James
Joyce
was
born in Dublin in 1882. Educated at Jesuit
schools he studied modern languages at University College. While still
at university Joyce had an article on Ibsen published in the Fortnightly
Review. He also become friendly with other literary figures
in the city including J. M. Synge and W.
B. Yeats.
After graduating in 1902
Joyce moved to France. He returned to Ireland
after the death of his mother. In 1904 Joyce met Nora Barnacle and
the couple went to live in Switzerland.
The following year they moved to Trieste where Joyce found work at
the Berlitz School.
Joyce published a volume
of poetry, Chamber Music, in 1907.
It sold poorly and his next book, Dubliners,
did not appear until 1914. This collection of short stories was acclaimed
by Ezra Pound in The
Egoist. Joyce had been working on his autobiographical
novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man, for ten years. Pound met Joyce and agreed to publish
the novel in The Egotist in 25
installments from February 1914 to September 1915.
During the First
World War Joyce moved to Zurich where he began work on his next
novel, Ulysses. It was published
in serial form in the New York journal,
The Little Review (April 1918
to December 1920). As a result of the serialization the journal was
prosecuted for publishing obscene matter. It was eventually published
in France in 1922 but was impounded by customs
officials when attempts were made to import the book into England.
When the books arrived in the United States
they were seized and burnt by the postal authorities.
Poems
Penyeach, a small collection of poems, appeared in 1927.
Despite Ulysses being praised
by writers such as W.
B. Yeats,
Ezra Pound, Ernest
Hemingway and
Arnold
Bennett it
was not published in Britain until 1936. This was followed by Finnegans
Wake in 1939. James
Joyce died
after an operation on a duodenal ulcer on 13th January 1941.
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