Roddy Doyle

Infobox Writer
name = Roddy Doyle


caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|df=yes|1958|5|8
birthplace = Kilbarrack, Dublin, Ireland
occupation = Novelist and Dramatist
notableworks = The Commitments
The Snapper
The Van
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
networth =
website =Roddy Doyle ( _ga. Ruaidhrí Ó Dúill, born 8 May 1958 in Dublin) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with "The Commitments" in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993.

Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, Dublin. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from University College, Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1993.

Bibliography

Novels

*"The Barrytown Trilogy":
** "The Commitments" (1987, film 1991) — A group of Dublin teenagers, led by Jimmy Rabbitte Jr., decide to form a soul band in the tradition of James Brown.
** "The Snapper" (1990, film 1993) — Jimmy's sister, Sharon, becomes pregnant. She is determined to have the child but refuses to reveal the father's identity to her family.
** "The Van" (1991, shortlisted for the 1991 Booker Prize, film 1997) — Jimmy Sr. is laid off, as is his friend Bimbo. Bimbo buys a used fish and chips van and the two go into business for themselves.

* "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" (1993, winner of the 1993 Booker Prize) — The world as described, understood and misunderstood by a ten-year-old Dubliner.
* "The Woman Who Walked into Doors" (1996) — A story of a battered wife, narrated by the victim; despite her husband's increasingly violent behaviour, she defends him, using the classic excuse "I walked into a door" to explain her bruises.
*"The Last Roundup":
** "A Star Called Henry" (1999) — The story of Henry Smart from his childhood till early twenties.
** "Oh, Play That Thing!" (2004) — Henry Smart's adventure into United States.
* "Paula Spencer" (2006) — Ten years after "The Woman Who Walked into Doors", its protagonist returns.

Short stories

* "The Slave" — Middle-aged man reads "Cold Mountain" and obsesses over a dead rat.

* "Home to Harlem" — A quarter-black Irish student researches his paper idea in Harlem and looks for relatives. McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #16.

* "Teaching" — Reflections of a spent, alcoholic teacher. "The New Yorker," 2 April 2007.

* "Black Hoodie" — Three students conduct an experiment on racial profiling by store security. McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #23, May 2007.

* "The Dog" — A man ponders the gradual erosion of his marriage. "New Yorker," 5 November 2007.

* "The Deportees" — A short-story collection published in early 2008.
* "Bullfighting" — Four middle-aged friends from Ireland take a week's vacation in Spain and reflect on life. "New Yorker," 28 April 2008 [http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2008/04/28/080428fi_fiction_doyle]

* "The Child" — An insomniac is constantly plagued by intrusive visions of a boy. "McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories," 2004.

Non-fiction

* "Rory and Ita" — About Doyle's parents

Theatre

* "Brownbread" (1987)
* "War" (1989)
* "The Woman Who Walked into Doors" (2003)
* Rewrite of "The Playboy of the Western World" (2007) with Bisi Adigun

Television screenplay

* " Family" (1994) — BBC serial which was the forerunner of the 1996 novel "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors".

Screenplays

* "When Brendan Met Trudy" (2000) — An amusing, light-hearted tale of romance between a timid schoolteacher (Brendan) and a spunky thief (Trudy).

Children's books

* "Not Just for Christmas" (1999)
* "The Giggler Treatment" (2000)
* "Rover Saves Christmas" (2001)
* "The Meanwhile Adventures" (2004)
* "Wilderness" (2007)

Research work about the author

* "An Indecency Decently Put: Roddy Doyle and Contemporary Irish Fiction", by Niall McArdle (M.A. thesis, 1994, University College, Dublin)
* "La réécriture de l'histoire dans les Romans de Roddy Doyle, Dermot Bolger et Patrick McCabe" by Alain Mouchel-Vallon (PhD thesis, 2005, Reims University, France). [http://www.sudoc.abes.fr]

External links

* [http://www.irishwriters-online.com/roddydoyle.html Author page at Irish Writers Online]
* [http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Doyle.html Roddy Doyle: Author Biography] Postcolonial Studies At Emory.
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1144626,00.html Roddy Doyle's verdict on James Joyce's Ulysses]
* [http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1999/10/28/doyle/index.html The Salon Interview: Roddy Doyle]
* [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/roddy-doyle/ Roddy Doyle At Fantastic Fiction]
* [http://www.metacritic.com/books/authors/doyleroddy/paulaspencer Reviews of Paula Spencer (2006)]

References