James Joyce (Oxford Lives) - Softcover

Ellmann, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195033817 ISBN 13: 9780195033816

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1983

Synopsis

Richard Ellmann has revised and expanded his definitive work on Joyce's life to include newly discovered primary material, including details of a failed love affair, a limerick about Samuel Beckett, a dream notebook, previously unknown letters, and much more.

About this title

Review:

Although several biographers have thrown themselves into the breach since this magisterial book first appeared in 1959, none have come close to matching the late Richard Ellmann's achievement. To be fair, Ellmann does have some distinct advantages. For starters, there's his deep mastery of the Irish milieu--demonstrated not only in this volume but in his books on Yeats and Wilde. He's also an admirable stylist himself--graceful, witty, and happily unintimidated by his brilliant subjects. But in addition, Ellmann seems to have an uncanny grasp on Joyce's personality: his reverence for the Irishman's literary accomplishment is always balanced by a kind of bemused affection for his faults. Whether Joyce is putting the finishing touches on Ulysses, falling down drunk in the streets of Trieste, or talking dirty to his future wife via the postal service, Ellmann's account always shows us a genius and a human being--a daunting enough task for a fiction writer, let alone the poor, fact-fettered biographer.

From the Back Cover:

The fresh material deals with most aspects of Joyce's life: his writings and his attitude towards them, his experiences of love and desire, his domestic travails, his political views.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0195033817
• ISBN 13: 9780195033816
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 960