Flann O'Brien

Brian O'Nolan, who wrote under the pen names Flann O'Brien and Myles na gCopaleen, was born in 1911 in Strabane, County Tyrone, into a large Irish-speaking family. He studied at University College Dublin, where he became known for his sharp wit and elaborate literary hoaxes. At Swim-Two-Birds, published in 1939 when he was just twenty-seven, received enthusiastic praise from James Joyce and Graham Greene but sold poorly, its publication overshadowed by the outbreak of World War II. O'Brien spent most of his working life as a civil servant in the Irish Department of Local Government. This author hub collects 1 work in the Canon Compass ranking, led by At Swim Two-Birds.