History YMMV / JamesJoyce

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: Well, difficult as hell for the unprepared.
** Nothing can prepare you for ''Literature/FinnegansWake''. ''Nothing.'' Not even having already read it.

* NeverLiveItDown: He's somewhat infamous for his many sexual and fetishistic letters to his wife, which contained passages like....... well, this:
-->It is wonderful to fuck a farting woman when every fuck drives one out of her. I think I would know [my wife]'s fart anywhere. I think I could pick hers out in a roomful of farting women. It is a rather girlish noise not like the wet windy fart which I imagine fat wives have. It is sudden and dry and dirty like what a bold girl would let off in fun in a school dormitory at night. I hope [my wife] will let off no end of her farts in my face so that I may know their smell also.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: Averted. His two most famous works, ''Literature/{{Ulysses}}'' and ''Literature/FinnegansWake'' are, despite practically being the definition of Avant-Garde, pure comedies.

* AwardSnub: Easily one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, yet he did not receive a Nobel Prize in Literature. Though the Nobel Prize did not put a great weight on literary merit in its early years, it neglected Creator/HenrikIbsen and Creator/LeoTolstoy as well in the 1910s (when they were still alive).

** This is dubious to say the least. In which sense did the '''Swedish Academy''' not put weight on literary merit? (the Nobel Prize itself doesn't put much weight on anything, not being an agent and all) Most people will miss their favorite authors from the list, but that is to be expected. In which sense were, say, Kipling and Mommsen without literary merit, and why should Ibsen or Strindberg have been on the list?

* MemeticMolester: As it turns out, Joyce was quite the pervert. As he once wrote in a letter:
-->It is wonderful to fuck a farting woman when every fuck drives one out of her. I think I would know [my wife]'s fart anywhere. I think I could pick hers out in a roomful of farting women. It is a rather girlish noise not like the wet windy fart which I imagine fat wives have. It is sudden and dry and dirty like what a bold girl would let off in fun in a school dormitory at night. I hope [my wife] will let off no end of her farts in my face so that I may know their smell also.[[note]]It needs to be pointed out that this is from a private letter ''to his wife'', not to some third party.[[/note]]
** Well, she was his wife, so he’s not much of a molester... Ah well, so long as it’s SafeSaneAndConsensual.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: Averted. His two most famous works, Literature/{{Ulysses}} and Literature/FinnegansWake are, despite practically being the definition of Avant-Garde, pure comedies.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: Or difficult as hell for the unprepared.
** Nothing can prepare you for ''Literature/FinnegansWake''. ''Nothing.''

-->It is wonderful to fuck a farting woman when every fuck drives one out of her. I think I would know [my wife]'s fart anywhere. I think I could pick hers out in a roomful of farting women. It is a rather girlish noise not like the wet windy fart which I imagine fat wives have. It is sudden and dry and dirty like what a bold girl would let off in fun in a school dormitory at night. I hope [my wife] will let off no end of her farts in my face so that I may know their smell also.

** Nothing can prepare you for {{Literature/FinnegansWake}}. ''Nothing.''

* MagnumOpus: Usually considered ''Ulysses'', although a small but growing group of people would say ''Finnegans Wake'' is Joyce's true masterpiece.

* MagnumOpus: Usually considered {{Literature/Ulysses}}, although a small but growing group of people would say {{Literature/FinnegansWake}} is Joyce's true masterpiece.

* AwardSnub: Easily one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, yet he did not receive a Nobel Prize in Literature. Though the Nobel Prize did not put a great weight on literary merit in its early years, it nglected Creator/HenrikIbsen and Creator/LeoTolstoy as well in the 1910s (when they were still alive).

* AwardSnub: Easily one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, yet he did not receive a Nobel Prize in Literature.

-->It is wonderful to fuck a farting woman when every fuck drives one out of her. I think I would know [my wife]'s fart anywhere. I think I could pick hers out in a roomful of farting women. It is a rather girlish noise not like the wet windy fart which I imagine fat wives have. It is sudden and dry and dirty like what a bold girl would let off in fun in a school dormitory at night. I hope [my wife] will let off no end of her farts in my face so that I may know their smell also.

* AwardSnub: Easily one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, yet he did not receive a Nobel Prize in Literature.

* AwardSnub: Easily one of the most influential writer in the 20th century, yet he did not receive a Nobel Prize in Literature.