The Third Policeman

Flann O'Brien · 1911–1966 · Ireland

Why it matters

A nameless murderer wanders a rural Ireland where bicycles and men swap souls and policemen expound mad physics, before discovering the true shape of his own fate. O'Brien's posthumous masterpiece of comic metaphysics.

At a glance

Absurdist logic and digressive pseudo-scholarly footnotes disrupt straightforward reading.