''A Singular Man'' is a 1963 novel by J. P. Donleavy. First published in

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, the novel is set in an unnamed city that is believed to be

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and was the author's second novel following the critically acclaimed '' The Ginger Man''.

Plot introduction

The story follows the life of the mysteriously wealthy and aloof George Smith and centers on Smith's love for Miss Tomson, whom in a review, ''

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'' magazine referred to as "a genuinely imagined dream figure of sexual grace." Although Donleavy began work on the novel '' A Fairy Tale of New York'' following completion of ''The Ginger Man'', his second completed and published novel was ''A Singular Man''. His interview in ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

'' # 63 explains why he found it impossible at the time to finish ''A Fairy Tale of New York'' but was able to write ''A Singular Man''.

Characters

Main characters include: *George Smith *Miss Tomson *Miss Martin *Cedric Calvin Bonniface Clementine

Reception

In a review for the '' National Observer'', Hunter S. Thompson referred to Donleavy's novel as "a masterpiece of writing about love" and referred to Donleavy as "a humorist in the only sense of the word that has any dignity." ''

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'' described the book as "excruciatingly funny" but "a darker novel than its predecessor." Renata Adler praised the book in a review describing it as "a love story, a melodrama, an unresolved detective story, a melodrama, a soap opera, a vaudeville routine, and a very fine light novel by a stylist who can afford to give considerable rein to his rather quirkish imagination."

Plot introduction

Characters

Reception

Bibliography

References

External links