Times]]'' under the pseudonym George Knowall; those were collected in the volume ''Myles Away From Dublin''.
Most of his later writings were occasional pieces published in periodicals, some of very limited circulation, which explains why his work has only recently come to enjoy the considered attention of literary scholars. O'Brien was also notorious for his prolific use and creation of pseudonyms for much of his writing, including short stories, essays, and letters to editors, and even perhaps novels, which has rendered the compilation of a complete bibliography of his writings an almost impossible task. Under pseudonyms, he regularly wrote to various newspapers, particularly ''The Irish Times'', waspish letters targeting various well-known figures and writers; mischievously, some of the pseudonymous author-identities reflected composite caricatures of existing people, this would also fuel speculation as to whether his model (or models) for the character was in fact the author writing under a pseudonym, apparently leading to social controversy and angry arguments and accusations. He would allegedly write letters to the editor of ''The Irish Times'' complaining about his own articles published in that newspaper, for example in his regular "Cruiskeen Lawn" column, or irate, eccentric and even mildly deranged pseudonymous responses to his own pseudonymous letters, which gave rise to rampant speculation as to whether the author of a published letter existed or not, or who it might in fact be. There is also persistent speculation that he wrote some of a very long series of [[penny dreadful]] detective novels (and stories) featuring a protagonist called [[Sexton Blake]] under the pseudonym Stephen Blakesley,<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://gorse.ie/portfolio/the-cardinal-the-corpse-a-flanntasy-in-several-parts/|title=The Cardinal & the Corpse: A Flanntasy in Several Parts by Pádraig Ó Méalóid | gorse|access-date=23 July 2019|archive-date=28 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028145200/http://gorse.ie/portfolio/the-cardinal-the-corpse-a-flanntasy-in-several-parts/|url-status=live}}</ref> he may have been the early science fiction writer John Shamus
==Etymology==
Line 174:
===Selected newspaper columns===
The best-known newspaper column by
* ''The Best of Myles'' (MacGibbon & Kee 1968)
Line 187:
===Other collections===
* ''A Bash in the Tunnel'' (O'Brien's essay on James Joyce with this title appears in this book edited by John Ryan, published by Clifton Books 1970, alongside essays by Patrick Kavanagh, Samuel Beckett, Ulick O'Connor and Edna O'Brien).
* ''Stories and Plays'' (Hart-Davis, MacGibbon 1973), comprising ''
* ''The Various Lives of Keats and Chapman and The Brother'', edited and introduced by Benedict Kiely, Hart-Davis, MacGibbon 1976, {{ISBN|0 246 10643 3}}
* ''Myles Before Myles'' (Granada 1985), a selection of writings by Brian
* ''Rhapsody in St Stephen's Green'' (play, an adaptation of ''Pictures from the Insects' Life''), (Lilliput Press 1994)<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Flann |last2=Tracy |first2=Robert |title=Rhapsody in Stephen's Green: The Insect Play |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCNbAAAAMAAJ |year=1994 |publisher=Lilliput Press |isbn=978-1-874675-27-3 |access-date=1 November 2016 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727135203/https://books.google.com/books?id=tCNbAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''The Short Fiction of Flann
* ''Plays & Teleplays'', edited by Daniel Keith Jernigan, Dalkey Archive Press 2013, {{ISBN|978-1-56478-890-0}}
==Correspondence==
* ''The Collected Letters of Flann
==Further reading==
| |||