Barry Lyndon is a comic novel narrated by Redmond Barry, an Irish adventurer in the eighteenth century who tells his own story with great self-satisfaction. Leaving Ireland after a duel, he becomes a soldier, gambler and fortune hunter across Europe, always sure he is a gentleman of honour. The reader slowly sees through his boasting to the cruelty and selfishness beneath. It is a masterful piece of ironic storytelling, where the narrator reveals more than he intends, and it inspired a well known later film.