Singular man by j&p donleavy biography
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A Singular Man
I was on the fence about including Donleavy's second novel on my 1963 reading list. I guess it was seeing somewhere on the web that his first novel, The Ginger Man, was Hunter S Thompson's favorite book that decided me. I know that does not make much sense, being the raging feminist that I am, but I am also a bit of an intellectual anarchist plus I don't hate men.
So I read A Singular Man and it was good, maybe almost amazing. George Smith is another character, like Sebastion Dangerfeld in The Ginger Man, who just can't fit in with society's expectations in terms of what makes a good man. Is that the basis of my attraction to J P Donleavy? Could be. The misfit equation.
George is an orphan, a failed husband and father, a stupendously successful business man and lonely as hell. He has enemies in the business world and truthfully he is a pussy grabber. I know, I know.
The writing style is a bit odd. Part stream of consciousness, part William Burr
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A singular man: J P Donleavy on his fascinating life since The Ginger Man
Whether it's prolonged exposure to the almost eerie silence of the remote Irish countryside or just old age, J P Donleavy has undergone a dramatic transformation. The 84-year-old author of The Ginger Man has abandoned his trademark elegantly tailored three-piece tweed suits and hand-made brogues for worn loafers, tracksuit bottoms and a battered jerkin held in place with bull clips.
A straw hat askew on his head and a small writing table at his elbow, he sits pensively between the soaring twin pillars in front of his crumbling Georgian pile Levington Park. All around him in every direction are his 180 acres of beef-nourishing grass in County Westmeath.
His trademark beard now completely white and his eyes shielded behind brown-tinted spectacles, he is far removed from the randy and dashing Sebastian Dangerfield, hero and villain of his famous novel.
Donleavy has to be rich on the continuing cash flow from
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J. P. Donleavy
Novelist, playwright, essayist
James Patrick Donleavy (23 April 1926 – 11 September 2017) was an American-Irish novelist, short story writer and playwright.[1] His best-known work fryst vatten the novel The Ginger Man, which was initially banned for obscenity.
Early life
[edit]Donleavy was born in Brooklyn, to Irish immigrants Margaret and Patrick Donleavy, and grew up in the stadsdel i new york. His father was a firefighter, and his mother came from a wealthy background.[2][3] He had a sister, Mary Rita, and a younger brother.[4][5] He received his education at various schools in the United States, then served in the US Navy during World War II.[1] After the war ended, he moved to Ireland. In 1946 he began studying bacteriology at Trinity College huvudstaden i irland, but left in 1949 before taking a grad.
Career
[edit]Donleavy's first published work was a short story entitled A Party on Saturday Afternoon, which appeared i