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==The Novel==
 
==The Novel==
 
*''The Third Policeman'' is a novel by the [[Ireland|Irish]] author [[wikipedia:Flann O'Brien|Flann O' Brien]] (a pseudonym which Brian O'Nolan adopted for the all his published work). It was written in 1940 but published posthumously in 1967, at which point it gained almost instant critical acclaim.
 
*''The Third Policeman'' is a novel by the [[Ireland|Irish]] author [[wikipedia:Flann O'Brien|Flann O' Brien]] (a pseudonym which Brian O'Nolan adopted for the all his published work). It was written in 1940 but published posthumously in 1967, at which point it gained almost instant critical acclaim.
**It may be a story about academic obsession, a fable about crime and punishment, or according to some, even a commentary on Einsteinian or quantum physics.
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**It is be a story about academic obsession, a fable about crime and punishment, or according to some, even a commentary on Einsteinian or quantum physics.
   
 
==The Plot==
 
==The Plot==

Revision as of 20:14, 13 July 2006

Template:Spoiler

Thethirdpoliceman

Cover of The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien

LOST is notorious for featuring extremely subtle cultural references; perhaps one of the most blatant examples of this is The Third Policeman. The writers have specifically referenced this book as providing "ammunition" which may aid with interperation of the plot of LOST.


The Novel

  • The Third Policeman is a novel by the Irish author Flann O' Brien (a pseudonym which Brian O'Nolan adopted for the all his published work). It was written in 1940 but published posthumously in 1967, at which point it gained almost instant critical acclaim.
    • It is be a story about academic obsession, a fable about crime and punishment, or according to some, even a commentary on Einsteinian or quantum physics.

The Plot

  • Obsessed by the somewhat odd theories of De Selby, the protagonist sets out on a catastrophic quest to publish a definitive commentary on the philosopher. To fund this ambition, he plans to murder and rob a rich man - although in a strange, and very LOST-like way, fate seems to guide him in this direction, whether he likes it or not.
  • De Selby is a natural skeptic of all known laws of physics, who casually dismisses the evidence of human experience. He contends, for example, that "the permanent hallucination known conventionally as 'life' is an effect of constantly walking in a particular direction around a sausage-shaped earth, and that night results from 'accumulations of black air'".(Possibly an allusion to the black smoke).
  • The protagonist finally gets hold of his victims' black box only to discover that the box does not contain money, but “omnium” , a substance once described as: “the essential inherent interior essence which is hidden in the root of the kernel of everything”, and which is literally everything one desires. The former holder of the box has been using it to take the muck off his leggings and to boil his eggs just right, but naturally the narrator has more grandiose visions of his future omnipotence.
  • In the novel, the first two policemen share an underground structure with the narrator, which is eerily similar to the Dharma Bunkers. Without spoiling the ending, the narrator is being punished for his "bad" deeds. One can draw a parallel with this and the new idea that Islanders in danger of being taken by the Others are either "good" or "bad". Are the survivors from the front-end all being punished in much the same way that O'Brien's narrator is?

The Third Policeman in LOST

DesmondThe thirdpoliceman

The third policeman, as seen when Desmond is fleeing the hatch.

  • Desmond appears to be reading The Third Policeman when the hatch is finally infiltrated by the mid-section survivors, at the start of season two. The book is visible on Desmond's bunk in the Swan in Orientation.
  • The protagonist is tragically orphaned and later sent to boarding school where he first becomes acquainted with the work of the bizarre philosopher, De Selby, who is referenced constantly, both via footnotes, and in body of the novel itself.
  • While many possible connections can be drawn, most of these are tenuous at best. This section is concerned with elements of the book which have a strong similarity to the events in LOST - and to present the possible "ammunition" referenced by the writers.
    • Policeman MacCruiskeen and his partner are obsessed with taking readings from their underground bunker, and assuring that these readings are within "safe" ranges. They are constantly having to adjust the readings into these safe ranges - and we find out later in the novel that the "third policeman" himself (Policeman Fox) has in fact been constantly modifying these readings into the unsafe range for his own entertainment.
    • This sounds very similar to what happens in the hatch as far as resetting the clock every 108 minutes - combined with what we learn in The Pearl
    • On one of the occasions when Policeman Fox modifies the readings into the unsafe range he either purposefully or unpurposefully saves the narrator from being hanged by Policeman MacCruiskeen as he suddenly has to attend to lowering the readings.
    • When Desmond forgot to press the button he inadvertenly crashes Oceanic Flight 815 - their radio had already gone out 6 hours before this. Could he have been in fact saving them from some more terrible fate?

Hell goes 'round and round'

  • This element of the plot of the novel, which is revealed in the last pages of the book, may be crucial;
    • Michael and Walt may never escape the island.
    • Indeed, escape from the island for anyone may be impossible in theory.

The Author

The author, Flann O' Brien, was an Irish novelist and political commentator. Born in County Tyrone, and raised in Dublin, he entered the Irish civil service in 1937 and formally retired in 1953. From 1940 until his death, he wrote a political column called "Cruiskeen Lawn" for The Irish Times, under the pseudonym of Myles na Gopaleen; his biting, satiric commentaries made him the conscience of the Irish government. As Flann O'Brien, he published three wildly funny novels, At Swim-Two-Birds (1939, rep. 1960), The Dalkey Archive (1964), and obviously The Third Policeman (1967). He also published a play, Faustus Kelly (1943).

See also