An indolent college student creates a chaotic fictional world in this classic of Irish literature.
In this comic masterpiece, our unnamed narrator-a student at University College, Dublin, who spends more time drinking and working on his novel than attending classes-creates a character, a pub owner named Trellis, who himself is devoted mainly to writing and sleeping. Soon Trellis is collaborating with an author of cowboy romances, and from there unspools a brilliantly unpredictable adventure.
"A man of black moods and (like Swift) of many ranks, Flann O'Brien brought the Irish tradition of verbal comedy to one of its perfections."
Henry Kenner
"A real writer with the true comic spirit. A really funny book."
James Joyce
"Flann O'Brien is unquestionably a major author. His work, like that of Joyce, is so layered as to be almost Dante-esque. . . . Joyce and Flann O'Brien assault your brain with words, style, magic, madness, and unlimited invention."
