Selected from over 600 letters in the JP Donleavy archive, The Ginger Man Letters (published by Lilliput Press) throw extraordinary light on the composition, publication and afterlife of Donleavy's classic novel The Ginger Man, as well as the personal histories of its protagonists. Editor Bill Dunn writes for Culture about the project.
The Ginger Man Letters is the collected correspondence of author J.P. Donleavy and his Trinity College Dublin chums Gainor Steven Crist and Arthur Kenneth Donoghue, who inspired the main characters Sebastian Dangerfield and Kenneth O’Keefe respectively in The Ginger Man. Despite efforts of government and church censors to stop the novel, first published in 1955, it has gone around the world as Brendan Behan forecast it would.
Here the real people behind the characters and the author who created them speak for themselves. And what they have to say is often uproariously funny, at times outrageous and frequently revealing. The letters present the backstory of the novel’s complicated composition, problematic publication and the unpredictable afterlife of the book and these three individuals.
I am the editor of the letters, having chosen 220 letters from some 600 in Donleavy’s archive. My preparation for this assignment began decades ago. I was a big fan of J.P. Donleavy, who became a collector of his work. I was determined to meet my favourite author. And I did in 1990 when he came to the U.S. on a book tour. I was then a newspaper reporter. I landed an interview with him and was allotted 45 minutes. It went well, so well that I spent the entire day with him. As we were saying goodbye, Donleavy said: ‘If you’re ever Ireland, you must come visit.’ A few years later I was in Ireland, running in the Dublin Marathon. Afterwards I called Donleavy. He invited me to Levington Park. That was the first of many unforgettable visits, during which I would help however I could with editorial matters, retrieving things from the archive, even minding the herd of some 60 cows on his 180-acre estate.
Universities have long been interested in Donleavy’s archive. While there was an incomplete checklist of the contents, there was no detailed inventory. My wife Chris suggested I do it. I proposed that to Donleavy who gave me the go-ahead. I started the inventory in my own collection, describing the first editions of the books. Then I went to Levington Park on a sabbatical and completed the inventory, which became the reference document in Donleavy’s discussions with universities wanting to buy the archive.
During my research, I read Donleavy’s correspondence with Crist and Donoghue and recommended the letters be published in book form. Donleavy was interested, but it didn’t happen in his lifetime. He died 11 September 2017, aged 91. Crist died long before, in 1964, aged 42. Donoghue, who was also the inspiration for the title character in Donleavy’s novella The Saddest Summer of Samuel S, died in 2009, aged 87. Donleavy’s son Philip approved the publication of the collected letters. Crist’s daughter Mariana contributed a loving reminiscence of her father. The Ginger Man Letters is illustrated by some 60 period photos – many have never before been published.
The Ginger Man Letters (published by Lilliput Press) is in bookshops now.
