James Hanley claimed he was born in Dublin on 3 September 1901, but was actually born in Liverpool in 1897 to Irish parents.
His novel Boy was the subject of an obscenity charge in Manchester in early 1936 – to which his publishers pleaded guilty and were heavily fined. The book was withdrawn and all remaining copies destroyed.
His novels and stories are Drift – Novel (Eric Partridge, The Scholartis Press, London 1930); The German Prisoner – Novella (Privately printed, London 1930); A Passion Before Death – Novella (Privately printed, London 1930); The Last Voyage – Novella (London, Joiner and Steele, 1931); Men in Darkness – Five Stories (London, The Bodley Head, 1931); Boy – Novel ( London, Boriswood, 1931); Stoker Haslett – Novella (Joiner and Steele,19 32); Aria and Finale – Three Novellas ( London, Boriswood, 1932); Ebb and Flood – Novel (London, The Bodley Head, 1932); Captain Bottell – Novel (London, Boriswood, 1933); Resurrexit Dominus – Novel (Privately Printed, London 1934); Quartermaster Clausen – Novella (London, The White Owl Press, 1934); The Furys – Novel (London, Chatto and Windus, 1935); At Bay – Novella (London, Grayson & Grayson, 1935); Stoker Bush – Novel (Chatto and Windus, 1935); The Secret Journey – Novel (Chatto and Windus, 1936); Broken Water – Autobiography (Chatto and Windus, 1937); Grey Children – Documentary (London, Methuen, 1937); Half an Eye – Short Stories (The Bodley Head, London 1937); Hollow Sea – Novel (The Bodley Head, London 1938); People Are Curious – Stories (The Bodley Head, 1938); Between the Tides – Essays (Methuen, 1939); Our Time is Gone – Novel (The Bodley Head, 1940); The Ocean – Novel (London, Faber and Faber, 1941); No Directions – Novel (Faber and Faber, 1943); Sailor’s Song – Novel (London, Nicholson & Watson, 1943); At Bay and Other Stories (Faber and Faber, 1944); Crilley and Other Stories (Nicholson & Watson, 1945); What Farrar Saw – Novel (Nicholson & Watson, 1946); Selected Stories (Dublin, Maurice Fridberg, 1947); Emily – Novel (Nicholson & Watson, 1948); Winter Song – Novel (London. Phoenix House, 1950); Walk in the Wilderness – Stories (Phoenix House, 1950); A House in the Valley – Novel [as Patric Shone] (London, Jonathan Cape, 1951); The Closed Harbour – Novel (London, Macdonald, 1952); Collected Stories (Macdonald, 1953); The Welsh Sonata – Novel (London. Derek Verschoyle, 1954); Levine – Novel (Macdonald, 1956); An End and a Beginning – Novel (Macdonald, 1958); Say Nothing – Novel (Macdonald, 1962); Another World – Novel (Andre Deutsch, 1972) A Woman in the Sky – Novel (Andre Deutsch, 1973); Dream Journey – Novel (Andre Deutsch, 1976); and A Kingdom – Novel (Andre Deutsch, 1978).
His essays are Don Quixote Drowned (London, Macdonald, 1953).
His plays include The Inner Journey – Three Act Play (Black Raven Press, London 1965); and Plays One – Two Plays (Kaye & Ward, London 1968).
He died in London in November 1985.
Special thanks to Chris Gostick.
Wikipedia entry on James Hanley
James Hanley at NIU
See publishing history of Boy
James Hanley at The National Library of Ireland