J. P. Donleavy

James Patrick Donleavy (born April 23, 1926 New York City) is an Irish American author, born to Irish immigrants. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II after which he moved to Ireland. In 1946 he began studies at Trinity College, Dublin, but left before taking a degree. He was first published in the Dublin literary periodical, Envoy.

Donleavy gained critical acclaim with his first novel, The Ginger Man, which is one of the Modern Library 100 best novels.^[1] Correctly or incorrectly, his initial works are sometimes grouped with the Kitchen Sink artists as well as the Angry young men.^[2] Though not in the Beat tradition (while overlapping with it), Donleavy's The Ginger Man is often compared to Jack Kerouac's On the Road in that, just as Kerouac based his central character of Dean Moriarty on Neal Cassady, Donleavy based his central character Sebastian Dangerfield on fellow American emigre in Dublin, Gainor Crist.^[1]

Personal life

Donleavy lives at Levington Park, a country house on 200 acres (0.81 km²) directly on Lough Owel, near the town of Mullingar in County Westmeath. ^[3] He received his education at various schools in the US and from Trinity College, Dublin, 1946-49.

Donleavy married Valerie Heron in 1946 and had two children with her: Philip, born in 1951, and Karen, born in 1955. They divorced in 1969. He married again in 1970 to Mary Wilson Price and they divorced in 1989.^[3]

He holds dual citizenship.

Bibliography

• The Ginger Man (Novel) Olympia Press, Paris 1955
• What They Did in Dublin, with The Ginger Man (Play) MacGibbon & Kee, London 1961
• The Ginger Man (Play) Random House, New York 1961
• Fairy Tales of New York (Play), Penguin, UK 1961 | Random House, New York 1961
• A Singular Man. Atlantic Monthly Press. 1994. ISBN 9780871132659. http://books.google.com/books?id=mWVePhPDrhcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=J.+P.+Donleavy#v=onepage&q=&f=false.  (Novel) 1st edition Atlantic-Little, Brown, Boston 1963
• Meet My Maker the Mad Molecule (Stories & Sketches) Atlantic-Little, Brown, Boston 1964
• A Singular Man (Play) The Bodley Head, UK 1965
• The Saddest Summer of Samuel S (Novella) Delacorte Press, New York 1966
• The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B (Novel) Delacorte Press, New York 1968
• The Onion Eaters (Novel) Delacorte Press, New York 1971
• The Plays of JP Donleavy Delacorte Press, New York 1972
• A Fairy Tale of New York (Novel) Delacorte Press, New York 1973
• J.P. Donleavy: The Plays Penguin, UK 1974
• The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners (Nonfiction) Delacorte Press, New York 1975
• The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman. Atlantic Monthly Press. 1991. ISBN 9780871132895. http://books.google.com/books?id=NJRy_38bdDIC&pg=PP1&dq=J.+P.+Donleavy#v=onepage&q=J.%20P.%20Donleavy&f=false.  (Novel) Franklin Library, Franklin Center, PA 1977
• Schultz (Novel) Delacorte Press, New York 1979
• Leila. Atlantic Monthly Press. 1994. ISBN 9780871132888. http://books.google.com/books?id=oJ3AZL9K3U0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=J.+P.+Donleavy#v=onepage&q=&f=false.  (Novel) Franklin Library, Franklin Center, Pennsylvania 1983
• De Alfonce Tennis... (Novel) Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1984
• J.P. Donleavy's Ireland... (Nonfiction) Viking, NY, 1986 | Michael Joseph, London 1986
• Are You Listening Rabbi Löw (Novel) Viking, London 1987
• A Singular Country (Nonfiction) Peterborough - Ryan, UK 1989
• That Darcy, That Dancer, That Gentleman (Novel) Viking, London 1990
• The History of the Ginger Man (Nonfiction) Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1994 | Viking, London 1994
• The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms. Macmillan. 1998. ISBN 9780312187347. http://books.google.com/books?id=to81rg2ZhtkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=J.+P.+Donleavy#v=onepage&q=&f=false.  (Novella) Thornwillow Press, US 1995
• An Author and His Image (Collected Short Pieces-Nonfiction) Viking, London 1997
• Wrong Information is Being Given Out at Princeton (Novel) Thomas Dunn-St. Martins Press, New York| Viking, London 1998

References

External links

• JPDonleavyCompendium.org
• Works by or about J. P. Donleavy in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Molly McKaughan & Fayette Hickox (Fall 1975). "J. P. Donleavy, The Art of Fiction No. 53". Paris Review. http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3809/the-art-of-fiction-no-53-j-p-donleavy. 
• N. P. James, ed (2008). J. P. Donleavy: The Formative Years. Cv Publications. ISBN 9781905571963. http://books.google.com/books?id=ni8Nbk1j--cC&pg=PA23&dq=J.+P.+Donleavy#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
• "The Ginger Man in Dublin", Totally Gonzo, June 17 2008
• "Tea & Scones & Darcy Dancer: The Making of An Irish Gentleman An Interview with J.P. Donleavy", Bloomsbury Review, E. Thomas Wood, January/February 1992
• "J.P. Donleavy", Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2010.
• "A singular man: J P Donleavy on his fascinating life since The Ginger Man" John McEntee, The Independent, 5 August 2010