James Joyce - Research Paper Example

This paper will discuss this author by giving a brief autobiography of him, as well as a brief description of his works. Ulysses Unbound: A Reader's Companion to James Joyce's Ulysses (pp. 3-4) Autobiography Joyce was born on 2nd February, 1882, in Dublin, Ireland, into a middle class household, where he succeeded as a scholar at the Jesuit schools Belvedere and Clongowes, then at the University College of Dublin. During his early 20’s, Joyce moved permanently to Europe, living in Zurich, Trieste and Paris (Fennell 8).

Though he spent a majority of his adult life abroad, Joyce's fictional world does not go far away from Dublin, and is occupied mainly by individuals who strongly look like his family members, friends and enemies from his time in the city (Fennell 8). Ulysses, particularly, is set with accuracy in the alleyways and streets of the city. Soon after the mass publication of Ulysses, Joyce explained this concern rather stating that for himself, he always writes about Dublin, since, if he can get to the spirit of Dublin, then he can get to the spirit of all other cities of the world (Fennell 8).

This means that, according to Joyce, Dublin contained the universe. A Little Circle of Kindred Minds: Joyce in Paris (p. 8) Joyce’s family was rather big. He was the firstborn son in a family of 10 (Doherty 5). His father, while Joyce used to sing as a child, said that Joyce had one of the finest tenor vocals in Ireland. However, he drunk a lot, and therefore, all his funds were channeled to alcohol, which meant that Joyce did not have any funds to support his signing talent (Doherty 5). From his childhood days, Joyce showed not just exceeding skills, but also an endowment for writing, as well as a passion for literature.

He trained himself how to read, write and talk in Norwegian so that he could interpret Henrik Ibsen’s plays in Norwegian. He also used a majority of his time going through Dante’s Aquinas’ and Aristotle’s writings (Doherty 6). Owing to his knowledge, his family persuaded him to study, and from his attendance of university is where he earned a degree in modern languages, Bachelor of Arts. Joyce's affiliation with his home country was a multifaceted one and soon after completing his university education, he left Dublin for a fresh life in France where he wished to study medicine (Doherty 7).

However, he returned to Dublin soon after being informed that his mother had become seriously sick. She ended up dying in 1903. Joyce lived in Ireland for a short period, where he met Nora Barnacle, a lodge chambermaid who was from Galway and soon became his spouse. Joyce later died on 13th January, 1941 (Doherty7). Pathologies of Desire: The Vicissitudes of the Self in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (pp. 5-7) Works Some of the leading works of this author include Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Exiles and Poetry, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.

Dubliners Dubliners, first published in 1914, refer to a set of 15 short narratives by James Joyce (Bulson 53). They shape a naturalistic description of Irish middle class living in, as well as around Dublin, in the in the late and premature years of the 19th and 20th century, respectively. The stories were developed when Irish patriotism was at its climax and a look for a national recognition