J. P. Donleavy

J. P. Donleavy
Born James Patrick Donleavy
(1926-04-23) 23 April 1926
New York City, United States
Ethnicity Irish American
Alma mater Trinity College, Dublin
Period 1955 – present
Genre Novel, play
Notable works The Ginger Man,
A Fairy Tale of New York

James Patrick Donleavy (born 23 April 1926) is an Irish American novelist and playwright. His first novel is The Ginger Man. Another novel, A Fairy Tale of New York, provided the title of the famous song "Fairytale of New York".

Biography

Born in New York City to Irish emigrant parents and receiving his education at various schools in the United States, he served in the US Navy during World War II. After the war ended he moved to Ireland. In 1946 he began studying at Trinity College, Dublin, but left in 1949 before taking a degree. He was first published in the Dublin literary periodical, Envoy. He gained critical acclaim with his first novel, The Ginger Man, which is one of the Modern Library 100 best novels.[1] The novel was banned in Ireland and the United States by reason of obscenity. Lead character Sebastian Dangerfield was in part based on Trinity College companion Gainor Crist, an American Navy veteran also studying at Trinity College on the G. I. Bill, whom Donleavy once described in an interview as a 'saint,' though of a Rabelaisian kind[2] Correctly or incorrectly, his initial works are sometimes grouped with the Kitchen Sink artists as well as the "Angry Young Men".[3]

Donleavy lives at Levington Park, a country house on 200 acres (0.81 km2) directly on Lough Owel, near Mullingar, County Westmeath.[4]

Donleavy declared himself an atheist at the age of 14.[5] He married Valerie Heron in 1946; the couple had two children: Philip (born 1951) and Karen (born 1955). They divorced in 1969. He remarried in 1970 to Mary Wilson Price; that union ended in divorce in 1989.[4]

List of works

References

  1. Gussow, Mel (28 June 2000). "The Classic With a Pornographic Pedigree". The New York Times.
  2. An Interview with J. P. Donleavy' Journal of Irish Literature January 1978
  3. Campbell, James (26 June 2004). "The spice of life". The Guardian (London).
  4. 1 2 "The spice of life, by James Campbell". The Guardian (London). 26 June 2004. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  5. "Series 7 Programme 2". The Meaning of Life, broadcast on RTÉ One, 13 January 2013.

External links

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