the "Atomic Theory"

[Mike Rocket J Squirrel]

In Flann O'Brian's "The Third Policeman,"

" ...the main text is primarily concerned with the adventures of our
antihero who, wandering through a weirdly defamiliarized rural district,
comes to be detained by a pair of cheerfully batty policeman. Their
worldview is what you might call bicyclogical: things fully make sense
only when regarded through a lens involving tire pumps, handlebars, and
light dynamos. It's connected to the `Atomic Theory':

`People who spend most of the natural lives riding iron bicycles over the
rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the
personalities of their bicycles as a result of the interchanging of atoms
of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in
these parts who nearly are half people and half bicycles.' "

O'Neill, Joseph. "The Last Laugh." May 2008. _TheAtlantic.com_. 9 May 2008
<http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200805/flann-obrien/2>

.... seems oddly pertinent though I'm not sure how or why.

--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"

 

[Andre Jute]

On May 10, 12:33 am, Mike Rocket J Squirrel
<[email protected]> wrote:
> In Flann O'Brian's "The Third Policeman,"
>
> " ...the main text is primarily concerned with the adventures of our
> antihero who, wandering through a weirdly defamiliarized rural district,
> comes to be detained by a pair of cheerfully batty policeman. Their
> worldview is what you might call bicyclogical: things fully make sense
> only when regarded through a lens involving tire pumps, handlebars, and
> light dynamos. It's connected to the `Atomic Theory':
>
> `People who spend most of the natural lives riding iron bicycles over the
> rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the
> personalities of their bicycles as a result of the interchanging of atoms
> of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in
> these parts who nearly are half people and half bicycles.' "
>
> O'Neill, Joseph. "The Last Laugh." May 2008. _TheAtlantic.com_. 9 May 2008
> <http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200805/flann-obrien/2>
>
> ... seems oddly pertinent though I'm not sure how or why.

Easy to explain. He's Irish.

Flann O'Brian is one of the great comic writers of the world. It is a
pity he did not write more.

There's a certain amount of truth in his description. The time he
describes was of course before my time, but I remember that a couple
of years ago a retired policeman entertained a party with a story of
an inspector coming to a rural police station in the middle 1950's
intent on viewing the bicycle each constable was still supposed to
supply out of his own pocket, and how the country coppers wheeled
through the single bicycle that was owned by some young unmarried
fellow (he needed the bike to visit farmers' daughters, no? ---
yeesss!) no fewer than six times, each one explaining that Black
Dougal gave a very special discount to the police on this colour of
Raleigh. The outrageous colour was silver...

Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE & CYCLING.html