James Patrick Donleavy (23 April 1926 – 11 September 2017) was an American-Irish novelist, short story writer and playwright.
His best-known work is the novel ''
The Ginger Man'', which was initially banned for obscenity.
Early life
Donleavy was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, to Irish immigrants Margaret and Patrick Donleavy, and grew up in
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
. His father was a
firefighter
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
, and his mother came from a wealthy background. He had a sister, Mary Rita, and a younger brother.
He received his education at various schools in the United States, then served in the
US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
After the war ended, he moved to Ireland. In 1946 he began studying
bacteriology at
Trinity College Dublin, but left in 1949 before taking a degree.
Career
Donleavy's first published work was a short story entitled ''A Party on Saturday Afternoon'', which appeared in the Dublin literary periodical ''
Envoy'' in 1950.
He gained critical acclaim with his first novel, ''
The Ginger Man'' (1955), which is one of the
Modern Library
The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an ...
100 best novels. The novel, of which Donleavy's friend and fellow writer
Brendan Behan
Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (christened Francis Behan) ( ; ga, Breandán Ó Beacháin; 9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican activist who wrote in both English an ...
was the first person to read the completed manuscript,
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
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
, whom Donleavy once described in an interview as a "saint", though of a
Rabelaisian kind.
Correctly or incorrectly, his initial works are sometimes grouped with the
kitchen sink
Kitchen sink may refer to:
* ''Freaks of Nature'' (film), a 2015 comedy horror film, also known as ''Kitchen Sink''
* ''Kitchen Sink'', a 1989 horror short directed by Alison Maclean
* ''Kitchen Sink'' (TV series), cookery series on Food Network ...
artists as well as the "
Angry Young Men".
Another novel, ''
A Fairy Tale of New York'', provided the title of the song "
Fairytale of New York".
In March 2007, Donleavy was the castaway on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's ''
Desert Island Discs''.
In 2015, Donleavy was the recipient of the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bord Gáis Energy
Irish Book Awards
The Irish Book Awards are Irish literary awards given annually to books and authors in various categories. In 2018 An Post took over sponsorship of the awards from Bord Gais Energy. It is the only literary award supported by all-Irish bookstores. ...
.
In 2016,
Trinity College Dublin awarded him with an honorary doctorate.
Personal life
Donleavy declared himself to be an atheist at the age of 14.
In 1946, he married Valerie Heron; the couple had two children: Philip (born 1951) and Karen (born 1955). They divorced in 1969 and he remarried in 1970 to Mary Wilson Price; that union ended in divorce in 1989.
In 2011, it was reported that Donleavy had not fathered his two children with Price. A DNA test in the early 1990s had confirmed that Rebecca was the daughter of brewing scion Kieran Guinness, and Rory was the son of Kieran's older brother Finn, whom Price married after her divorce from Donleavy. "My interest is only to look after the welfare of the child," Donleavy told ''The Times'', "and after a certain stage, you can't worry about their parentage".
He lived at Levington Park, a country house on directly on
Lough Owel, near
Mullingar,
County Westmeath
"Noble above nobility"
, image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state, Country
, subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland
, subdivision_type1 = Provinces o ...
, from 1972.
Throughout much of his life, he was known as Mike by close friends, though the origins of this nickname are unclear.
Donleavy died on 11 September 2017, aged 91.
List of works
* ''
The Ginger Man'' (novel) Olympia Press, Paris 1955
* ''What They Did in Dublin, with The Ginger Man'' (a 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-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'' (non-fiction) Delacorte Press, New York 1975
* (novel) Franklin Library, Franklin Center, Pennsylvania 1977
* ''Schultz'' (novel) Delacorte Press, New York 1979
* (novel) Franklin Library, Franklin Center, Pennsylvania 1983
* ''De Alfonce Tennis...'' (novel) Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1984
* ''J. P. Donleavy's Ireland...'' (non-fiction) Viking, New York, 1986 (Michael Joseph, London 1986)
*
Are You Listening Rabbi Löw' (novel), Viking, London 1987
* ''A Singular Country'' (nonfiction) Ryan, Peterborough, 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
* (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
*
A Letter Marked Personal' (novel) The Lilliput Press, Arbour Hill, Dublin 2019
References
External links
*
ttp://www.jpdonleavy-compendium.org JPDonleavy-Compendium.org*
*
*
"''The Ginger Man'' in Dublin", ''Totally Gonzo'', 17 June 2008*[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC?vrsn=149&OP=starts&locID=chan86036&srchtp=name&ca=2&c=1&AI=U13671893&NA=donleavy&ste=12&tbst=prp&tab=1&docNum=H1000026247&bConts=59 "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
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 5 August 2010
J.P. Donleavy interviewed by Stephen Banker, circa 1978*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donleavy, J. P.
1926 births
2017 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
20th-century American novelists
American atheists
American people of Irish descent
American emigrants to Ireland
Irish atheists
Irish dramatists and playwrights
Irish novelists
Irish male writers
People from County Westmeath
Writers from New York City
Postmodern writers
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
American male novelists
American male dramatists and playwrights
United States Navy personnel of World War II
20th-century American male writers
Novelists from New York (state)