History Creator / JamesJoyce

** If one comes to Joyce from reading ''Ulysses'' or ''Finnegans Wake'', ''Dubliners'' can be surprising for its simplicity, its elegance, its realism and also its seriousness. Except for one or two stories, they are lacking in the humour and low-spirited hijinks his famous novels are pepperedw with, and many of them are bleak and serious, written under the influence of Creator/AntonChekhov and Creator/HenrikIbsen.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The remaining bits of ''Stephen Hero'', Joyce's unfinished first draft of ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'', read like a much more conventional novel than the kind of thing he later got famous for.

* ShoutOut: At some point, to almost every major novelist and poet in the history of western literature.

[[caption-width-right:140: Well hello there. [[HarkAVagrant I wrote you a letter.]]]]

James Joyce (Irish, 1882-1941), likely the most influential writer of the 20th century. If you think that's a bit hyperbolic, in 1998, ''Modern Library'' ranked ''{{Ulysses}}'' No. 1, and ''Literature/APortraitOfTheArtistAsAYoungMan'' No. 3, on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

* AbusiveParents: Farrington in ''Dubliners's'' "Counterparts", receiving a surprisingly sympathetic, AntiVillain-like portayal.

* TheCity: Joyce claimed that if it was destroyed you could ''rebuild'' Dublin from the detail in ''Ulysses''.
* BeigeProse: Dropped in, as if from nowhere, late in ''Ulysses'', a conversation done in the stlye of a catechism (question-and-answer enquiry used in Church).

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The riffs on Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' are integral to understanding ''Ulysses''.

* GenderBender: In one of Bloom's internal dialogues in ''Ulysses'', he is turned into a woman and raped by the Brothel Madam, who has turned into a male ringmaster.
* GenreShift: This trope pops up in ''Portrait'', then rules the day in ''Ulysses''.
* GuideDangIt: In ''Ulysses'' and especially ''Wake'', spoilers and annotations are often necessary to get what the hell is going on.
* HurricaneOfPuns: ''Wake'' could be the trope namer.
* KavorkaMan: Blazes Boylan in ''Ulysses'
* MadArtist: UsefulNotes/CarlJung read ''Ulysses'' and concluded that Joyce was schizophrenic. Joyce for his part regarded Jung as an incompetent psychologist for his failure to properly treat his daughter Lucia.

* MeaningfulName: Dedalus, Bloom, HCE, etc.
* MindScrew: Some of ''Portrait'', most of ''Ulysses'', all of ''Wake''.

* {{Portmanteau}}: ''Wake'' could be the trope namer.
* ResetButton: Again, ''Wake'' could be the trope namer. Check out the first and last "sentences".
* RuleOfSymbolism: Used in ''Portrait'', almost overdone in ''Ulysses'', worn to a nub in ''Wake''.

* TropeNamer: One of the countless throwaway words in ''Wake'', "quark", is used in particle physics. JosephCampbell said he found the word "monomyth" in ''Wake'' too
* TwiceToldTale: ''Ulysses''
* UglyGuyHotWife: Leopold Bloom and Molly.
** Going by their personal letters, Joyce apparently saw himself in a similar situation with Nora.

* WrittenSoundEffect:
** The thunderclap in ''Wake'':
--->"Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk"
** "mrkgnao" for the noise a cat makes, in ''Ulysses''.

* UsefulNotes/{{Dublin}}

* TwiceToldTale

* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness: ''Stephen Hero'', Joyce's unfinished first draft of ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'', the remaining bits of which read like a much more conventional novel than the kind of thing he later got famous for.

* {{Defictionalization}}: in ''Ulysses'', all the locations are real, some still exist, and real-life Dubliners crop up as characters with their real names.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: In almost everything he wrote, biblical and Homeric allusions and {{Shout Out}}s.

Real world wearer of an EyepatchOfPower. He died and was buried in Zürich, Switzerland. As of January 1st 2012 his work is in the public domain worldwide.[[note]] During the 80s, 90s and 00s, the Joyce estate had been exercising ever stricter control over Joyce's copyright, to the extent that even people writing scholarly books were being refused permission to quote from the work if the estate didn't like anything about them - it was even reported that one academic was refused permission to quote because Joyce's literary executor didn't like the name of the university football team. Now that the work is in the public domain, it's expected that Joyce studies will see a revival, and many theatrical adaptations of his work have already been produced. Film, TV and new media versions will likely follow.[[/note]]

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Joyce assumes his readers possess quite a bit of intuitive insight.

* MadArtist: Carl Jung read ''Ulysses'' and concluded that Joyce was schizophrenic. (His reaction to ''Finnegans Wake'' has apparently gone unrecorded.)

* BeigeProse: Dropped in, as if from nowhere, late in ''Ulysses''.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Novels as an entire art form and English as a language, starting small with ''Portrait of an Artist'' then going for broke with ''Finnegans Wake''.

