Cycling Through Metaphysical Landscapes: A Relativistic Reading of Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman

Resume

The works of Brian Ó Nualláin, who wrote under the pen name Flann O’Brien, have been difficult to categorize in terms of the literary movement to which they belong. Some researchers have deemed them as post-modern while more recent studies point to a more modernist approach to his work. This paper reads Flann O’Brien’s novel The Third Policeman in reference to the topic of real and metaphysical space. The events in this novel take place within a fantastic and bizarre world, where time stands still and where the characters are entangled in absurd situations and become lost in a warped reality. Many of the concepts presented are paradoxical while the spatial specifications are always relative, thus creating chaos and confusion both for the unnamed main character and the readers. By analyzing examples from O’Brien’s novel, this paper, therefore, demonstrates that the ambivalence of this work stands as a parable for the absurdity of the human condition in the pursuit of secure knowledge. By drawing parallels with modern physics to illustrate the absurdity of epistemological pursuits, the novel reflects the skepticism of 20^th century society and the crisis of authority.