J. P. Donleavy | Author

About the Author

J. P. Donleavy was born James Patrick Donleavy Jr. in Brooklyn, New York on April 23, 1926. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he studied microbiology at Trinity College in Dublin. His first novel, The Ginger Man, was published in 1955. His other novels included A Singular Man, The show more Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B., The Onion Eaters, A Fairy Tale of New York, The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms, Wrong Information Is Being Given Out at Princeton, and The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman. He also wrote nonfiction books including The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival and Manners and plays including The Beastly Beatitudes. He was an accomplished painter and had exhibitions on both sides of the Atlantic, including a show at the National Arts Club in Manhattan in 2007. He died from a stroke on September 11, 2017 at the age of 91. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: J P Dunleavy, J. P. Donleay, J.P. Dunleavy, Donleavy J.p., J. P. Donleavy, J.P. Donleavey, J. P. Dunleaby, J.P.) (Donleavy, James P. Donleavy, James Patrick Donleavy, James P. Donleavy O.P., Jim (Illustrator) J.P. ; Campbell Donleavy, J. P. Donleavy with illustrations by Elliot Banfie

Image credit: Jerry Bauer

Series

Darcy Dancer, Gentleman

A Singular City

Works by J. P. Donleavy

Popular Recent

The Ginger Man (1955) 1,876 copies

The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B (1968) 497 copies

A Singular Man (1963) 402 copies

A Fairy Tale of New York (1973) 295 copies

The Onion Eaters (1971) 264 copies

The Lady Who Liked Clean Restrooms: The Chronicle Of One Of The Strangest Stories Ever To Be Rumoured About Around New… (1995) 236 copies

The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival and Manners (1966) 209 copies

The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman (1977) 208 copies

The Saddest Summer of Samuel S (1966) 152 copies

Leila: Further in the Life and Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman (1983) 135 copies

Meet My Maker the Mad Molecule (1964) 134 copies

Schultz (1980) 109 copies

Wrong Information Is Being Given Out at Princeton: The Chronicle Of One Of The Strangest Stories Ever To Be Rumoured… (1998) — Author — 97 copies

J. P. Donleavy’s Ireland: In All Her Sins and in Some of Her Graces (1900) 70 copies

HISTORY OF THE GINGER MAN (1994) 67 copies

Are You Listening Rabbi Low (1987) 63 copies

A Singular Country (1989) 47 copies

That Darcy, That Dancer, That Gentleman (1990) 39 copies

Meet My Maker the Mad Molecule & The Saddest Summer of Samuel S (1975) 38 copies

De Alfonce Tennis (1984) 37 copies

Fairy Tales of New York {play} (1961) 31 copies

The Plays (1972) 29 copies

J.P. Donleavy : An Author and his Image (1997) 10 copies

What They Did in Dublin, with the Ginger Man, a Play (1961) 7 copies

A Letter Marked Personal (2019) 3 copies

THE ONION EATERS , a novel. (1971) 3 copies

Zencefil Adam (2015) 2 copies

Ginger Man Letters (Irish Literature) (2018) 2 copies

J. P. Donleavy: In Some Of His Sins And Most Of His Graces. (2007) 1 copy

Beastly Beasts, Birds, People & Places 1 copy

JP Donleavy's Ireland (In All Her Sins and Graces) [VHS] 1 copy

The beastly beatitudes of Balthzar B. (Repr.) 1 copy

An Author and His Image 1 copy

The Ginger Man with an introduction What They Did in Dublin 1 copy

What They did in Dublin with The Ginger Man 1 copy

Leila The Further Adventures in the Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman 1 copy

Naine, kellele meeldisid puhtad tualettruumid : üks kõige kummalisemaid lugusid, mida New Yorgis eales… (2002) 1 copy

Patrakelis (2008) 1 copy

The Way and Truth 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

Drinking, Smoking and Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times (1994) — Contributor — 337 copies

The Olympia Reader (1965) — Contributor — 279 copies

Not So Funny When It Happened: The Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure (2000) — Contributor — 234 copies

The Penguin Book of Irish Comic Writing (1996) — Author, some editions — 26 copies

Ireland: A Photographic Portrait (1996) — Introduction — 16 copies

Tagged

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Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Donleavy, J. P.
Legal name: Donleavy, James Patrick, Jr.
Birthdate: 1926-04-23
Date of death: 2017-09-11
Gender: male
Nationality: USA (birth)
Ireland (naturalized 1967)
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Place of death: Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland
Cause of death: stroke
Places of residence: Brooklyn, New York, USA (birth)
Dublin, Ireland
Mullingar, Ireland
London, England, UK
Isle of Man
Education: Trinity College, Dublin
Occupations: playwright
novelist
sailor (US Navy)
painter
Organizations: United States Navy (WWII)
Olympia Press
Awards and honors: American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award (Literature, 1975)
Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award (2015)

Members

Discussions

The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms by J P Donleavy – THORNWILLOW 1995 in Fine Press Forum (February 2023)

Reviews

The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy

I didn't get far -- just far enough to know it's not my cup of tea. The blurb says it's wildly funny, but I found it deadly boring.

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dvoratreis | 33 other reviews | May 22, 2024 |

The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy

I couldn't give it just one star because it was written with such wit--but jeez what a jerk. I've read (and liked) the Dexter novels so I'm ok with a character being bad but The Ginger Man is beyond the pale. I'm taking my copy to a book sale so I can get him out of my house.

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dhenn31 | 33 other reviews | Jan 24, 2024 |

The lady who liked clean rest rooms the chronicle… by J.P. Donleavy

An odd little book about a woman who sees her life slide away, losing husband, kids, finances, home - and how her seeking of clean washrooms turned out...

It’s a book full of the understandable feelings of abandonment as life circumstances change, of the duplicity of friends who no longer want to be seen with you, of the grim reality of being alone in the middle of a huge city.

Jocelyn wields her Bryan Mawr education like a shield but not a very effective one, struggles to find her way, contemplates suicide.

What happens in the end? I’m actually not sure.

An interesting read and a good emotional discussion...… (more)

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Dabble58 | 11 other reviews | Nov 11, 2023 |

The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy

A deeply disturbing picture of Ireland in the post war years, narrated by a character contemptable in most ways. Donleavy certainly can write, but his subject matter demands more than the effort is worth in my opinion. Many people see this as a comic novel. I find it anything but.

½

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TomMcGreevy | 33 other reviews | Apr 8, 2023 |

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