Studs Lonigan

literary trilogy by Farrell
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Studs Lonigan, trilogy of novels by James T. Farrell about life among lower-middle-class Irish Roman Catholics in Chicago during the first third of the 20th century. The trilogy consists of Young Lonigan: A Boyhood in Chicago Streets (1932), The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan (1934), and Judgment Day (1935).

As a boy, William Lonigan (always referred to as “Studs”) makes a slight effort to rise above his squalid urban environment. However, the combination of his own personality, unwholesome neighbourhood friends, a small-minded family, and his schooling and religious training all condemn him to the life of futility and dissipation that are his inheritance.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.