(urth) The Third Policeman and The Land Across

[David Stockhoff]

Haven't read Land Across yet (I know, I know), but IIRC, T3P has a 
(spoiler alert) ghost narrator. And the dead behave in a Beckett-like 
manner, unable to perceive their condition or do anything about it.

I can very easily see Wolfe doing something with that.

On 9/14/2014 3:03 AM, Auspex Rex wrote:
> I’d never heard of Flann O’Brien or The Third Policeman, but reading the synopsis on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Policeman) made me think again about The Land Across. Someone else pointed out the connection to The Third Man already: Grafton mentions Hotel Sacher. Lots of missing, presumed-dead, actually dead, ghost third persons… and TLA’s third border-guard who is sometimes invisible, sometimes not, and looks like the leader of the country, and also looks like Grafton’s father...
>
> Anyone familiar with The Third Policeman and The Land Across have thoughts on how the former might help us interpret the latter?
>
> -Jeff
>
> On Aug 17, 2014, at 9:39 PM, Gwern Branwen <gwern at gwern.net> wrote:
>
>> - http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.com/2014/08/lafferty-news-thats-right-news.html
>> - http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/aug/13/ra-lafferty-secret-sci-fi-genius-poised-for-comeback
>> "RA Lafferty – the secret sci-fi genius more than ready for a
>> comeback: A reissue of the US science fiction writer RA Lafferty's
>> stories sold out rapidly this year, and his fans, including Neil
>> Gaiman, hope to see his novels reprinted"
>>
>>> There's something of the Irish comic tradition in there, the
>> absurdity and surreality of Flann O'Brien, author of The Third
>> Policeman. "I agree," says the author Neil Gaiman.
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>