First published in 1989
No Laughing Matter: The Life and Times of Flann O’Brien
was the first full-length biography of Flann O’Brien. Rich in background, anecdote and social history, it is an extraordinary portrait of a writer and his times, perceptive, sympathetic and authoritative. Flann O’Brien (aka Brian O’Nolan) was born in Tyrone in 1911 and worked as a civil servant for many years. He also developed an alter ego, Myles na Gopaleen, whose saitrical column in the
Irish Times
soon acquired legendary status.
At Swim-Two-Birds
, his first novel, appeared in 1939 and was praised by James Joyce, Graham Greene, Dylan Thomas and others. His second novel,
The Third Policeman
, failed to find a publisher at the time but has since been acknowledged as one of the most important novels to come out of Ireland in the twentieth century. With a foreword by acclaimed author Kevin Barry and striking redesign,
No Laughing Matter
is an undisputed classic of Irish literary biography.