The Sago Saga, or From Under the Ground to the Treetops

“Three Spires” of twentieth-century Irish literature—James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and Flann O’Brien. And if the first two became scandalous triumphs across Europe, the great absurdist O’Brien simply wasn’t lucky. He left Ireland only once and lived an essentially ordinary life: worked as a civil servant, drank a lot, never escaped depression, and died of cancer. The only exceptions were that he was a brilliant columnist for the “Irish Times” and was known as witty. His works also weren’t lucky: the printing shop where copies of his first novel “At Swim-Two-Birds” were kept was destroyed by Luftwaffe bombs; his next book, the novel “The Third Policeman,” was rejected by all publishing houses, forcing him to lie to friends and acquaintances that the manuscript had been irrevocably lost. And those works that did make it to print sold very poorly.

But in Russian-language culture, his books’ fate turned out differently: people here have known O’Brien since the 1990s, and print runs of his novels are quite acceptable.

With serious illness already upon him, Flann O’Brien began writing a novel—which, unfortunately, remained unfinished. Still, fans of Irish humor may find it interesting: a mocking but harmless story about the comical lives of the characters.

The main character is a true fighter, and his greatest victory is victory over himself. The conclusion reveals all the riddles, secrets, and hints that were skillfully planted throughout the entire plotline.