Talk:James Gordon Farrell

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Why is this person important, what did he do, or what is he known for? The article should say at least this, before it is quite a stub. --Mysidia (talk) 23:15, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Wondering if Farrell might properly be considered an IRISH rather than a British writer? Is there a way to say British-Irish? Mottstreetsara 18:26, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Farrell has sometimes been written of as Irish yet it's hard to justify this. He was born in Liverpool and educated wholly in the UK. His father was born in England (of a family which had moved from Ireland a century earlier) whereas his mother was born in Ireland (of a family which had moved from England). He had a British passport, an English accent (heard in a couple of BBC recordings) and he moved to Ireland only in his mid-40s. His Irish residency was limited mainly to time spent at his parents' home in Dalkey, such as during school holidays, to a short stint of employment in his twenties and then a few months in West Cork at the end of his short life. One of his seven novels (Troubles) is set in Ireland. Farrell loved Ireland a great deal and had he lived he might well have settled there for good. But none of this actually makes him Irish. Vincent Dowd 00:18, 1 February 2007 (UTC)