No Laughing Matter: The Life and Times of Flann O'BrienDuring his all-too-brief lifetime, Flann O'Brien was read by a small but fanatically faithful coterie of readers, including James Joyce, Dylan Thomas, Graham Greene, and William Saroyan. He is one of the most difficult writers to pin down, partly or primarily as a result of his having carefully carved himself into three people, all of whom he used, when necessary, to hide behind. As Flann O'Brien he wrote several novels that for their technical precocity, exuberant prose, and sparking invention, have been proclaimed among the finest of the modern period; as Myles na Gopaleen ("Miles of the Little Ponies") he wrote for twenty-five years a wildly imaginative newspaper column for The Irish Times called Cruiskeen Lawn; as Brian O'Nolan, the name on his birth certificate, he held down a responsible job in the bureaucracy of the Irish Government. No Laughing Matter is the first full-length biography of this remarkable man. |
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No laughing matter: the life and times of Flann O'Brien
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictNovelist Flann O'Brien, newspaper columnist Myles na Gopaleen, civil servant Brian Nolan, and Brian O'Nolan are all one in the same brilliant writer and satirist, often compared to James Joyce. From ... Read full review
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Abbey admired appeared asked attitude Avoca Terrace Beal Bocht become began Behan Blackrock Blather boys Brendan Behan Brian O'Nolan brother called Catholic Centenary History character Ciaran civil servant Civil Service College column Comhthrom Feinne comic copy course Cruiskeen Lawn Dail Dalkey Archive described drink Dublin English Evelyn fact famous father Fianna Fail Flann O'Brien friends funny Gaelic Gaeltacht Gageby Garvin Gearoid Gormley Government Hilton Edwards Inchicore intellectual Ireland Irish language James Joyce John joke Joyce's knew later letter literary lived Longman's matter McDaid's Michael O'Nolan Myles na Gopaleen nationalist Niall Montgomery Niall Sheridan night Nolan novel Nuallain Patrick Kavanagh perhaps person piece play political published reply Saroyan Sean seemed Sexton Blake Smyllie sometimes sort story Strabane Street student suggested Swim-Two-Birds theatre things Third Policeman Timothy O'Keeffe told took Valera whiskey writing written wrote
Bibliographic information
| Title | No Laughing Matter: The Life and Times of Flann O'Brien |
| Author | Anthony Cronin |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Fromm International Pub., 1998 |
| Original from | the University of California |
| Digitized | Mar 24, 2010 |
| ISBN | 0880641835, 9780880641838 |
| Length | 260 pages |
| Subjects | › Biography & Autobiography / Literary |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |