Ginger Man
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Product Description
Review
A triumph. - Guardian ('Mr Donleavy's creation…has left a mark on a literary generation.’ )
#NAME? ('Comic, dirty, and delightful. And one of those books which reveals its quality from the first line… The Ginger Man is the picaresque novel to stop them all, lusty, violent, wildly funny.’ )
Dorothy Parker
#NAME? ('Comic, dirty, and delightful. And one of those books which reveals its quality from the first line… The Ginger Man is the picaresque novel to stop them all, lusty, violent, wildly funny.’ )
Dorothy Parker
Product Description
Feckless, unwashed, charming, penurious Sebastian Balfe Dangerfield, Trinity College Law student, Irish American with an English Accent, maroon in the ould country and dreaming of dollars and ready women, stumbles from the public house to the pawnbrokers, murmuring delusive enticements in the ear of any girl who'll listen, in delirious search of freedom, wealth, and the recognition he feels is his due. Lyrical and ribald, illuminating, poignant and hugely entertaining, The Ginger Man is a work of authentic comic genius.
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First Sentence
Today a rare sun of spring. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Today a rare sun of spring. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
47 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I became aware of this book after recently reading a Hunter S. Thompson biography, wherein it describes how Hunter discovered the book in New York, and did his best to imitate Dangerfield's lifestyle. After reading the Ginger Man it became apparent that Hunter had at last found a hard act to follow in terms of womanising, alcohol abuse and empty promises.
Apparently the Ginger Man was turned down by something like 40 publishers before finding it's way to the mainly pornographic publishers Olympia Press in Paris. Despite turning out mostly smut, Olympia owner Maurice Girodias also published some early works by the likes of Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs, Henry Miller and Jean Genet amongst other rising literary talents of the time.
I mention the publication as it's interesting to note that Donleavy entered into 20 plus years of litigation with the publishing house. He eventually won the case and subsequently owns Olympia Press.
But anyway, the book. It is, for better or worse, very real. The "hero" Sebastian Dangerfield is a reluctant family man and a reluctant student of law. He just doesn't care about the things which we assume he should care about. He is constantly in a state of scheming his way into the next free drink, or getting into the knickers of an easily led girl. He has no morals, nor does he feel that he should have. He is banking on an inherited wealth which will be his once his sick father dies.
The style of the book is modern for the time of it's writing. Donleavy uses both the first person narrative and the third person narrative to illustrate his main character. This can be confusing at first, but I found that after a few chapters, it adds to the urgency/pace (first person) and the backgrounds (third person) as he switches between the two different types of narration. This could not be achieved by sticking to either one of the disciplines.
The plot is quite simple, as a character novel should be. The backdrop is Dublin and then later London. Both are described well.
The dialogue is at times simply brilliant. One of the few books where you find yourself laughing aloud, and re-reading passages in an attempt to recall lines and slip them into a conversation at some point in the future. It is so easy to see why this book has since been turned into a stage production. I would imagine that the theater would be in fits of giggles.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the development of modern literature. And for that matter anyone with an open mind and a good sense of humour. It is in many ways one of the best novels of the 20th century.
Apparently the Ginger Man was turned down by something like 40 publishers before finding it's way to the mainly pornographic publishers Olympia Press in Paris. Despite turning out mostly smut, Olympia owner Maurice Girodias also published some early works by the likes of Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs, Henry Miller and Jean Genet amongst other rising literary talents of the time.
I mention the publication as it's interesting to note that Donleavy entered into 20 plus years of litigation with the publishing house. He eventually won the case and subsequently owns Olympia Press.
But anyway, the book. It is, for better or worse, very real. The "hero" Sebastian Dangerfield is a reluctant family man and a reluctant student of law. He just doesn't care about the things which we assume he should care about. He is constantly in a state of scheming his way into the next free drink, or getting into the knickers of an easily led girl. He has no morals, nor does he feel that he should have. He is banking on an inherited wealth which will be his once his sick father dies.
The style of the book is modern for the time of it's writing. Donleavy uses both the first person narrative and the third person narrative to illustrate his main character. This can be confusing at first, but I found that after a few chapters, it adds to the urgency/pace (first person) and the backgrounds (third person) as he switches between the two different types of narration. This could not be achieved by sticking to either one of the disciplines.
The plot is quite simple, as a character novel should be. The backdrop is Dublin and then later London. Both are described well.
