James Joyce: A Beginner's Guide

by Frank Startup

This is an introduction to the life and works of one of the most unique and powerful literary minds of the twentieth century.

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Alisa Cupcakeland · Rating 3 out of 5]

An introduction to some of Joyce's major works: Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses.

I like James Joyce poetry but for some reason I've never felt in the mood of reading his narrative and this book helped me change my mind a bit. I still have no interest in reading Ulysses but I think one day I could read Dubliners. I've already read The Dead and I liked it and now I know there are some other stories such as Eveline that could be interesting for me.

For A Beginner's Guide, the chapter of the critical reception felt too heavy for me; although I adore literary criticism, I felt it was unnecesary to have a full chapter about it for something that is meant to be only an introduction. I enjoyed the chapter "where next?" as it felt fresher and lighter which is what I expect from this kind of readings.

[Tony Lawrence]

This would have been very useful before I carried out my own Herculean task (or probably Odyssean quest?) to read Ulysses. As well as the little potted summaries of the sections, I also learnt some important things; (1) Joyce’s had his first date with future wife Nora Barnacle on 16th June 1904 (Bloomsday); (2) the 3 books featured here, Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses are linked and should be read and understood as a whole, and (3) The ‘artist’ Stephen Daedalus is loosely autobiographical, and other characters are based on real people including Molly and Buck Mulligan. Useful insights for my re-reading!

Anyhoo, the first 1/2 of this was interesting about Joyce’s life, writing style, and primers for the books themselves; the second section was dry and showy about critical styles, reviews, biographies, and other aspects of the Joycean world.

[Claire S]

Very simplified, I like that.. And when going over Ulysses, he lays out the structure of it (3, then 18, then 3 again I think); and goes through each section, saying from time to time: 'Now, this part is where a lot of people stop reading. What you need to do to keep going is this.. '. And lists a finite number of items that a first-time reader should focus on, and suggests letting the rest circle around about as it will, etc..