Celebrating James Joyce And His Extraordinary Works

On February 2nd, we don’t only celebrate the 143rd birthday of Irish writer and poet, James Joyce, but also the publication of not one but two of his biggest novels – Ulysses, published on February 2nd, 1922, and Finnegan’s Wake, published on February 2nd, 1939, and yes, this was by design. Let’s take a look at the life and legacy of author James Joyce.

Becoming James Joyce: Author

James Augustine Aloysius was born to John Joyce, a public servant, and Mary Jane, daughter of a publican on February 2nd, 1882. Joyce began his education at boarding school at the age of 6, around this time his father took a turn and began drinking, neglecting his affairs, and borrowing from his company, all the while his family sank deeper into debt.

By 1891, Joyce was no longer able to attend school and took to educating himself and having his mother check his work. His luck changed in the spring of 1883 when Joyce and his brother were accepted into Belvedere College in Dublin free of charge.

While Joyce excelled academically, he was ultimately asked to leave the college as the administration thought (correctly) that he had lost his Catholic faith. His next academic adventure was at University College Dublin which was ran by Jesuit priests at the time. Joyce began to study languages, read the books he wanted to read, and became an active member of the college literary and historical society.

Just after his 18th birthday Joyce’s review of the play “When We Dead Awaken” was published in the London Fortnightly Review which not only solidified his plans to become a writer, but this proved to his loved ones that he was capable of achieving this as well.

Establishing Ulysses

Joyce completed his bachelor’s degree in 1902 and continued to write verses and short prose to support himself. The next couple of years proved to be interesting; in 1903 Joyce was called home because of his mother’s failing health, then a year after she passed away, Joyce met Nora Barnacle, a young lady from Galway working as a maid in Dublin.

On June 16th, in a rather risque way, Joyce chose the setting for what would come to be known as his novel Ulysses. Not long after the setting had been established, on a night out with friends Joyce approached a young lady but was quickly beaten up by her boyfriend.

An acquaintance of his father, Alfred H. Hunter, tended to his injuries and simultaneously became one of the models for Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses. Throughout 1904 Joyce would continue to attempt to develop his literary career despite being referred to as satirical and “unholy” in nature. Before fleeing from Dublin with Nora in 1904, Joyce began regularly publishing Dubliners in The Irish Homestead.

Joyce’s Travels

From 1904 – 1906 Joyce and Nora lived all over Zurich, Pula, and Trieste. Nora became pregnant not long after leaving Ireland and Joyce continued to write when he could. In 1905 he took a position at Berlitz School teaching English and in late-July of 1905 Joyce and Nora welcomed their first child to the world.

By early 1906 Joyce had completed over 20 chapters of his novel Stephen Hero and was down to the final story of Dubliners; however, London publishers were not willing to print pieces they found controversial, and the final installment was not completed until after WWI began.

Nora became pregnant with their second child while in Rome, then the family took off for Trieste soon after. In May Joyce was struck by an attack of rheumatic fever with left him incapacitated for weeks, with the illness leaving him with eye problems that would plague him for the rest of his life.

From 1909 – 1912 Joyce found himself here and there – in Dublin visiting family, in Trieste at the cinema, back in Dublin launching Ireland’s first cinema, Trieste again, then ultimately back in Dublin for the last time where his Dubliner publisher not only refused to publish his controversial pieces but had the printed sheets destroyed.

La Vie Boheme

1917 – 1919 proved to be prosperous years for Joyce. He lived in Zurich and surrounded himself with painters, sculptors, writers, and musicians. In 1920 Joyce and his family moved to Paris, where he met more important people including Sylvia Beach, who ran the bookshop Shakespeare and Company and eventually became a publisher of Joyce’s and Valery Larbaud who not only recommended Joyce’s works to the French, but supervised the translation of his novel Ulysses.

The Big Two

Joyce completed Ulysses in 1921 but faced a number of issues when it came to publishing, both financial struggles and public perception. Ulysses was described as obscene and potentially subversive and publishing was eventually banned in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Soon after, Beach agreed to publish it through her bookshop and took to mailing copies to folks in Paris, and the U.K. Postal officials began to confiscate the books which only encouraged people to begin smuggling copies into both countries.

Ulysses was not legally published in the United States until 1943 after Judge John Woolsey ruled that the book was not obscene. Next came Finnegan’s Wake, an experimental novel that took Joyce 16 years to complete. This piece saw its fair share of issues when it came to publishing, but with the help of T.S. Eliot, Faber and Faber of London was able to successfully publish it.

Aside from issues with publishers, Joyce’s health had taken yet another turn. After a dozen eye operations, his vision continued to decline. He eventually made arrangements with Irish author James Stephens to complete Finnegan’s Wake in case he was unable to.

The Final Years

In 1930, Joyce moved to London and after living together for 27 years, Joyce and Nora got married in 1931. Joyce spent his later years in Paris but often traveled to Switzerland for a number of eye surgeries. While battling his own health issues his daughter Lucia was suffering from, what they would eventually discover was schizophrenia.

Time marched on and throughout the late 1930s, Joyce helped a number of Jews escape Nazi persecution, then after the fall of France in 1940, Joyce and his family returned to Zurich a final time. On January 11th, 1941 Joyce underwent surgery for a perforated duodenal ulcer and fell into a coma the following day. He awoke at 2 AM on January 13th and asked a nurse to call his wife and son, he passed away 15 minutes later while his family was en route.

The Legacy of James Joyce

James Joyce left a profound influence on contemporary culture; Ulysses remains a model for fiction writers especially when it comes to teaching the power of language as well as it’s emphasis on the details of everyday life. His writing has also been an inspiration for Latin American writers as well as French post-structuralism, specifically Finnegan’s Wake. Joyce’s work and life is celebrated every une 16th known as “Bloomsday” in Dublin.