ABSTRACT
J. P. Donleavy is American-born though he has lived in Ireland for many years and most of his novels are set in Ireland. His New York background is evident in some of his books, but his vision of his native country seems to have become almost fantastic in recent years. Donleavy was born in Brooklyn and reared in the Bronx. He has described his childhood in idyllic terms and sometimes seems to regard the New York of his childhood as almost Arcadian. His father was an Irish immigrant, but he maintains that he did not grow up in an immigrant ghetto; his family was middle-class and drove big, new cars. In his article, "An Expatriate Looks at America", Donleavy quotes from one of his own letters of the time, written to Gainor Crist: This is not the land of the big noble rich, everyone is screwed.
