Ian Thomson

Was Flann O’Brien at his best when writing about drink? (Answers on a damp stressed envelope, please)

The Short Fiction of Flann O'Brien is, not surprisingly, full of beerswillers and liquorslobbers

Flann O'Brien (on right) in the Palace Bar in Dublin (Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty) 
issue 01 February 2014

On his deathbed in Dublin in the spring of 1966, Flann O’Brien must have been squiffy from tots of Paddy. A bottle of the amber distillate was smuggled in to the hospital on April Fool’s Day by a couple of well-wishers. O’Brien rang the bell to summon a nurse. ‘Sister,’ he told her solemnly, ‘I have two friends who are constipated and need a dose.

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