At Swim-Two-Birds

At Swim-Two-Birds uses traditional Irish folk stories to explore new narrative ideas. In the context of the novel, Irish folklore symbolizes the ancestral literary past. As At Swim-Two-Birds explores the relationship between society, literary figures, authors, and their creators, the figures from Irish folklore such as Mad Sweeny and Finn Mac Cool represent the lineage on which the novel builds. Like Furriskey, Shanahan, and Lamont, these characters are shared among stories by different authors. They’re figures from the past, dragged into the present by contemporary authors who wish to associate themselves with their ancestry. Finn Mac Cool is forced to talk to Shanahan, sitting down and playing cards with the new characters, in a symbolic demonstration of how the novel brings together the Irish past and the Irish present. These characters are exhausted, archaic, but they retain a sense of familiarity that allows them to operate in the present. While representing differences from the past, the use of Irish folklore symbolically demonstrates the fundamental humanity of literature through the ages.

Additionally, the novel uses folklore and literature in a technical way. When Finn shares a poem, for example, or when the characters hear the story of Mad Sweeny, the novel’s narrative mode changes. Stories are told in traditional verse rather than contemporary prose. In the folk stories, characters are capable of magical feats. They leap great distances or change into birds, and these accomplishments are treated with a matter-of-factness that suggests that magic was a common feature of life in the past. These archaic styles contrast with the more modern prose that tells the stories of the other characters. However, the modern characters are also caught in a supernatural moment. Fergus the Pooka and the Good Fairy, for example, are figures from the folkloric past who are thrust into a literary present. They talk and speak like modern characters, symbolizing how certain figures from folklore are updated and modernized, while others—such as Finn—remain caught in the past.

This use of folklore as a symbol is especially pertinent as the student studies Irish folklore at university, though he often ignores his studies. Even a lazy man such like the student cannot ignore Irish folklore, however, and it thrusts itself into his work in unexpected ways. The way a lazy and disinterested student uses Irish folklore symbolizes the extent to which these stories are engrained in the culture at a fundamental level. The ambient presence of folklore in the society means that the student doesn’t even have to attend his classes to include these figures and ideas in his novel.