* CrapsackWorld: It's obvious Joyce did not have a very fair opinion of his native Dublin or its inhabitants, but the exhaustive descriptions in ''Ulysses'' verge on SceneryPorn.

* AuthorAvatar: Dedalus, whose first book wasn't called ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' for nothing; and to a lesser extent, HCE from ''Finnegans Wake''.

->-''"This ought to keep the professors busy for a hundred years!"''

* SpiritualSequel: Read his four major works in their published order. Each expands upon the themes of the last, each ups the ambition of the style, and the character of Stephen Dedalus can be seeing taking shape in Joyce's mind in the pages of Dubliners.
* TropeNamer: One of the countless throwaway words in ''Wake'', "quark", is used in particle physics.

* AuthorAvatar: Dedalus, whose first book wasn't called ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' for nothing; and to a lesser extent, HCE from ''Finnegan's Wake''.

* KavorkaMan: Blazes Boylan in ''Ulysses''.
* MadArtist: Carl Jung read ''Ulysses'' and concluded that Joyce was schizophrenic. (His reaction to ''Finnegan's Wake'' has apparently gone unrecorded.)

* {{Deconstruction}}: Novels as an entire art form and English as a language, starting small with ''Portrait of an Artist'' then going for broke with ''Finnegan's Wake''.

* ''{{Ulysses}}'' (1922): LoveItOrHateIt, ''Ulysses'' is a defining novel of the 20th century. The plot? Leopold Bloom and his wife and some friends have experiences on 16 June 1904, known now as "Bloomsday". Simple, right? Ha. It's [[{{Doorstopper}} dense]], delphic, hydra-headed, with multiple story lines [[KudzuPlot mixed together like a bowl of spaghetti]]. Even Joyce himself later admitted he may have overcooked it. Nonetheless, to a determined student of literature, it can be a hugely rewarding undertaking.

* ''{{Dubliners}}'' (1914): a collection of short stories about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin some Dubliners]].

Real world wearer of an EyepatchOfPower. He died and was buried in Zürich, Switzerland. As of January 1st 2012 his work is [[AndTheFandomRejoiced in the public domain worldwide]].[[hottip:*: During the 80s, 90s and 00s, the Joyce estate had been exercising ever stricter control over Joyce's copyright, to the extent that even people writing scholarly books were being refused permission to quote from the work if the estate didn't like anything about them - it was even reported that one academic was refused permission to quote because Joyce's literary executor didn't like the name of the university football team. Now that the work is in the public domain, it's expected that Joyce studies will see a revival, and many theatrical adaptations of his work have already been produced. Film, TV and new media versions will likely follow.]]

Real world wearer of an EyepatchOfPower. He died and was buried in Zürich, Switzerland. As of January 1st 2012 his work is [[AndTheFandomRejoiced in the public domain worldwide]].

Real world wearer of an EyepatchOfPower. He died and was buried in Zürich, Switzerland. As of January 1st 2012 his work is in the public domain worldwide.

James Joyce (Irish, 1882-1941), likely the most influential writer of the 20th century. If you think that's a bit hyperbolic, in 1998, ''Modern Library'' ranked ''{{Ulysses}}'' No. 1, and ''APortraitOfTheArtistAsAYoungMan'' No. 3, on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

* ''APortraitOfTheArtistAsAYoungMan'' (1916): A mostly autobiographical, coming-of-age story. It occasionally veers into ''Ulysses''-like stream of consciousness, but to students who read (or try to read) ''Ulysses'' first, it's a surprisingly catchy page-turner, maybe even a "conventional" novel. (That rumble you hear is Joyce spinning in his grave.)

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: the riffs on Homer's Odyssey are integral to understanding ''Ulysses''.

* InDublinsFairCity

-->-- '''James Joyce''', after publishing ''FinnegansWake''. Damn it all to hell, the bastard was right.

* AuthorAvatar: Dedalus, whose first book wasn't called ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' for nothing; and to a lesser extent, HCE from ''Finnegans Wake''.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Novels as an entire art form and English as a language, starting small with ''Portrait of an Artist'' then going for broke with ''Finnegans Wake''.

* MadArtist: Carl Jung read ''Ulysses'' and concluded that Joyce was schizophrenic. (His reaction to ''Finnegans Wake'' has apparently gone unrecorded.)

* ''FinnegansWake'' (1939): Whereas ''Ulysses'' broke some rules and bent the rest, ''Finnegans Wake'' absolutely obliterated every single one. We would try to provide a useful description, but we'll let Mr. Joyce himself try to make the case:

Real world wearer of an EyepatchOfPower. He died and was buried in Zurich. As of January 1st 2012 his work is in the public domain worldwide.