The writing of Roddy Doyle marks the beginning of a new and vital chapter in recent Irish literature. Doyle was born in Kilbarrack in Dublin in 1958 and trained and worked as a secondary school teacher in a nearby school from 1980 until the early 90s. He first came to notice with a popular comedy,
Brownbread(1987), produced initially on a small inner-city stage, before transferring to one of the city's major commercial theatres. Roddy Doyle subsequently set up his own publishing company with a group of friends to publish his first novel,
The Commitments(1987), a work that received major critical acclaim and whose initial popularity was further increased by Alan Parker's successful film adaptation of the novel. The excitement over
The Commitments, and the subsequent installments in
The2852 words
Citation: McWilliams, Ellen. "Roddy Doyle". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1309, accessed 25 November 2024.]
