Most Popular Books by J. P. Donleavy

“A picaresque novel to stop them all. Lusty, violent, wildly funny, it is a rigadoon of rascality, a bawled-out comic song of sex.” (Dorothy Parker, Esquire) First published in Paris in 1955, and originally banned in the United States and Ireland, J. P. Donleavy’s debut novel has since been recognized around the world as the masterful portrait of a charming and shameless American abroad. Meet Sebastian Dangerfield: husband, father, and American law student at Trinity College in Dublin. Awaiting news of his father’s death and the substantial inheritance to follow, Sebastian barely has time for his studies as he chases women, avoids bill collectors, and tries to survive without having to descend into the bottomless pit of steady work. In the words of Sean O’Reilly, “this man has granted himself the appalling right to say and think whatever the hell he likes. Silver-tongued seducer, hoaxer, thief, violent marauder, fantasist and drunk, he’s a Yank into the bargain, the rank outsider and ‘great gas’ altogether. You cannot help yourself enjoying his outrageous company” (The Irish Times).

Perennially short of funds, Cornelius Christian accepts a job at a funeral home in order to pay for his wife''s burial. A series of madcap adventures commences in what Donleavy calls "the great sad cathedral that is New York City".

An “excruciatingly funny” novel by the author of the classic The Ginger Man (Newsweek). From “a comic writer rivaling Waugh and Wodehouse”, this is the story of George Smith (Life). Mysteriously rich and desperately lonely, George appears to be under attack from all quarters. His former wife and four horrible children are suing to get his money. His dipsomaniacal housekeeper is trying to arouse his carnal interest. His secretary, the beautiful, blond Miss Martin, will barely give him the time of day. Making matters even worse are the threatening letters: Dear Sir, Only for the moment are we saying nothing. Yours, etc., Present Associates. Despite such precautions as a two-inch-thick surgical steel door and a bulletproof limousine, Smith remains worried. So he undertakes to build a giant mausoleum, complete with plumbing, in which to live . . . Hunter S. Thompson called reading this book “like sitting down to an evening of good whisky and mad laughter in a rare conversation somewhere on the edge of reality.” A Singular Man is a deliciously dark comic novel by the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement honor from the Irish Book Awards. “A wild romp . . . An important, first-rate novel by a gifted artist.” —Chicago Tribune “Rollicking, rambunctious . . . Sheer pleasure to read . . . Shatteringly funny.” —The New York Times Book Review

This sequel to The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman finds Darcy desperately departing Dublin as a pauper. But once home amid the leaking, bat-infested halls of Andromeda Park and his eccentric family and retainers, Darcy meets the servant Leila, who becomes the one bright star in his eternal darkness.

Perennially short of funds, Cornelius Christian accepts a job at a funeral home in order to pay for his wife''s burial. A series of madcap adventures commences in what Donleavy calls "the great sad cathedral that is New York City".

The sexual odyssey of a hopeless romantic from the author of the legendary bestseller The Ginger Man—"a comic writer rivaling Waugh and Wodehouse" ( Life). In the years before and after World War II, Balthazar B is the world''s last shy, elegant young man. Born to riches in Paris and raised by his solicitous governess, Balthazar is shipped away to prep school in England where he is befriended by the noble but flagrantly naughty Beefy. Together, Balthazar and Beefy matriculate to Trinity College, Dublin. There, Balthazar reads zoology and Beefy prepares for holy orders, all the while sharing amorous adventures high and low until their university careers come to an abrupt and decidedly unholy end. Out of the cocooned, innocent sexuality of Balthazar B, J. P. Donleavy—one of the most vital, and often condemned, comic voices of the twentieth century—created "one of the most perfect love affairs in modern literature . . . revelatory and delightful . . . lush and lovely, bawdy and sad" ( The New York Times). "If Nancy Mitford and James Joyce had collaborated, the result might have been like the adventures of Balthazar B." — The Guardian

A delightful classic in the making--by the author of "The Gingerman". Joy, who finds her resources rapidly dwindling after her husband divorces her for a bit of "fresh flesh", finds comfort in her quest for the cleanest restrooms in New York City. 8 line drawings.

His future is disastrous, his present indecent, his past divine. He Is Darcy Dancer, youthful squire of Andromeda Park, the great gray stone mansion inhabited by Crooks, the cross-eyed butler, and the sexy, aristocratic Miss Von B.

