James Thomas Farrell (February 27, 1904 – August 22, 1979) was an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

, short-story writer and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

. He is most remembered for the ''

Studs Lonigan ''Studs Lonigan'' is a novel trilogy by American author James T. Farrell: ''Young Lonigan'' (1932), ''The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan'' (1934), and ''Judgment Day'' (1935). In 1998, the Modern Library ranked the Studs Lonigan trilogy 29th on i ...

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

, which was made into a film in 1960 and a television series in 1979.

Biography

Farrell was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, to a large

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

family which included siblings Earl, Joseph, Helen, John and Mary. In addition, there were several other siblings who died during childbirth, as well as one who died from the great

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

. His father was a

teamster A teamster is the American term for a truck driver or a person who drives teams of draft animals. Further, the term often refers to a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labor union in the United States and Canada. Origi ...

, and his mother a domestic servant. His parents were too poor to provide for him, and he went to live with his grandparents when he was three years old. Farrell attended Mt. Carmel High School, then known as St. Cyril, with future

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

Richard Anthony Parker Richard Anthony Parker (December 10, 1905 – June 3, 1993) was a prominent Egyptologist and professor of Egyptology. Originally from Chicago, he attended Mt. Carmel High School (then known as St. Cyril) with acclaimed author James T. Farrell. He r ...

. He then later attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. He began writing when he was 21 years old. A novelist, journalist, and short story writer, he was known for his realistic descriptions of the working class

South Side Irish The South Side Irish is the large Irish-American community on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. After 1945, a large-scale movement to the suburbs occurred because of white flight and the steady upward social mobility of the Irish.Although the ...

, especially in the novels about the character Studs Lonigan. Farrell based his writing on his own experiences, particularly those that he included in his celebrated "Danny O'Neill Pentalogy" series of five novels. Among the writers who acknowledged Farrell as an inspiration was

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...

Politics

Farrell was also active in

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

politics and joined the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). He came to agree with

Albert Goldman Albert Harry Goldman (April 15, 1927 – March 28, 1994) was an American academic and author. Goldman wrote about the culture and personalities of the American music industry both in books and as a contributor to magazines. He is best known f ...

and

Felix Morrow Felix Morrow (June 3, 1906 – May 28, 1988) was an American communist political activist and newspaper editor. In later years, Morrow left the world of politics to become a book publisher. He is best remembered as a factional leader of the Americ ...

s' criticism of the SWP and

Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of wor ...

management. With Goldman, he ended his participation with the group in 1946 to join the Workers' Party. Within the Workers' Party, Goldman and Farrell worked closely. In 1948, they developed criticisms of its policies, claiming that the party should endorse the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

and also

Norman Thomas Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. Early years Thomas was the ...

presidential President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...

candidacy. Having come to believe that only capitalism could defeat

Stalinism Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...

, they left to join the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

. During the late 1960s, disenchanted with the political "center", while impressed with the SWP's involvement in the Civil Rights and US anti-Vietnam War movements, he reestablished communication with his former comrades of two decades earlier. Farrell attended one or more SWP-sponsored Militant Forum events (probably in NYC), but never rejoined the Trotskyist movement. In 1976, he became a founding member of the neoconservative

Committee on the Present Danger The Committee on the Present Danger (CPD) is the name used by a succession of United States, American neoconservative and Anti-communism, anti-communist foreign policy interest groups. Throughout its four iterations—in the 1950s, the 1970s, the ...

Marriages

Farrell was married three times, to two women. He married his first wife Dorothy Butler in 1931. After divorcing her, in 1941 he married stage actress

Hortense Alden Hortense is a French feminine given name that comes from Latin meaning ''gardener''. It may refer to: Persons * Hortense Allart (1801–1879), Italian-French feminist writer and essayist * Hortense de Beauharnais (1783–1837), stepdaughter of N ...

, with whom he had two sons, Kevin and John. They divorced in 1955, and later that year he remarried Dorothy Farrell. They separated again in 1958 but remained legally married until his death. She died in 2005.

Legacy

According to William McCann: :No writer has described a specific area of American society so thoroughly and comprehensively as Farrell did in the seven novels of Studs Lonigan and Danny O'Neill (1932-43). A consummate realist in viewpoint and method, he turned repeatedly in his fiction to the subject he knew best, the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Chicago's South Side. Drawing on lacerating personal experience, Farrell wrote about people who were victims of injurious social circumstances and of their own spiritual and intellectual shortcomings. He depicted human frustration, ignorance, cruelty, violence, and moral degeneration with sober, relentless veracity....Despite his Marxist leanings, Farrell's fiction is not that of a reformer, or a doctrinaire theorist, but rather the patient humorless representation of ways of life and states of mind he abhors....Farrell’s place in American letters, however, as certainly the most industrious and probably the most powerful writer in the naturalistic tradition stemming from

Frank Norris Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr. (March 5, 1870 – October 25, 1902) was an American journalist and novelist during the Progressive Era, whose fiction was predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include '' McTeague: A Story of San ...

and

Dreiser Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (; August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm mora ...

, was solidly established with the Lonegan--O'Neil series....His later novels are lamented and ignored. The ''Studs Lonigan'' trilogy was voted number 29 on 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 ...

's list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century. On the 100th anniversary of Farrell's birth,

was a panelist at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

's "James T. Farrell Centenary Celebration" on February 25, 2004 along with

Pete Hamill Pete Hamill (born William Peter Hamill; June 24, 1935August 5, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and editor. During his career as a New York City journalist, he was described as "the author of columns that sought to capture th ...

