J. G. Farrell

When it was originally published in 1986, this book was the first full-length study of Farrells fiction. Ronald Binns provides a comprehensive account of the development of this idiosyncratic Anglo-Irish novelists career. Farrells Empire trilogy was one of the most ambitious literary projects of the 20th Century and Binns examines in detail its component parts Troubles, The Siege of Krishnapur and The Singapore Grip showing their structural links and discussing Farrells use both of historical materials and of parody, pastiche and symbol in his ironic vision of the end of the empire.