O’Brien, Flann (1911-1966), was a pen name of the Irish writer Brian O’Nolan. He established his reputation with his first novel, At Swim-Two-Birds. The novel was originally published in 1939 but did not achieve widespread recognition until it was reissued in 1960. The novel reflects the influence of the Irish author James Joyce. On one level, it follows the life of a young Irish student in Dublin. It also contains a “novel within a novel” about the legendary Irish hero Finn MacCool. O’Brien also injects broadly humorous references to Irish folklore.
O’Brien wrote a novel in Gaelic called An Beal Bocht (1941) that was translated as The Poor Mouth (1973). His other novels include The Hard Life (1961), The Dalkey Archive (1964), and The Third Policeman (1967). Under the pen name Myles na gCopaleen, O’Brien wrote satirical columns for the Irish Times beginning in 1940. A selection of these columns was published in 1968, after O’Brien’s death, as The Best of Myles.
O’Brien was born on Oct. 5, 1911, in Strabane, in Ulster. He worked as a civil servant until he was forced to retire because of ill health in 1953. He died on April 1, 1966.
