Denis Donoghue

Denis Donoghue (1 December 1928 – 6 April 2021) was an Irish and American literary critic. He was the Henry James Chair of English and American Letters at New York University.

Life and career Donoghue was born at Tullow, County Carlow, into a Roman Catholic family, the youngest of four surviving children. He was brought up in Warrenpoint, County Down, Northern Ireland, where his father, Denis, was sergeant-in-charge of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. His mother was Johanna (O'Neill) Donoghue.

He was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers at the Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Newry. He stood 6'7".

He studied Latin and English at University College Dublin (UCD), earning a bachelor of arts degree in 1949, an M.A. in 1952, a Ph.D. in 1957, and a D.Litt. (honoris causa) in 1989. He then studied Lieder singing at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He earned an M.A. at the University of Cambridge in 1964, and returned to Dublin, becoming a professor at UCD.

In 1980, he was appointed to the Henry James chair of English and American letters at NYU, his final teaching post.

He married Frances Rutledge, formerly a teacher and flight attendant, on 1 December 1951. The couple had eight children. One, Emma Donoghue (born 1969), is an Irish-Canadian novelist, literary historian, teacher, playwright, and radio/film scriptwriter. They resided together in Durham, North Carolina, until Denis Donoghue's death at age 92 on 6 April 2021 from natural causes. His first wife, Frances, predeceased him in 2018. He is survived by his second wife Melissa, his children (David, Helen, Hugh, Celia, Mark, Barbara, Stella and Emma), and a large extended family.