Brian O’Nolan: novelist or journalist?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33566/asc.6647Keywords:
Myles na Gopaleen, Brian O’Nolan, Cruiskeen Lawn, satire, journalism, IrelandAbstract
Myles na gCopaleen alias Brian O’Nolan had a tremendous influence on a certain choice subculture of readers of The Irish Times of Dublin, which he worked for as a columnist from the 1941s until his death in 1966. He was considered to be the funniest and most dangerous satirist Ireland had ever seen, and he was definitely feared by those who could be targeted. Many believed this was his only product, and when a novel he wrote in 1939 resurfaced in 1960, he became James Joyce’s illegitimate child in the blink of an eye whether he wanted or not. He left three good novels behind, which made ‘high brows’ write enough to fill a library, and twenty-six years’ neglected articles mainly published in the ‘Cruiskeen Lawn’ satirical column of The Irish Times to jest, entertain and educate The Plain People of Ireland. Which one of all these deserves the rank of the ‘magnum opus’? Is it possible that a canonised postmodern novelist genius created some profound value with the ‘Brimming Jug’ labelled as frivolous and a waste of talent?
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