However you read it, it is a great work of Irish literature. You can read it as a rollicking comedy, as a parody of literature, as a clever attempt to play with fiction and reality.
The plot given above is, in fact, more complicated, with various strands intertwining, Irish legends mixing in to the story and O’Brien giving his philosophical, religious and literary views (and then damning them). Dylan Thomas said of it This is just the book to give your sister – if she’s a loud, dirty, boozy girl. However, others have considered it a masterpiece. Flann O'Brien's innovative metafictional work, whose unruly characters strike out their own paths in life to the frustration of their author, At Swim-Two-Birds is a brilliant impressionistic jumble of ideas, mythology and nonsense published in Penguin Modern Classics. O’Brien himself was not very fond of this novel and considered it juvenilia. Meanwhile the student passes his exams and the novel ends. Orlick now writes a story about Trellis, in which Trellis is tried by his characters who proceed to torture him, till Teresa, a servant in the hotel burns some of the story so that some of the characters cease to exist, enabling Trellis to escape. Meanwhile the characters in the hotel have drugged Trellis so that he cannot control their lives. Trellis is writing about a group of people living in a hotel and he even rapes one of these characters. He is writing a novel about Trellis, an Irish writer of Westerns. The novel is about an Irish student who is studying Irish Gaelic, though he spends most of his time lying in bed and hanging out with his friends. While O’Brien certainly was not the first to use the Chinese box or mise en abyme technique, he certainly used it to full effect. This is not a novel to read for its plot. It is a true masterpiece of Irish literature.(Publisher).Home » Ireland » Flann O’Brien » At Swim-Two-Birds Flann O’Brien: At Swim-Two-Birds
Hilariously funny and inventive, At Swim-Two-Birds has influenced generations of writers, opening up new possibilities for what can be done in fiction. 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. 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. ABOUT THIS BOOK: 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. Previous owner's name in ink to inside of front cover. Toning to insides of front and rear covers. Wear to pictorial paper wraps with rubbing, toning, and creasing to covers, corners, and edges.
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