Here are ten things you may have not known about James Joyce: 1. The character Molly Bloom in his novel âUlyssesâ is based on his wife Nora Barnacle from Galway. The novel even takes place on June 16th (otherwise known as âBloomsdayâ) or the day Joyce met his future wife in 1904. 2. Joyce studied Dano-Norwegian at University College Dublin in order to to be able to read the work of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in its original form. 3. He left Ireland for Paris after completing his studies in 1902, originally moving there to study medicine. 4. The Irishman settled with his family in Pola, Austria-Hungary in 1904 but was expelled soon after in 1905 when the government uncovered a spy ring. 5. Joyce taught English at the Berlitz school of language in Trieste, Italy. 6. Joyce adopted Italian as his at-home language, having learned it while living in Italy 7. He returned to Ireland in 1909 to open Dublinâs first movie theater, the Cinematograph Volta on 45 Mary Street. Featuring Italian and European movies unpopular with the Dubliners, the cinema shut its doors in 1919. 8. Joyceâs former Irish teacher, Patrick Pearse, was one of the leaders of the April 4th 1916 Easter Uprising and considered to be âPresident of the Provincial Governmentâ of the Republic of Ireland. 9. Joyce underwent over 25 eye surgeries in his lifetime. 10. Before his book âUlyssesâ was legally published in America in 1934, hundreds of illicit copies were seized and burned by the US Post office in the 1920s.
Trying to prove your Irish by telling people **** facts about an Irish poet. please log in to view this image
Listening to Radio 4 LW, TMS just ended and it appears R4 has gone all Oirish for the day. Typical BBC.
Trying to prove my Irish what? What would it take for me to be Irish then? (i am guessing i have asked you this on at least ten occasions) Whilst i have you here you could answer the other questions i have posed of you lately that you have juat avoided. Why do you think that the word "bastard" is sectarian? Do you agree that technically Charles Green has founded a new club? Over to you Paddy.
What I want to know, and this comes from someone who hasn't read a book* since they discovered alcohol, is: is James Joyce that good that he deserves an international day of celebration? *apart from a couple about cricket and punk, not literature.
Interesting that you can take such a firm view with something so subjective as Nationality yet take a more existential approach with something as unequivocal as the existence of a football club. To be honest, I am not a great fan of Joyce. I am fascinated by the mechanics of how he wrote the book. It is geographically accurate despite being written in France. It was a fascinating time in the Irish literary revival and his work had huge social consequences.....but Ulysses is tough going.
Is Ullysses the one in stream of consciousness? That is pretty hard going. The only book I've read like that is Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. I've read Dubliners by Joyce, thought it was ok but nowt special.
I read the E.V Rieu (sp) translation. The guy from Hitchin was Chapman? I don't know what the difference would be to be honest.
Chapman is the one. I think his ghost is supposed to haunt an area by the river which is now the market place car park, opposite The Biggin. Quick google reveals that Chapman claims to have met Homer's ghost in Hitchin. Keats was a fan of his translation apparently.
If Homer was to appear anywhere,*I wouldn't have picked Hitchin to be honest. It is good to know this stuff. Even if I never read it again. Even if it is not the Chapman translation it is good to know.
