Sources and Resources

Almost everything that was displayed was from Burns Library’s Flann O’Brien Papers MS1997-027, the bulk acquired from his youngest brother, Micheál Ó Nualláin, and supplemented with more recent acquisitions. A visual artist, Micheál’s contributions are also represented by the charcoal and pencil sketches reproduced in the panels and the large oil portrait that hangs in the Irish Room.

Also displayed were works loaned by David and Eddie O’Kane, an artistic duo from Lifford, just across the River Foyle from O’Nolan’s birthplace in Strabane. In addition to their paintings, iPads present video sequences that respond to the existential conundrums and terrors of The Third Policeman.

The interpretative labels owe much to scholarship that has flourished around Flann leading up to and since the centenary of his death in 2011, especially through the International Flann O’Brien Society, founded that year.

Gracious thanks are due to the many staff of Burns Library who contributed to the concept, design, editing, and installation of this exhibit, as well as the processing and preservation of Flann’s documentary legacy.

Christian Dupont

Burns Librarian