Product Description

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 the scientist/philosopher de Selby, he is introduced to "Atomic Theory" and its relation to bicycles, the existence of eternity (which turns out to be just down the road), and de Selby's view that the earth is not round but "sausage-shaped." With the help of his newly found soul named "Joe," he grapples with the riddles and contradictions that three eccentric policeman present to him.



The last of O'Brien's novels to be published, The Third Policeman joins O'Brien's other fiction (At Swim-Two-Birds, The Poor Mouth, The Hard Life, The Best of Myles, and The Dalkey Archive) to ensure his place, along with James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, as one of Ireland's great comic geniuses.



With the publication of The Third Policeman, Dalkey Archive Press now has all of O'Brien's fiction back in print.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46971 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Amazon.com
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.

From Publishers Weekly
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.)
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From AudioFile
This bizarre tale, considered a modern Irish classic, is experiencing renewed attention after having been mentioned in various episodes of the television series "Lost." An unnamed protagonist and his accomplice, John Divney, commit a robbery and murder. Afterwards, the story becomes surreal, with the main character encountering philosophy-spouting policemen and experiencing other weird occurrences. Jim Norton's Irish accent is appropriate to the setting. His tone maintains a deadpan, offhand manner, which becomes increasingly chilling after the murder is committed. While this interpretation is fitting for the surrealism of the narrative and may appeal to those with a taste for the eccentric, it's not a gripping listen. One is left with a sense of having missed the point--and not really caring. M.H.N. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Before Its Time
The Third Policeman is a great, easy read for anyone interested in an early modern twist on bending reality. Its theme has been largely picked up in recent popular culture via movies and television shows, but without much of a reference or credit. If you like artful game-changes and final-chapter plot twists that give completely new perspective on the entirety of the preceding book, then you will enjoy the literary talents of O'Brien in this work.

Some similar works of late would be any movie by M. Night Shayalaman; the televisions show Lost; or any recent thriller that keeps you guessing.

Too Weird for My Taste
Too bizare for my taste and way out of my literary league. However, if you want a taste of what hell could be like, go for it.

An Astounding Pancake
It is unfortunate that Flann O'Brien isn't assigned reading, and that one is generally forced to discover him for oneself. The Third Policeman is one of the funniest books I've read. Unlike "At Swim-Two-Birds," O'Brien's other classic, it's plotted more or less linearly. The plot is fantastically involved, and is -- uniquely in modernist writing -- one of the best things about the book.

A very skeletal plot summary: the narrator (one-legged and nameless) inherits a pub, but having no interest in running it he leaves its management to the thieving John Divney. Divney persuades the narrator that the pub is losing money so it would be a good idea to kill the local miser and steal all his money, so they kill him. When they go to recover the money, the narrator is blown up by a mine and enters an alternate universe dominated by policemen who are obsessed with bicycles, Russian dolls, and eternity. Happening to be available when a criminal is required, the narrator gets sentenced to death, but wheedles a trip to eternity out of the policemen before he is to be hanged. While there he collects immense quantities of gold, but can't bring them back to earth because of a technicality. He escapes at the last minute because an army of one-legged men, who have come to rescue him, distract the policemen long enough for him to slink away on a highly-sexed she-bicycle. He returns to his village to find John Divney fat and middle-aged, but the sight of him scares John Divney to death and they return together to the police station.

There is a lot of humor, mostly deadpan and dark; the policemen's world is a beautifully conceived noneuclidean pastoral, and the running gags are hilarious -- the "atomic theory of the bicycle" (if you spend too long on a bicycle you become more than 50% bicycle and start leaning on walls; your bicycle, on the other hand, becomes more than 50% human and starts misbehaving with women) and de Selby's theories about night being due to air pollution are the funniest of the many recurring gags in the book. The writing is beautiful too, though somewhat more restrained than "At Swim-Two-Birds"; the style is a stripped-down version of Joyce, about halfway between "Ulysses" and Beckett's "Watt." The policemen's dialect (e.g. the many uses of the word pancake) is a spectacularly successful innovation.

In short, this book is a must-read. Read it.