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. (; born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger; October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a spe ...

and moderator Donald Yannella. They discussed Farrell's life and legacy. In 1973, Farrell was awarded the

St. Louis Literary Award The St. Louis Literary Award has been presented yearly since 1967 to a distinguished figure in literature. It is sponsored by the Saint Louis University Library Associates. Winners Past Recipients of the Award: *2023 Neil Gaiman *2022 Arundhati ...

from the

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

Library Associates. In 2012, he was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.

Studs Terkel Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for '' The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral his ...

, the Chicago-based historian, took the name "Studs" from Farrell's famous character Studs Lonigan.

Bibliography

*''

Young Lonigan ''Young Lonigan'' is a 1932 novel by James T. Farrell. It is the first part of a trilogy about Studs Lonigan, William "Studs" Lonigan, a young Irish-American growing up in Chicago. Plot The story begins in 1916, as 14-year-old Studs is graduatin ...

'' (1932) *''Gas-House McGinty'' (1933) *''Calico Shoes'' (1934) *''

The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan ''The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan'' is a 1934 novel by James T. Farrell, and the second part of Farrell's trilogy based on the life of William "Studs" Lonigan. This novel covers about 12 years in Studs Lonigan's life, from 1917 through 1928. I ...

'' (1934) *''Guillotine Party and Other Stories'' (1935) *''

Judgment Day The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

'' (1935) This is the final part of the Studs Lonigan trilogy. *''A Note on Literary Criticism'' (1936) *''A World I Never Made'' (1936) (First book of the Danny O'Neill pentalogy) *''Can All This Grandeur Perish? and Other Stories'' (1937) *''No Star Is Lost'' (1938) (Second book of the Danny O'Neill pentalogy) *''Tommy Gallagher's Crusade'' (1939) *''Father and Son'' (1940) (Third book of the Danny O'Neill pentalogy) *''The Bill of Rights in danger!: the meaning of the Minneapolis convictions'' ew York: Civil Rights Defense Committee, (1941) *''Decision'' (1941) *''Ellen Rogers'' (1941) *"$1000 a Week and Other Stories" (1942) *''My Days of Anger'' (1943) (Fourth book of the Danny O'Neill pentalogy) *"To Whom It May Concern and Other Stories" (1944) *''Who are the 18 prisoners in the Minneapolis Labor Case?: how the Smith "Gag" Act has endangered workers rights and free speech'' ew York: Civil Rights Defense Committee, (1944) *"The League of Frightened Philistines and Other Papers" (1945) *'' Bernard Clare'' (1946) *"When Boyhood Dreams Come True and Other Stories" (1946) *"The Life Adventurous and Other Stories" (1947) *''Literature and Morality'' (1947) *''Truth and myth about America'' New York, N.Y. : Rand School Press : Distributed by the Rand Bookstore (1949) *''The Road Between'' (1949) *''An American Dream Girl'' (1950) *''The Name Is Fogarty: Private Papers on Public Matters'' (1950) *''This Man and This Woman'' (1951) *''Yet Other Waters'' (1952) *''The Face of Time'' (1953) (Final book of the Danny O'Neill pentalogy) *''Reflections at Fifty and Other Essays'' (1954) *''French Girls Are Vicious and Other Stories'' (1955) *''A Dangerous Woman and Other Stories'' (1957) *''My Baseball Diary'' (1957) *''It Has Come To Pass'' (1958) *''Boarding House Blues'' (1961) *''Side Street and Other Stories'' (1961) *"Sound of a City" (1962) *''The Silence of History'' (1963) *''What Time Collects'' (1964) *A Glass of Milk, in "Why Work Series" editor

Gordon Lish Gordon Lish (born February 11, 1934 in Hewlett, New York) is an American writer. As a literary editor, he championed many American authors, particularly Raymond Carver, Barry Hannah, Amy Hempel, Rick Bass, and Richard Ford. He is the father of t ...

(1966) *''Lonely for the Future'' (1966) *''When Time Was Born'' (1966) *''New Year's Eve/1929'' (1967) *''A Brand New Life'' (1968) *''Childhood Is Not Forever'' (1969) *''Judith'' (1969) Signed limited edition, 300 printed *''Invisible Swords'' (1971) *''Judith and Other Stories'' (1973) *''The Dunne Family'' (1976) *''Olive and Mary Anne'' (1977) *''The Death of Nora Ryan'' (1978)

Posthumous editions

*''Eight Short, Short Stories'' (1981) *''Sam Holman'' (1994) *''Hearing Out James T. Farrell: Selected Lectures'' (1997) *''Studs Lonigan: A Trilogy'', ed. Pete Hamill (New York
The Library of America
2004) . *''Dreaming Baseball'', eds. Ron Briley, Margaret Davidson, and James Barbour (

Kent, Ohio Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 28,215 at the 2020 Census. The city is counted as pa ...

Kent State University Press
2007).

References

External links

*
The James T. Farrell Papers
at

The Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities and located on Washington Square in Chicago, Illinois. It has been free and open to the public since 1887. Its collections encompass a variety of topics rela ...

The James T. Farrell-Cleo Paturis Papers
at

James T. Farrell
''The Literary Encyclopedia''

from ''The New York Intellectuals'' by

Alan Wald Alan Maynard Wald (born June 1, 1946) is an American professor emeritus of English Literature and American Culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and writer of 20th-century American literature who focuses on Communist writers; he is an ...

Writers: James T. Farrell
''Encyclopedia of Trotskyists Online''
James T. Farrell Biography Summary
''BookRags''
Guide to the James T. Farrell Papers 1930-1948
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farrell, James T. 1904 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American novelists American people of Irish descent Members of the Socialist Party of America Members of the Socialist Workers Party (United States) Members of the Workers Party (United States) University of Chicago alumni Writers from Chicago Place of death missing American male novelists Novelists from Illinois 20th-century American male writers Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Evanston, Illinois) Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters