At Swim-Two-Birds
By: [Flann O'Brien ; introduction by William H. Gass].
Edition: 1st Dalkey Archive ed.
Series: Irish literature series
Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Normal, IL
Language: eng
Number of pages: 315
Subjects: Folklore -- Ireland -- Fiction.; Mythology, Celtic -- Fiction.; Tales -- Ireland -- Adaptations.
First sentence: Having placed in my mouth sufficient bread for three minutes' chewing, I withdrew my powers of sensual perception and retired into the privacy of my mind, my eyes and face assuming a vacant and preoccupied expression.
Description: "The story of an Irish college student who - half to amuse himself and half to avoid work - writes an irreverent novel about the figures of Irish myth and legend in which characters come to life and riot against their author, At Swim is a wildly comic send-up of Irish literature and culture.".

"O'Brien opened up a whole new world of possibilities for fiction and subsequent novelists have played with his zany ideas, chief among them being the idea that characters in fiction have earned the right to be "recycled" - after all, they've proven their reliability as characters! - not retired once their stories are finished."--BOOK JACKET.