James T. Farrell Summary

James Thomas Farrell (1904-1979), novelist and social and literary critic, was one of the most unrelenting naturalists in American literature.Born in Chicago, James Thomas Farrell attended Catholic pa... Read more

James T. Farrell, a major novelist of the 1930s, was a self-reliant literary intellectual who adhered to a credo that many critics judged old-fashioned in the post-World War II era. Proud to identify ... Read more

In the following assessment of Farrell's first collection, Kronenberger praises the harsh realism of Farrell's characterization. Although no single story in [Calico Shoes] is particularl... Read more

In the following excerpt, Brown argues that Farrell, despite frequent stylistic infelicities, remains an important writer who asks crucial questions about the direction and consequences of American ca... Read more

In the following estimation of An American Dream Girl, Maloney states that Farrell possesses a place in American literary history not for his technique or style, but for the directness and power of hi... Read more

In the excerpt below, O'Malley argues that Farrell's fictional world is unremittingly bleak and spiritually degenerate, the result of a decayed civilization and an impoverished Catholici... Read more

In the following excerpted review of French Girls Are Vicious and Other Stories, Holman points out that although Farrell's primary weaknesses are his naturalistic narrative technique and flat u... Read more

In the following excerpt from a 1957 lecture at Miami University, Farrell discusses the major influences on his writing, his opinions on authorial intentions and aesthetics, and his perspective on wri... Read more

In the following review of A Dangerous Woman and Other Stories, Peden observes that Farrell's later fiction shows greater humor and more variety than his earlier fiction. Among the best pieces ... Read more

In this essay, Farrell answers those critics who question autobiographical elements of his work. I began, not as a novelist, but as a short story writer. For more than two years after I had decided to... Read more

Below, Oates takes issue with Farrell's compression of characterization, which she sees as a distortion of truth. Branch on Farrell's Primary Thematic Concerns: Whether Farrell's... Read more

In this excerpted paper, which was originally presented as a lecture at Southampton College in 1974, Farrell asserts that genuine writing demands both knowledge of and respect for the past. In recent ... Read more

In this essay, O'Connell argues for the centrality of Farrell's vision of the Irish-Catholic experience in his fiction. James T. Farrell can be an easy mark for a critic. His faults and ... Read more

In this excerpted review of Guillotine Party and Other Stories, Trilling describes Farrell's artistic vision as inadequate to the task of exploring the complexities of modern life. Almost all M... Read more

In the following excerpt, Fried discusses the role of the city in Farrell's writing, particularly Farrell's understanding of the city and its culture as a crucial determinant of human ex... Read more

In the following estimation of Farrell's collection, Ferguson dismisses Farrell's short stories for their squalor and slovenly technique. I got a new slant on the writings of James Farre... Read more

Below, Rugoff finds Farrell's novella Tommy Gallagher's Crusade a frighteningly accurate portrayal of the mindless hatred that characterized the growing Fascist movement in America durin... Read more

In the following review of To Whom It May Concern and Other Stories, Kupferberg contends that Farrell's style and ideas are most successful in his longer works. Deutsch on Tommy Gallagher... Read more

Critical Essay by Lewis Fried Farrell's major fiction ("the story of America as I knew it") is funded so greatly by the struggles of his youth and maturity that we are in danger o... Read more

Critical Essay by Leonard Kriegel What I instinctively knew when I first read Farrell now seems to me his major contribution to American writing: his stubborn insistence on the validity of all lives f... Read more

Critical Essay by Ann Douglas Perhaps the central reason for Farrell's neglect is that he has confronted a problem modern America has determined to evade: our sense of history predicates a visi... Read more