Review of Flann O’Brien: Gallows Humour, edited by Ruben Borg and Paul Fagan

Abstract

Flann O'Brien: Gallows Humour is the first study to offer a sustained focus on biopolitical themes in the work of Brian O’Nolan. With this collection, editors Ruben Borg and Paul Fagan show how wider vistas are now clearly open for research into the post-Revival politics of the Irish writer, but also how a more refined lens on the historical and political environment that nurtured (or, indeed, stoked the ire of) O’Nolan’s wit can provide tantalising new avenues for investigation. It is in this dual movement—of expanding scope and concentrated focus—that the critical merit of Gallows Humour lies, as it affords future scholars a wealth of novel methodologies and a multitude of exciting critical directions.

Keywords

• Flann O'Brien
• Biopolitics
• Irish Studies
• Humour
• Bodies
• Law and literature