Ever since the appearance of The Ginger Man in 1955 (see separate entry)—a book that has sold more than 5,000,000 copies and which his publisher describes with some validity as a "beloved classic"—one of the governing precepts of J. P. Donleavy's work has been his assumption that there is a small group of particularly discerning, perceptive people whose taste, wit, and style are qualities vastly superior to the traits of the masses who control social commerce and public procedure. Sebastian Dangerfield, the protagonist of The Ginger Man, established an anarchic pattern of subversion and resistance as a means of dealing with a world dominated by greedy vulgarians and even in his worst moments of debauchery and self-indulgence, he exemplified Donleavy's fundamental conviction that there is a proper form of behavior that distinguishes a true gentleman. In subsequent novels, Donleavy explored the manner in which...