James Joyce
1) Ulysses
Ulysses is one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century. It was not easy to find a publisher in America willing to take it on, and when Jane Jeap and Margaret Anderson started printing extracts from the book in their literary magazine The Little Review in 1918, they were arrested and charged with publishing obscenity. They were fined $100, and...
Dubliners comprises fifteen short stories, which Joyce intended should accurately reflect the life of the Irish middle class. Each story centers around the moment of epiphany, when a character suddenly understands something about themselves or their life and surroundings that they didn't understand before. The protagonists of the stories progress as a life progresses: from children to adolescents, to adults and the elderly.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is semi-autobiographical, following Joyce's fictional alter-ego through his artistic awakening. The young artist Steven Dedelus begins to rebel against the Irish Catholic dogma of his childhood and discover the great philosophers and artists. He follows his artistic calling to the continent.
Irish author James Joyce is best remembered as one of the most important novelists of the twentieth century. His masterwork Ulysses is regarded by some critics as the best novel ever written. However, Joyce also dabbled in other genres, and poetry, according to some accounts, was his first literary love. Chamber Music was Joyce's first full-length collection of verse; the compilation includes a number of his best early poems.