For the women, a 1-2 punch Jun 21, 2008
Everybody else is chosen behind closed gym doors a month from now after five days of something like what author Flann O'Brien once called "physical scourges, torments, and piteous blood-sweats.". The national championships at Agganis Arena two weekends ago merely served to eliminate four women from Olympic contention. (Boston Globe -- Sports)
V.S. Naipaul's 'A Writer's People' Jun 7, 2008
" This is wonderfully written, and no doubt Naipaul felt this way. But is what he's saying true? Is there really an essentially English way of seeing and an altogether different Indian way of seeing, as Naipaul asserts in "Looking and Not Seeing: The Indian Way," the first of the book's two chapters on India, part reminiscence about his family's roots, part portrait of Gandhi? And are there also, as Naipaul suggests in pages on his native Trinidad, still other ways, one black, the other... (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Novel of life after the Troubles is cult hit May 25, 2008
Christopher Marsh's first novel about life in Northern Ireland, titled A Year In The Province, seen through the prism of an unlikely immigrant named Jes;s S;nchez Ventura, has become a cult hit with critics who have compared it to work by Flann O'Brien and Cervantes ... The BBC's writer-in-residence at Queen's University Belfast, Ian Sansom, has compared the novelist to the master of Irish comic writing, Flann O'Brien ... At times it has a fully souped-up, whacked-out Flann O'Brien-y feel to it,... (Guardian Unlimited -- Arts)
Desmond MacNamara Apr 23, 2008
He was friend to Brendan Behan, Patrick Kavanaugh, Donleavy, Flann O'Brien (for whose novel The Dalkey Archive he designed the cover at the author's request), Edna O'Brien, Ernie Gebler and a host of other writers, artists, rebels and iconoclasts. He was one of the very few, as Ulick O'Connor attested in his biography of Behan, who did not desert Behan during his long, sad decline. (Guardian Unlimited -- Arts)
Leonard Barras Apr 3, 2008
It was Beachcomber meets Flann O'Brien, with wild, absurd, hugely comic scenarios. He also wrote at this time for the BBC radio programme Wot Cheor, Geordie and began writing for the stage. (Guardian Unlimited -- Media)
Voices carry, and a writer listens Mar 9, 2008
A. Henry Fielding, Flann O'Brien, B. S. Johnson. I have pretty varied tastes. (Boston Globe)
Why Flann O'Brien Is So Funny Feb 19, 2008
The Complete Novels of Flann O'Brien ... These are some of the essential wisdoms in the world of Flann O'Brien, the Irish writer who is often said to form, along with Samuel Beckett and James Joyce, "the holy trinity of modern Irish literature." O'Brienwhose real name was Brian O'Nolanbriefly flickered just as bright as his Irish contemporaries, but he has never received commensurate acclaim or much of a followingthough readership did pick up in 2005, when his second novel, The Third... (Slate)
Booker winner Oct 18, 2007
Critics have often compared her earlier books to those of the great Irish humorous writer Flann O'Brien, but not this one. Perhaps they should. (Guardian Unlimited)
My literary love affair Oct 6, 2007
"Everything about those early Virago editions was well judged, and nothing more so than their cover illustrations. All four volumes of Pilgrimage featured paintings by Gwen John, variously entitled The Convalescent and The Letter. When you first look at them, they seem to be identical - a young woman reading, the colours of the painting muted, the subject's eyelids half-closed, her features in repose, absorbed, self-contained, happy in herself. Only when you look more closely do you realise that... (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
* Woody Allen slips, trips and falls in 'Mere Anarchy' Jul 29, 2007
Putting them together in a volume is a severe test of the feuilletoniste, which only the most talented can hope to survive (among them Flann O'Brien, Paul Jennings and Michael Frayn). Even in the smallest doses, these lazy riffs and lame parodies do more to annoy than entertain. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Ying Tong: A Walk with the Goons Apr 15, 2007
Had Milligan not been so associated with comedy, his novels would be regarded on a par with Flann O'Brien, The Chaser's Chris Taylor says. "If you start out as a comedian, people are only ever willing to regard you as that," he says. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Books as the picks that click Apr 9, 2007
Some are here: Charles Portis, Barbara Pym, Flann O'Brien, Penelope Fitzgerald, and, thank you Claire Messud and Heidi Julavits, here is V. S. Naipaul's " A House for Mr. Biswas," one of the greatest novels ever written. But, still, where are the other objects of my missionary zeal. (Boston Globe)
Obituary: Benedict Kiely Feb 12, 2007
Kiely's narrative style owes much to the tradition of country storytelling and shares some characteristics with Joyce and Flann O'Brien. He drew on his abandoned religious vocation and the experience of illness in such novels as Honey Seems Bitter (1952), There Was an Ancient House (1955) and Dogs Enjoy the Morning (1968). (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
Obituary: Robert Anton Wilson Jan 18, 2007
Illuminatus brilliantly incorporated elements from the cult literature of the time: borrowing elements of Colin Wilson, Philip K Dick (and his SF pulp predecessors), Flann O'Brien, Carlos Casteneda, Timothy Leary and Kurt Vonnegut in a mix both knowingly tongue-in-cheek and pseudo-intellectually challenging. It was also funny. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
