On this episode of the “Mining the Dalkey Archive: Irish Edition,” Tom Flynn (Paratext Publicity, Why Not? Read Alpha Flight with Chris and Tom) joined myself and Vincent Francone (A Book No One Wants) to discuss The Third Policeman, one of Flann O'Brien’s masterpieces.
We talk about the book itself, the use of footnotes (in comparison to how Boylan uses them in Killoyle), Brian O’Nolan/Brian Ó Nualláin/Myles na gCopaleen and names, the reactions of Vince’s students to the book (and how that’s changed since 2020), and ways in which popular culture has helped Flann reach new, younger audiences.
And yes, we talk about the infamous appearance of The Third Policeman on Lost, how that happened, and the way we promoted it to the tune of 15,000 sales.
The music in this episode is, for obvious reasons, “De Selby (Part 1)” and “De Selby (Part 2)” by Hozier.
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