‘The truth is an odd number’: positivism reconsidered in the novels of Flann O’Brien

Abstract

This thesis seeks to retrace the cultural legacy of Logical Positivism through an engagement with the novels and journalism of Flann O’Brien. In line with recent studies comparing the Dublin Modernist with the philosophical writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein, rather than suggesting a direct, reading influence, I argue that O’Brien’s fiction displays a shared sensitivity to foundational problems that preoccupied the logical positivists – namely, the reliability of the senses, the limits of language as a vehicle for representation, and the cultural position of the scientist and technology. Arguing for a shared “structure of feeling,” the study situates O’Brien’s linguistic experimentation within the wider crisis of meaning that defined the interwar period.

Across four chapters, the thesis examines the romanticism of O’Brien’s “Celtic realism” in his MA Thesis and At Swim-Two-Birds; his critique of speculative and detective fiction as vehicles of empiricist dogma; his embrace of discursive multiplicity and stylistic indeterminacy as a form of resistance to totalising systems; and his later pessimisms about technological progress, modernisation and posthuman futures. By placing O’Brien in dialogue with figures such as Carnap, Schlick, Wittgenstein, and Popper, the thesis argues that his writing both parodies and philosophically mirrors the challenges faced by logical positivism.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 December 2030.

Date of Award	Dec 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Northern Ireland Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Stephen Kelly (Supervisor), Michael Pierse (Supervisor) & Roger Clarke (Supervisor)