J. P. Donleavy was an American-Irish author and playwright. He is best known for the novel The Ginger Man (1955), which shocked the literary world with its combination of sexual frankness and outrageous humor.
James Patrick Donleavy was born in New York City. After attending several schools, he served in the US Navy during World War II. Later Donleavy moved to Dublin and studied microbiology at Trinity College in Dublin. In 1967 he became an Irish citizen.
The title character of his debut book, The Ginger Man, Donleavy said, was inspired by a classmate from Trinity College, Gainor Stephen Crist.
The Ginger Man tells the story of bohemian American-in-Ireland antihero Sebastian Dangerfield, described as impulsive, destructive, wayward, cruel, a monster, a clown, and a psychopath. The novel was banned and burned in Ireland. When it was published in the United States in 1958, Chapter 10 was omitted, along with numerous sentences here and there.
The novel finally succeeded in critical acclaim and public acceptance, so much so that it is now a contemporary classic, selling more than 45 million copies worldwide. Mr. Donleavy was compared to James Joyce and hailed as a forerunner of both the black humor movement and the London playwrights known as the Angry Young Men.
A stage version of The Ginger Man was staged in London in 1959 with Richard Harris as Dangerfield, and a British TV movie, starring Ian Hendry, was shown in 1962. Patrick O'Neill starred in the Broadway production in 1963 (and opened a restaurant named after the play across from Lincoln Center that same year), but there is still no motion picture version.
Donleavy wrote more than a dozen novels, plays, and nonfiction books. His other works include A Singular Man (1965), The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B (1968), A Fairy Tale of New York (1973), The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman (1991), and Leila (1994).
His last published novels before his death were The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms (1997) and Wrong Information Is Being Given Out at Princeton (1998).
J. P. Donleavy died in 2017 in Ireland at the age of 91. His sister, Mary Rita Donleavy, said the cause was a stroke.
Photo credit: Grove Atlantic
James Patrick Donleavy was born in New York City. After attending several schools, he served in the US Navy during World War II. Later Donleavy moved to Dublin and studied microbiology at Trinity College in Dublin. In 1967 he became an Irish citizen.
The title character of his debut book, The Ginger Man, Donleavy said, was inspired by a classmate from Trinity College, Gainor Stephen Crist.
The Ginger Man tells the story of bohemian American-in-Ireland antihero Sebastian Dangerfield, described as impulsive, destructive, wayward, cruel, a monster, a clown, and a psychopath. The novel was banned and burned in Ireland. When it was published in the United States in 1958, Chapter 10 was omitted, along with numerous sentences here and there.
The novel finally succeeded in critical acclaim and public acceptance, so much so that it is now a contemporary classic, selling more than 45 million copies worldwide. Mr. Donleavy was compared to James Joyce and hailed as a forerunner of both the black humor movement and the London playwrights known as the Angry Young Men.
A stage version of The Ginger Man was staged in London in 1959 with Richard Harris as Dangerfield, and a British TV movie, starring Ian Hendry, was shown in 1962. Patrick O'Neill starred in the Broadway production in 1963 (and opened a restaurant named after the play across from Lincoln Center that same year), but there is still no motion picture version.
Donleavy wrote more than a dozen novels, plays, and nonfiction books. His other works include A Singular Man (1965), The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B (1968), A Fairy Tale of New York (1973), The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman (1991), and Leila (1994).
His last published novels before his death were The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms (1997) and Wrong Information Is Being Given Out at Princeton (1998).
J. P. Donleavy died in 2017 in Ireland at the age of 91. His sister, Mary Rita Donleavy, said the cause was a stroke.
Photo credit: Grove Atlantic
years of life: 23 April 1926 – 11 September 2017
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