The Third Policeman

The Third Policeman
Flann O’Brien

A masterpiece of black humour from the renown comic and acclaimed author of ‘At Swim-Two-Birds’ – Flann O’Brien.A thriller, a hilarious comic satire about an archetypal village police force, a surrealistic vision of eternity, the story of a tender, brief, unrequited love affair between a man and his bicycle, and a chilling fable of unending guilt, ‘The Third Policeman’ is comparable only to ‘Alice in Wonderland’ as an allegory of the absurd.Distinguished by endless comic invention and its delicate balancing of logic and fantasy, ‘The Third Policeman’ is unique in the English language.

FLANN O’BRIEN

The Third Policeman

Copyright (#u15a11fc9-e516-5d54-b528-c8658c6c6d59)

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/)

Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition published 2007

Previously published in paperback by Flamingo 1960s Series in 2001

Previously published in paperback as a Flamingo Modern Classic in 1993

Previously published in paperback by Paladin in 1988

First published in Great Britain by MacGibbon & Kee Ltd 1967

Copyright © Evelyn O’Nolan 1967

PS Section copyright © Richard Shephard 2007

PS™ is a trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007247172

Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2010 ISBN: 9780007369195

Version: 2017-01-12

Human existence being an hallucination containing in itself the secondary hallucinations of day and night (the latter an insanitary condition of the atmosphere due to accretions of black air) it ill becomes any man of sense to be concerned at the illusory approach of the supreme hallucination known as death.

DE SELBY

Since the affairs of men rest still uncertain, Let’s reason with the worst that may befall.

SHAKESPEARE

Table of Contents

Cover (#ubf775b18-f154-55ba-8d84-e17813169e7d)

Title Page (#uaba93215-735f-5989-9fc2-7f00521d40de)

Copyright (#u0508315c-e3ad-57e5-a5c4-74515c766799)

Epigraph (#ube162226-5fd1-5bf3-a307-8c46ee8d5077)

Chapter 1 (#ue2fd268c-bc45-5b79-92b6-602a6a5694c4)

Chapter 2 (#ue05c70e5-c660-5d49-b06b-62935184ebfb)

Chapter 3 (#u86c2a275-ac56-56ef-8875-cad1cbd2ccac)

Chapter 4 (#u02a58355-038a-5c2c-8d7a-f60477f9ec31)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

Publisher’s Note (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

By the Same Author (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 1 (#u15a11fc9-e516-5d54-b528-c8658c6c6d59)