“Forego the reality of all the simple things”: On Object-Oriented Reality as Metaphorical Vortex in Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman

Abstract

This article examines Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman in the context of Object-Oriented Ontology, and argues that the novel transports the structural paradigm of reality and being towards a never-ending limbo, highlighting a circular transference of meaning from known toward unknown horizons and vice versa. In so doing, it explores the ways in which The Third Policeman engages with the concept of metaphor in its proportionality or analogous nature, revealing a contrapuntal form of narrative that produces an odd reality wherein objects maintain a self-referential position while introducing the subject as that which must oscillate between its metaphorical and literal integrity. The object, therefore, not only enjoys an independent existence in O’Brien’s narrative but also maintains a singular and independent ontological composition inside or outside such circular vortex. The article concludes by presenting the object as the most stable entity with multifarious functionalities that complement the axis of the narrative, cementing its presence as the mature object.

Keywords

• objectile reality
• symbiotic ontology
• mature object
• spatial temporality
• circular vortex
• the third policeman