β Scribed by Flann O'Brien
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
{ Oct 2020 - Verified ebook }
Paperback, 240 pages
Published 1967
Introduction by: Denis Donoghue
A comic trip through hell in Ireland, as told by a murderer, The Third Policeman is another inspired bit of confusing and comic lunacy from the warped imagination and lovably demented pen of Flann O'Brien, author of At Swim-Two-Birds. There's even a small chance you'll figure out what's going on if you read the publisher's note that appears on the last page.
Starred Review. If ever a book was brought to life by a reading, it is this presentation of O'Brien's posthumously published classic. Norton individually crafts voices and personalities for each character in such a way that a listener might imagine an entire cast of voice talent working overtime. This is a comic/surreal tale of a one-legged gentleman farmer who participates in a poorly planned botched robbery-turned-murder, only to find himself having a long conversation with the dead man shortly after the deed. In addition he hears from his own soul, who he names Joe. Joe's voice is that of a wry observer with a voice of calm, removed authority, whereas dead man Mathers' voice is completely nasal, at once sickly and droll. Mathers sends the farmer to a two-dimensional barracks of three metaphysical policemen. Here he finds himself in a world where people can become bicycles and eternity is within walking distance. Norton's rendition of the main policeman, Sergeant Pluck, tips the reading into a full-out performance. The enormous blustery fellow with red cheeks and brushy mustache and eyebrows is portrayed like a jolly yet dangerous Disney walrus. Norton's Irish brogue, accentuated to different degrees with the various characters, ties the ribbon on a perfect presentation of this absurd and chilling masterpiece. (Apr.)
Copyright Β© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
π SIMILAR VOLUMES
*The Third Policeman*is Flann O'Brien's brilliantly dark comic novel about the nature of time, death, and existence. Told by a narrator who has committed a botched robbery and brutal murder, the novel follows him and his adventures in a two-dimensional police station where, through the theories of t
*The Third Policeman*is Flann O'Brien's brilliantly dark comic novel about the nature of time, death, and existence. Told by a narrator who has committed a botched robbery and brutal murder, the novel follows him and his adventures in a two-dimensional police station where, through the theories of t
One man wants to publish, so another must perish, in this darkly witty philosophical novel by "a spectacularly gifted comic writer" (Newsweek). The Third Policeman follows a narrator who is obsessed with the work of a scientist and philosopher named de Selby (who believes that Earth is not round but
The incredible fourth novel in the Martin Beck mystery series by the internationally renowned crime writing duo Maj SjΓΆwall and Per WahlΓΆΓΆ, finds Martin Beck heading a major manhunt in pursuit of a mass-murderer. On a cold and rainy Stockholm night, nine bus riders are gunned down by a mysterious a
The incredible fourth novel in the Martin Beck mystery series by the internationally renowned crime writing duo Maj SjΓΆwall and Per WahlΓΆΓΆ, finds Martin Beck heading a major manhunt in pursuit of a mass-murderer. On a cold and rainy Stockholm night, nine bus riders are gunned down by a mysterio