The Ginger Man

Originally published in France in 1955, The Ginger Man is the humorous National Book Award-winning picaresque novel by Irish-American author J.P Donleavy. Set in post-war Dublin in 1947, the story follows the episodic misadventures of Sebastian Dangerfield, an irresponsible young American studying at Trinity College in the Irish capital. As Dangerfield skips his studies, hides from bill-collectors, drinks and womanizes excessively, the charming but reprehensible rogue does everything in his power to avoid a lifetime of hard work. The Ginger Man was banned in Ireland and the United States during its initial publication on the grounds of obscenity. Still, the book sold more than 45 million copies worldwide. In 1998, it was named one of the 100 Best Novels of the Twentieth Century by Modern Library. The novel has been called “lusty, violent, wildly funny […] The Ginger Man is the picaresque novel to stop them all” by famed author Dorothy Parker.

Narrated from alternating first person and third person omniscient perspectives, the story begins in Dublin, Ireland in 1947. Sebastian Dangerfield, a young law student who hails from a wealthy American family in St. Louis, is enrolled at Trinity College on the GI bill following WWII. Dangerfield meets his American classmate, Kenneth O’Keefe, in a bar in Dublin. Dangerfield buys O’Keefe a drink after pawning an electric lighter, and then invites his pal to his spooky old house on the cliff’s edge in the town of Howth. On the way to the house, Dangerfield and O’Keefe stop at a shop to buy cigarettes. On their way out, Dangerfield courts two young girls, Alma and Thelma, who work in a nearby biscuit factory. While Dangerfield’s English-born wife, Marion, and baby daughter, Felicity, are away, he and O’Keefe get wildly drunk and trash the house for kicks. Marion returns, enraged at Dangerfield’s drunken misbehavior.

When the backyard property crumbles down the cliffs after a storm, the Dangerfields relocate to a small abode on 1 Mohammed Road, The Rock in Dublin. The plumbing hardly works and the toilet pipes burst on the floor above the kitchen. Dangerfield is financially busted, which causes a fight between him and Marion. Dangerfield ducks and disregards his financial bills, pawns most of his belongings, and sets up credit accounts at various local shops. Along the way, Dangerfield exhibits reprehensible behavior that includes getting into bar fights, stealing a mistress’ personal items, failing to repay his debts, physically assaulting Marion, and attempting to suffocate his screaming baby, Felicity, with a pillow. When Marion implores Dangerfield to get a part-time job, he refuses, claiming he must study. All the while, Dangerfield daydreams of becoming “Sebastian Bullion Dangerfield, chairman of Quids Inc., largest banking firm in the world.”



As Dangerfield continues to ignore his studies and neglect his wife and daughter, the scoundrel meets Chris, a laundress with whom he begins an affair. However, feeling guilty over his womanizing ways, Dangerfield goes back to Marion for a short period. Grows bored with Marion again, he continues his relationship with Chris. Following a sexual encounter with Chris, Dangerfield boards a train to return home with the fly on his pants accidentally unzipped. Embarrassed for exposing himself, as a result, he tries to drink away the feeling at a bar.

Marion becomes even further enraged, causing a massive row between the two when Dangerfield returns home. Marion writes a letter to Dangerfield’s wealthy father informing him of how badly Dangerfield mistreats her and Felicity. Irate at this gesture, Dangerfield is frightened that his father will disown him. Dangerfield’s father sends Marion money for her troubles. When Marion threatens to leave Dangerfield forever, he becomes drunkenly enraged and destroys a local bar. Dangerfield takes refuge at Chris’s house, but she is also very upset with him for lying about everything that has transpired. The following day, Dangerfield returns home to find Marion has moved out.

Dangerfield tracks Marion to her small new residence at 11 Golden Vale Park, The Geary and imposes himself to stay with her. They rent a room to Lily Frost. Dangerfield finds satisfaction for a short time but continues his drunk and scandalous behavior. Whenever Dangerfield finds success, he prays to his patron saint, Blessed Oliver Plunkett. When Dangerfield discovers that Marion has fled with all of the money, he begins an affair with Lily. All the while, Dangerfield’s outstanding debts come back to haunt him, including a landlord looking for rent money.



Dangerfield gets drunk again, attends a party, and meets an attractive woman named Mary. Dangerfield coaxes Mary to give him money to move to England, which he does after leaving Lily behind. While in London, Dangerfield reunites with old acquaintances. When his father passes away, Dangerfield expects to receive a hefty inheritance. However, he discovers that he will not be able to collect any inheritance money for at least twenty years. When the money Mary gave Dangerfield runs out, they get into a fight that causes Mary to flee. Soon after, Dangerfield runs into an old friend, Clocklan, who has come into considerable wealth. At the end of the novel, Dangerfield reconciles with Mary, planning to live happily with her in the future.

Many different adaptations of The Ginger Man have been produced since the novel was published. Donleavy wrote a stage adaptation of the novel, which opened in London in 1959 with Richard Harris starring as Dangerfield. In 1962, the BBC produced a ninety-minute made-for-television version of the play directed by Peter Dews. In 2005, a film version starring Johnny Depp as Dangerfield was proposed, but never realized. Depp traveled to Dublin to work on the script with the Irish author hopeful that movie would get made as recently as 2009.