The Dalkey Archive
From Free net encyclopedia
- For the publishing house, see Dalkey Archive Press.
The Dalkey Archive is a novel by the Irish writer Flann O'Brien. It is his fifth and final novel, published in 1964, two years before his death. It features a mad scientist, De Selby, who tries to destroy the world by sucking out all the air. He has also many strange inventions. He exploites the theory of relativity and invents a kind of time traveling machine, which he uses to age his whiskey; creating brews that have been aged for many decades in just a few hours. Saint Augustine and James Joyce both have speaking parts in the novel. James Joyce, after forging his own obituary to escape being drafted to fight in the Second World War, was serving pints in a small pub. Saint Augustine, on the other hand, appeared in a magical underwater cave and held a conversation with the main character. The mad scientist De Selby leads the main character to the cave, in which one may call upon anyone who has ever lived from the past and present and converse with them.