James Joyce (2024)

Table of Contents
Interviews where books by James Joyce were recommended David Grossman on the Books That Shaped Him Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor’s Son by Sholem Aleichem The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories by Bruno Schultz and Celina Wieniewska (translator) Dubliners by James Joyce Mario and the Magician and Other Stories by Thomas Mann History: A Novel by Elsa Morante and William Weaver (translator) David Grossman on the Books That Shaped Him The best books on Modern Irish History, recommended by Richard Bourke A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man by James Joyce Modern Ireland: 1600-1972 by Roy Foster War and an Irish Town by Eamonn McCann States of Ireland by Conor Cruise O’Brien Celtic Revivals: Essays in Modern Irish Literature by Seamus Deane The best books on Modern Irish History, recommended by Richard Bourke The Best Long Books To Read in Lockdown, recommended by Five Books Ulysses by James Joyce War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Tom Jones by Henry Fielding A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel Middlemarch by George Eliot The Best Long Books To Read in Lockdown, recommended by Five Books Robin Robertson on Books that Influenced Him Ulysses by James Joyce In Parenthesis by David Jones Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry War Music: An Account of Homer's Iliad by Christopher Logue Field Work by Seamus Heaney Robin Robertson on Books that Influenced Him The best books on Streams of Consciousness, recommended by Charles Fernyhough Ulysses by James Joyce Describing Inner Experience by Russell T Hurlburt and Eric Schwitzgebel Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Principles of Psychology by William James Night by Edna O'Brien The best books on Streams of Consciousness, recommended by Charles Fernyhough The Best Novels in English, recommended by Robert McCrum Emma by Jane Austen Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë Middlemarch by George Eliot Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Ulysses by James Joyce The Best Novels in English, recommended by Robert McCrum Books by James Joyce Ulysses by James Joyce A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man by James Joyce Dubliners by James Joyce Finnegans Wake by James Joyce FAQs

James Joyce (1)

James Joyce (1882-1941) was an Irish author, part of the modernist avant-garde movement, and is regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. His grand oeuvre, Ulysses, is notoriously hard to read, and yet those who have read it—often with the help of some sort of guide—say the payoff is “immense pleasure: no book gets closer to the ineffable experience of human play and tragedy.”

If you’re starting out on reading Joyce, his other works recommended on Five Books may be an easier starting point: his short story collection, Dubliners, or his first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. In addition to its literary merit, the novel is also an important insight into modern Irish history, according to historian Richard Bourke.

Interviews where books by James Joyce were recommended

The Best Long Books To Read in Lockdown, recommended by Five Books

If you’re stuck in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, it might be time to finally crack open that one long read you always meant to get around to, but slid down your list of books for whatever reason—not enough time, too many pages. Problem is, there are so many monster doorstoppers, and it can be hard to tell which are worth your time. The Five Books editors weigh in:

The Best Long Books To Read in Lockdown, recommended by Five Books
James Joyce (2024)

FAQs

What was James Joyce's famous quote? ›

A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery. No pen, no ink, no table, no room, no time, no quiet, no inclination.

Was James Joyce on the spectrum? ›

Joyce's attention to these qualities of his writing seems, then, to give some indication of an autistic approach to his art. As Joyce has been speculated to be on the spectrum, this could corroborate that notion. polyphony where multiple voices of various characters speak at once.

Was James Joyce a polymath? ›

Aside from books such asFinnegans WakeandDubliners,Joyce also wrote plays, journalism, poetry - and even composed a song. What made him such a creative polymath?

What is the #1 most read book? ›

They are timeless and a must-read for every educated person.” With over 5 billion copies sold and distributed, the Bible takes the top spot as the most read and widely distributed book in the world. It is considered the holy scripture of Christianity and is also revered by Judaism.

Why is Ulysses so hard to read? ›

James Joyce's Ulysses is a notoriously difficult novel. The book is packed with dense references to Homer's Odyssey, Irish politics, literature, philosophy and obscure registers that don't read like English in certain chapters.

Why was James Joyce's work controversial? ›

In February 1921, the New York Court of Special Session ruled that Joyce's work was obscene and fined the editors of The Little Review fifty dollars each. As a result of this decision, Joyce was unable to secure an American publisher for his book, although a pirated version did appear in New York in 1929.

Why was Joyce's Ulysses controversial? ›

The novel's no-holds-barred language and often outrageous wordplay provided more than enough offence, while its coarse treatment of the British royal family and its sacrilegious attitude to the Roman Catholic Church only added to the effrontery.

What does Ulysses mean in James Joyce? ›

One of humanity's great masterpieces, James Joyce's Ulysses celebrates the strength of spirit required to endure the trials of everyday life, exploring the patterns of human thought while also fostering an appreciation for differences between people.

What disease did James Joyce suffer from? ›

Description. James Joyce's near blindness, his peculiar gait, and his death from perforated ulcers are commonplace knowledge to most of his readers. But until now, most Joyce scholars have not recognized that these symptoms point to a diagnosis of syphilis.

Why did James Joyce not like the church? ›

Abstract: James Joyce divorced himself from the Catholic Church for two major reasons: 1) he felt the Church deprived him of his individuality; 2) he thought this deprivation aided in the creation of what he viewed as a decadent society.

Who did James Joyce love? ›

Nora Barnacle (21 March 1884 – 10 April 1951) was the muse and wife of Irish author James Joyce. Barnacle and Joyce had their first romantic outing in 1904 on a date celebrated worldwide as "Bloomsday" after his modernist novel Ulysses. Barnacle did not, however, enjoy the novel.

Was James Joyce a Jesuit? ›

In later life he told his friend in Trieste, Italo Svevo, that rather than alluding to him as a Catholic, "to get the correct contour on me, you ought to allude to me as a Jesuit". The Jesuit influence remained with Joyce all his life.

Was James Joyce a nihilist? ›

Down that road his genius travelled as far as it is possible to go. If others had not strived for tradition or fought for an illusion at least of order Joyce's nihilism would have been impossible, for his terms of reference would have disappeared.

Why did people in Dublin not like Joyce's Ulysses? ›

But the Dublin Review panned “Ulysses” for uniting “the spiritually offensive and the physically unclean.” When Joyce died in Zurich in 1941, a representative of the British government spoke at the funeral, but the Irish consul was conspicuously a no-show.

What is the 1st most read book? ›

The 'Holy Bible' holds the title for the most-read book in the world.

What is the hardest level of reading? ›

The fourth and most difficult level of reading is syntopical reading. It is the most complex and systematic type of reading of all. It makes very heavy demands on the reader, even if the materials he is reading are themselves relatively easy and unsophisticated.

What is the least read book in the world? ›

THE English Bible is the bestselling book – but it is also the least read book.

What is the thickest book of all time? ›

The book is entitled 'Shree Haricharitramrut Sagar' and is a biography of Bhagwan Shree Swaminarayan.

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