Flann obrien the third policeman summary

1967 novel by Flann O'Brien

The Third Policeman is a novel by Irish writer Brian O'Nolan, writing under the pseudonym Flann O'Brien. It was written in 1939 and 1940, but after it initially failed to find a publisher, the author withdrew the manuscript from circulation and claimed he had lost it.

The book remained unpublished at the time of his death in 1966. It was published by MacGibbon & Kee in 1967.^[1][2]

Plot summary

The Third Policeman is set in rural Ireland and is narrated by a dedicated amateur scholar who studies de Selby, a scientist and philosopher.^[3] The narrator, whose name the reader never learns, is orphaned at a young age.^[4] At boarding school, he discovers the work of de Selby and becomes a fanatically dedicated student of it.

One night he breaks his leg under mysterious circumstances – "if you like, it was broken for me" – and he is ultimately fitted with a wooden leg to repla The Third Policeman Summary - BookBrief BEKEB