Simply Joyce Simply Joyce MARGOT NORRIS SIMPLY CHARLY NEW YORK Copyright © 2016 by Margot Norris Cover Illustration by José Ramos Cover Design by Scarlett Rugers All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below. [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-943657-11-7 Brought to you by http://simplycharly.com Contents Praise for Simply Joyce vii Other Great Lives ix Series Editor's Foreword x Preface xi 1. Introduction: Life and Career 1 2. Dubliners 11 3. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 37 4. Ulysses 65 5. Finnegans Wake 104 6. Joyce’s Legacy 140 Suggested Reading 147 About the Author 158 A Word from the Publisher 159 Praise for Simply Joyce “Simply Joyce is a perfect introduction to the complex work of one of the foremost writers of the twentieth century. Margot Norris, who has devoted her professional life to opening Joyce’s canon to all levels of readers, has produced a lucid, erudite, and entertaining overview that will engage those who have heretofore been intimidated by Joyce’s reputation and will revive in others a recollection of the pleasures that have derived from his writing. Although Norris offers a compact overview, it is by no means reductive or simplistic. Rather, in deft but accessible language, she lays out the marvelous range of possible responses to Joyce’s work. Her book is a wonderful gift to all readers who love Joyce’s writing.” —Michael Patrick Gillespie, Professor of English and Director of the Center for the Humanities in an Urban Environment at Florida International University “This new book by Margot Norris, one of the world’s leading James Joyce scholars, is a remarkably thorough and yet concise introduction to Joyce and his four major works. Norris’s commentaries on Joyce’s language are particularly useful, and as she works her way from Dubliners to APortrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake, she calls attention to crucial elements of each book, including their experiments with literary form and the values they embody.” —Patrick A. McCarthy, Professor of English, University of Miami and editor of the James Joyce Literary Supplement “In Simply Joyce, Margot Norris, a world-renowned Joyce scholar, provides a succinct, enticing and informative overview of Joyce’s works. Her dexterous accounts of his challenging texts underscore how they openly invite us to immerse ourselves in them and Praise for Simply Joyce | vii interpret them. She comprehensively introduces readers to the intricacies of all of Joyce’s writings, including his fiction, poetry and his single surviving play, Exiles, at once taking stock of their fundamental structures and crisply commenting on them. Norris’s engaging primer never shirks the difficulty of Joyce’s masterpieces. But she triumphantly shows that the pleasures of reading Joyce are open to everyone, both novices and scholars alike.” —Anne Fogarty, Professor of James Joyce Studies, University College Dublin, Ireland “Simply Joyce is a smart, sensible, clear, and useful introduction to the revolutionary and innovative—but also controversial and challenging—20-century masterworks by James Joyce.” —Vincent J. Cheng, Shirley Sutton Thomas Professor of English, University of Utah and author of Joyce, Race, and Empire and other studies viii | Praise for Simply Joyce Other Great Lives Simply Austen by Joan Klingel Ray Simply Beckett by Katherine Weiss Simply Beethoven by Leon Plantinga Simply Chaplin by David Sterritt Simply Chekhov by Carol Apollonio Simply Chomsky by Raphael Salkie Simply Chopin by William Smialek Simply Darwin by Michael Ruse Simply Descartes by Kurt Smith Simply Dickens by Paul Schlicke Simply Edison by Paul Israel Simply Einstein by Jimena Canales Simply Eliot by Joseph Maddrey Simply Euler by Robert E. Bradley Simply Faulkner by Philip Weinstein Simply Fitzgerald by Kim Moreland Simply Freud by Stephen Frosh Simply Gödel by Richard Tieszen Simply Hegel by Robert Wicks Simply Hitchcock by David Sterritt Simply Joyce by Margot Norris Simply Machiavelli by Robert Fredona Simply Napoleon by J. David Markham & Matthew Zarzeczny Simply Proust by Jack L. Jordan Simply Riemann by Jeremy Gray Simply Tolstoy by Donna Tussing Orwin Simply Stravinsky by Pieter van den Toorn Simply Turing by Michael Olinick Simply Wagner by Thomas S. Grey Simply Wittgenstein by James C. Klagge Other Great Lives | ix Series Editor's Foreword imply Charly’s “Great Lives” series offers brief but authoritative S introductions to the world’s most influential people—scientists, artists, writers, economists, and other historical figures whose contributions have had a meaningful and enduring impact on our society. Each book provides an illuminating look at the works, ideas, personal lives, and the legacies these individuals left