Abstract

I set out from the working hypothesis that Flann O’Brien’s novel, At Swim-Two-Birds is a satire on contemporary and mythological Ireland. The author seems to have created an epic representation of the Irish myth and inception using the mask of trivia, of encoded messages placed in the storyline of a seemingly ridiculed society. This story within a story uses a literary device, comparable to that of presentational theatre, where the actor does not allow the audience to forget they are watching a play, as O’Brien himself mentions: “a self-evident sham, to which the reader could regulate at will the degree of his credulity” (O'Brien, p. 25). Within this noticeably ironic and contradictory lecture, the tumultuous loss of Irish spirituality is evidenced. The heroic characters praised by Ireland’s legends are included in a contemporary reality show fusing with the after-war decayed society.

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