Lírica y obscena, conmovedora y tremendamente divertida, "El hombre de mazapán" es una obra escrita con el virtuosismo de un Joyce, la potencia de Henry Miller y el desenfado de un Rabelais y forma parte de las lista de "Las mejores 100 novelas del siglo XX" elaborada por la Modern Library. En el personaje de Sebastian, alias Hombre de mazapán, Donleavy ha sabido crear un tipo inolvidable. Irresponsable, sucio, seductor, embaucador y pobre de solemnidad, este americanoirlandés extraviado en la vieja patria que se tambalea desde el pub a la casa de empeños, murmurando porposiciones libidinosas al oído de toda muchacha que se le pone a tiro, está empeñado en la búsqueda de la libertad, la riqueza y la fama que siente que le pertenecen. Y, aunque se burla del mundo y de sí mismo, es tan frágil como esos bizcochos con digura humana que se deshacen entre los dedos. La fama de esta novela es tal que ha dado nombre a alguos de los pubs más famosos del mundo.

Alfonso Stephen O''Kelly''O known as Stephen, son of rumoured former bootleggers, ex-naval gunner, unemployed compuser, student of dairy cattle in Wisconsin and of music in Italy, has little to recommend him as a marriage prospect but his tender heart, his chivalry, and his comprehensive knowledge of the great city of New York. So when the exquisitely pneumatic and extraordinarily wealthy Sylvia Triumphington, adored adoptive heiress to the Triumphington family forture, sets her sights on him, Stephen is caught quite off guard. Marrying into the Triumphington fortune, Stephen gets more than he bargained for. Sylvia''s unexpected taste for rough sex, her obsession with finding her real mother, and her proclivity for spending Stephen''s non-exsistent money are enough for him to handle but then there is the arrogant and unpredictable adoptive father and his elegant and insatiable wife, Drusilla, to whom Stephen conspicuously and inconveniently is attracted. And then, of course, is the wrong information.... Featuring fourteen refined and witty illustrations by Elliot Banfield, the artist whose drawings enhanced the colorful antics of The Lady Who Liked Clean Restrooms,, Wrong Information is Being Given out at Princeton, is an elegy on passion, a glorious, irreverent, and picaresque journey.

La muerte de su esposa sitúa a Cornelius Christian en una situación muy delicada: se ve obligado, sin ninguna experiencia previa, a entrar a trabajar en una empresa funeraria para sufragar los gastos de su entierro. Eso le llevará a enfrentarse a las más disparatadas situaciones. Un vértigo de intentos frustrados, miedo, maldades, encuentros eróticos con un toque de impulso hacia la muerte. Libro poético, explosivo, vertiginoso, trágico a la vez que irresistiblemente cómico. Una novela muy bien medida, que se atiene sólo a lo esencial, y dominada por una gran sentido del humor.

This scrupulously edited and annotated collection throws extraordinary light on the genesis, composition and publication of The Ginger Man, a masterpiece that censors and critics could not stop, going on to sell 50 million copies worldwide. The riveting backstory of the classic novel set in post-war bohemian Dublin is finally told in 220 intimate and revealing letters between author J.P. Donleavy and his Trinity College Dublin friends Gainor Steven Crist and Arthur Kenneth Donoghue, inspirations for the main characters, Sebastian Dangerfield and Kenneth O''Keefe. Spanning the late 1940s to the early 1980s, the letters create a compelling narrative, told in three distinct voices, that reads like Donleavy fiction - hilarious, reflective and brawling by turn, always revealing of these colourful individuals, the special time and place they shared and what came after as they ventured into the wider world. Among the many interesting people popping up in the letters are: Brendan Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, Trinity pals James Hillman and George Roy Hill, Maurice Girodias who published The Ginger Man becoming embroiled in a 21-year legal battle with the author, Seymour Lawrence who published Donleavy''s second novel and lost his job because of it. Making appearances are film director John Huston who took Donleavy fishing and ''a pop star'' (Mick Jagger) who failed in his attempt to be inconspicuous at a Donleavy party. This unique collection is richly illustrated with period photos and facsimiles of letters and pages from the first draft of what became The Ginger Man. Mariana Crist contributed a loving reminiscence of her father. She presents the real man behind the fictional character. She also recalls being babysat by Brendan Behan, making her the only toddler then permitted in the pubs of Dublin. The Ginger Man Letters is essential reading for fans of the author and his masterpiece, as well as literary scholars and those interested in bohemian Dublin days and is sure to attract a new generation of readers.