“Not with a bang but a whimper”: uncovering pandemic strains in Flann O’Brien’s later works

Abstract

ABSTRACT During the 1950s and 1960s influenza was a recurring theme in the Cruiskeen Lawn, a satirical column by Myles na Copaleen (Flann O’Brien) in The Irish Times. The columns’ engagement arose from Ireland’s experience of brutal influenza seasons and, in particular, the 1957–58 pandemic, known at the time as the Asian Flu. The pandemic’s virus killed approximately over a million people worldwide, but until our recent, COVID-inspired interest in historical outbreaks, has received very limited critical engagement. In this article I take Flann O’Brien’s The Dalkey Archive as a case study through which to explore literary studies’ amnesia regarding medical history, specifically the 1957–58 pandemic, subsequent influenza outbreaks, and associated bacterial complications. Weaving together O’Brien’s correspondence, journalism and final completed novel, I propose a new way of understanding The Dalkey Archive, one that deprioritises its connections to politics and presents it instead as a response to the symptoms and strains of pandemics and outbreaks.