The Book About Everything

To celebrate the centenary of the publication of Ulysses, the most important literary work of the twentieth century, eighteen artists, writers and thinkers respond to an episode each of the great modernist text.

Each essayist is an expert in one of the subjects treated in the novel, but what brings them together is a common love of Ulysses.

Joseph O'Connor considers the music-saturated Sirens episode and David McWilliams writes about the bigotry and violence of nationalism on display in Cyclops. Irish obstetrician Rhona Mahony responds to Oxen and the Sun, set in a maternity hospital, journalist Lara Marlowe examines the Aeolus episode, which takes place in a newspaper office, and Irish philosopher Richard Kearney reflects on the erudite musings of Stephen Dedalus as he walks along Sandymount strand.

The Book About Everything counters the perception of Ulysses as the sole preserve of academics and instead showcases readers' responses to the book. It is a vivid, even eccentric collection, filled with life and Joycean spirit.

Enrico Terrinoni is Professor and Chair of English Literature and Head of the MA course in Translation and Interpretation at the University of Perugia, Italy. He is the editor and translator of Joyce's works in Italy and President of the James Joyce Italian Foundation.

Enrico Terrinoni is Professor of English Literature, University of Perugia, the Italian translator of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, and President of the James Joyce Italian Foundation.