The dialogue is at times simply brilliant. One of the few books where you find yourself laughing aloud, and re-reading passages in an attempt to recall lines and slip them into a conversation at some point in the future. It is so easy to see why this book has since been turned into a stage production. I would imagine that the theater would be in fits of giggles.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the development of modern literature. And for that matter anyone with an open mind and a good sense of humour. It is in many ways one of the best novels of the 20th century.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book breaks every rule in the book. Treating grammer and convention with superb disregard, the frantic narrative keeps you continually 'on your toes'. At the beginning I thought I liked the main character, only to witness him punching his wife and threatening his child a few chapters later. The mistake people make with this book is that they assume Dangerfield is presented as hero and therefore get offended. He is almost an anti-hero. The book doesn't glorify his actions and neither does it condemn them. It simply isn't a consideration on morals. The book is at once sad, optimistic, violent and serene. Most of all though, it is entirely memorable. Go in with an open mind and you will realise why it has been so consistently praised
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sebastian Dangerfield is in no way purported to be a model human being. Donleavy puts all of Sebastian's flaws out in the open: Sebastian is a vulgar, abusive, and irresponsible alcoholic. Sebastian is in no way the gallant, classic, and Victorian hero of the past. He is instead the rejection of all that was pure and virginal in previous works of literature. He is the product of Modernism.
Modernism as part of its very foundation sought to shock people. I think of Sebastian Dangerfield as a literary equivalent of the shock-rocker Marilyn Manson. Will reading how Sebastian hits his wife make readers hit their spouse? Will listening to Marilyn Manson turn people into gothic murderers? Everyone has their own opinion as answer to those questions but it seems obvious to me that readers (and music listeners) need to realize that human beings are not the sugar coated ladies and gentlemen of yore. People do some terrible things. Everyone has a dark side, no matter how slight. I was not at all offended by The Ginger Man. Perhaps it was the fact that I was introduced to the text in the anything-goes Modernist context, perhaps I am a little too liberal. I will always find this book uproariously funny though. I can always side with a character that can make commentary on the human condition without doting clichés. I can at once laugh at Sebastian and be amused by him, without being "on his side" - his very dark side.
Modernism as part of its very foundation sought to shock people. I think of Sebastian Dangerfield as a literary equivalent of the shock-rocker Marilyn Manson. Will reading how Sebastian hits his wife make readers hit their spouse? Will listening to Marilyn Manson turn people into gothic murderers? Everyone has their own opinion as answer to those questions but it seems obvious to me that readers (and music listeners) need to realize that human beings are not the sugar coated ladies and gentlemen of yore. People do some terrible things. Everyone has a dark side, no matter how slight. I was not at all offended by The Ginger Man. Perhaps it was the fact that I was introduced to the text in the anything-goes Modernist context, perhaps I am a little too liberal. I will always find this book uproariously funny though. I can always side with a character that can make commentary on the human condition without doting clichés. I can at once laugh at Sebastian and be amused by him, without being "on his side" - his very dark side.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Donleavy's Vibrant Debut Novel
Irish American author J P Donleavy's 1955 debut novel The Ginger Man is a brilliantly witty (and, at times, surprisingly poetic) tale of drunken debauchery, introducing us to one... Read more
Published 25 days ago by Keith M
Unbelievable!
I bought this after enjoying JP Donleavy's DVD of "Ireland in all her sins and graces"
Reading his book was hard work! Read more
Reading his book was hard work! Read more
Published 8 months ago by Ronald Ellis
Much ado about nothing...
I have trouble understanding why so many people and critics call this book a masterpiece. Perhaps because I'm French and that I didn't fully get all the subtlety of the English... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Figaro2007
The Ginger Man - Donleavy
Have to confess I really did not enjoy this book.In fact I had to resist the urge to throw it in the bin! Read more
Published 12 months ago by Lou Gee
Hardly a masterpiece
The protagonist in The Ginger Man is Sebastian Dangerfield, an American law student living in Dublin with his wife and young child. Read more
Published 12 months ago by M. Duncan
Superb!
One of the books that inspired me to write my own Irish comic novel. Bawdy, uproarious, outrageous and hilarious. What more do you need?
The Miracle Man
The Miracle Man
Published on 26 April 2010 by James Skivington
Classic of Irish Literature
J P Donleavy wrote a large number of marvellous books, but The Ginger Man was a sensation when it was first published. Read more
Published on 23 April 2010 by V. C. Freedman
Tame irish offering...
I purchased this book with high hopes, a sort of Withnail & I in novel form, an insouciant follow up to Joyce and Ulysses; but alas! I was wholly disappointed. Read more
Published on 9 April 2010 by Joseph Prestwich
A Great Modernist Novel
J.P Donleavy did a great job in writing a novel in the modernist fashion. He not only captured the ideals of a modernist in rejecting the norms of society, but he also did it... Read more
Published on 4 May 2006 by Tanya West
Sebastian is not your typical family guy, if you know what I mean
In response to the only person who gave this magnificent book a bad review... You seem to have no sense of humor. Read more
Published on 3 May 2006 by Jeremy Useted
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