behind, also shedding light on the thought processes, specific events, and experiences that led these remarkable people to their groundbreaking discoveries or other achievements. Additionally, every volume explores various challenges they had to face and overcome to make history in their respective fields, as well as the little-known character traits, quirks, strengths, and frailties, myths and controversies that sometimes surrounded these personalities. Our authors are prominent scholars and other top experts who have dedicated their careers to exploring each facet of their subjects’ work and personal lives. Unlike many other works that are merely descriptions of the major milestones in a person’s life, the “Great Lives” series goes above and beyond the standard format and content. It brings substance, depth, and clarity to the sometimes-complex lives and works of history’s most powerful and influential people. We hope that by exploring this series, readers will not only gain new knowledge and understanding of what drove these geniuses, but also find inspiration for their own lives. Isn’t this what a great book is supposed to do? Charles Carlini, Simply Charly New York City x | Series Editor's Foreword Preface ames Joyce is considered one of the most important and J influential writers of the twentieth century.But is he one of the most widely read? This question is prompted by what many consider the extraordinary difficulty of some of his works, which daunted readers from the very beginning of their publication. The Irish writer George Moore was sent a copy of Ulysses shortly after it was published, and immediately complained about it. “I was told I must read it, but how can one plow through such stuff?” he told a friend. A century later these works remain difficult for many readers approaching them for the first time, and Simply Joyce has this readership particularly in mind as it offers discussion and analysis of Joyce’s writing. The project of this book is not to simplify Joyce by putting aside the remarkable complexity that makes his themes and language so aesthetically and intellectually rich, but to make his unique work accessible. The approach that will enable this is to offer an introduction to Joyce’s life and career, followed by a systematic study of each of his major works: the short stories of Dubliners, his coming-of-age novel APortrait of the Artist as a Young Man, his classic Ulysses, and the highly experimental Finnegans Wake. Readers will be led through each of these works consecutively, from beginning to end, with descriptions and summaries of the themes, but also with attention to the language, not only to what it says but also to what it does not say, to its mode of expression, the often layered meanings of the words, the humor of its puns and double entendres, and the beauty of its sound. In the process, attention will focus on the surprisingly ordinary traits and circumstances of Joyce’s numerous characters among the colorful population of Dublin, Ireland in the early 20th century: the thoughtful children at the beginning of Dubliners, the young artist of Portrait struggling with ambition and family poverty, the Jewish advertising canvasser and his outspoken wife in Ulysses, and the complicated men, Preface | xi women, and children in Finnegans Wake, who are not only humans but also rivers and landscapes, animals and clouds, and illuminating symbols. The challenge for Simply Joyce will be to present this rich array of literary life without losing sight of the aesthetic and intellectual complexities of the language in which it is vested. Given the challenges posed by the four major works, and particularly Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, it may be helpful to ease into our discussion of Joyce’s life and writings by noting that these ambitious texts were not Joyce’s only accomplishments. He also produced a collection of poems, assorted insights or ‘epiphanies’, a series of critical essays, a notebook titled Giacomo Joyce, and a play called Exiles. These diverse writings do not share the fame of the later productions, but they have their merits and serve as a useful prelude to his more classical texts. Joyce’s verses, in particular, have a lyrical quality, and the distinguished Irish poet W. B. Yeats appears to have found some of the early poems highly promising. They, therefore, function as an indicator of the poetic quality of Joyce’s later prose, the way words are selected for the effects of their sounds and rhythms, creating a form of verbal music. Given his life-long love of music, it is not surprising that Joyce titled his first published collection of poetry “Chamber Music,” although this title by one account was inspired by his listening to the sound of urine tinkling into a chamber pot.