James Gordon Farrell

James Gordon Farrell (25 January 1935 — 11 August 1979), referred to by-and-large as J.G. Farrell, was a British novelist of Irish descent. Farrell gained prominence for his historical fiction, most notably his "Empire Trilogy" ("Troubles", "The Siege of Krishnapur" and "The Singapore Grip"), three books dealing with the political and human consequences of British colonial rule. "The Siege of Krishnapur" won the 1973 Booker Prize.

Career

Childhood and education

Farrell, born in Liverpool into a family of Irish background, from the age of 12 attended Rossall public school in Lancashire. At about this time his parents moved to Dublin, and from this point on Farrell spent much time in Ireland: this, perhaps combined with the popularity of "Troubles", leads some to treat him as an Irish writer. In 1956 he went to study at Brasenose College, Oxford; while there he contracted polio.

Early works

Farrell published his first novel, "A Man From Elsewhere", in 1963. Set in France, it shows the clear influence of French Existentialism. It entirely lacks the ironic humour and the tender appreciation of human frailty which characterise his later work. Farrell himself came to dislike the book.

Two years after this came "The Lung", in which Farrell returned to his real-life trauma of less than a decade earlier: the main character Martin Sands contracts polio and has to spend a long period in hospital. In 1967 he published "A Girl in the Head" set in the fictional English seaside town of Maidenhair Bay. Like its two predecessors, the book met only middling critical and public reaction. Had Farrell's career ended at this point readers would have remembered him as a minor figure at best. Yet his next book proved him a writer of great talent and unique sensibility.

Empire Trilogy

"Troubles" tells the comic yet melancholic tale of an English Major, Brendan Archer, who in 1919 goes to County Wicklow in Ireland to meet the woman to whom he believes he may be engaged to marry. From the viewpoint of the crumbling Majestic Hotel at Kilnalough he watches Ireland's fight for independence from Britain. At a political level both Farrell's next book "The Siege of Krishnapur" and his last completed work "The Singapore Grip" continue this narrative of the collapse of British colonial power. The three novels interconnected principally only in a broad thematic sense, although Archer does reappear briefly in "The Singapore Grip", and Farrell's fascinating, but unfinished novel, "The Hill Station", centres on Dr McNab, a major character in "The Seige of Krishnapur": the novel, and its accompanying notes effectively make the series a quartet, not a trilogy.

When "The Siege of Krishnapur" won the Booker Prize in 1973 Farrell used his acceptance speech to attack the sponsors for their business activities [ [http://nyrb.typepad.com/classics/2008/05/the-best-of-the.html A Different Stripe: The Best of the Booker: The Siege of Krishnapur ] ] .

Charles Sturridge scripted a film version of "Troubles" made for British television in 1988 and directed by Christopher Morahan. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293963/ Troubles (1988) (TV) ] ]

Death

In 1979 Farrell decided to quit London to take up residence on the Sheep's Head peninsula in southwestern Ireland. A few months later he drowned in Bantry Bay, apparently while angling. He lies buried in the cemetery of [http://www.cork.anglican.org/Parishes/Kilmocomogue/Durrus.html St. James's Church of Ireland church] in Durrus.

The manuscript library at Trinity College, Dublin holds his papers: Papers of James Gordon Farrell (1935-1979). TCD MSS 9128-60.

Works

* 1963 "A Man From Elsewhere"
* 1965 "The Lung"
* 1967 "A Girl in the Head"

Empire Trilogy::* 1970 "Troubles" :* 1973 "The Siege of Krishnapur":* 1978 "The Singapore Grip"

* 1973-74 "The Pussycat Who Fell in Love with a Suitcase. Atlantis. 6 (Winter 1973/4), pp. 6-10"
* 1981 "The hill station : an unfinished novel, and an Indian diary", unfinished, edited by John Spurling. London : Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0297779222

About Farrell

*1981 John Spurling, Margaret Drabble, Malcolm Dean: Personal Memories of J.G. Farrell; "The Hill Station"

*1986 Ronald Binns, "J.G. Farrell". London and New York : Methuen. ISBN 0416403204

* 1979 Bernard Bergonzi, The Contemporary English Novel

* 1997 Michael C. Prusse, "Tomorrow is Another Day": The Fictions of James Gordon Farrell

* 1997 Derek Mahon: "The World of J.G. Farrell", (poem), October 1997

* 1999 Lavinia Greacen: "J.G. Farrell: The Making of a Writer" (full-length biography). London : Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747544638

* 2000 Elisabeth Delattre: "Histoire et fiction dans Troubles de J.G.Farrell", "Études Irlandaises", printemps 2000, n° 25-1, pp. 65-80

* 2002 Elisabeth Delattre: "Du Monde romanesque au poème : 'The World of J.G.Farrell' de Derek Mahon ", "Études Irlandaises", printemps 2002, n° 27-1, pp. 93-105

* 2003 Elisabeth Delattre: "Intégrer, exclure ou la genèse d'une œuvre : Troubles de J.G.Farrell", in "Irlande : Inclusion, exclusion", publié sous la direction de Françoise Canon-Roger, Presses Universitaires de Reims, 2003, pp. 65-80.

Prizes

* 1971 Faber Memorial Prize ("Troubles")
* 1973 Booker Prize ("The Siege of Krishnapur")

External links

* [http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1486 Article in "The Literary Encyclopedia"]

Footnotes