Joyce, James
Entry updated 11 May 2025. Tagged: Author.
(1882-1941) Irish author, journalist and poet, in various European cities from 1904, including Trieste, Zurich and Paris; unquestionably one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. There is no evidence that Joyce knew or cared anything about sf, and none of his works can be characterized as sf, although some of his short fiction contains elements of Horror. His most renowned book, the key Modernist novel Ulysses (March 1918-December 1920 The Little Review; exp 1922), is explicitly modelled on Homer's Odyssey, arguably a major work of Proto SF, as the events in one day in the lives of two Dubliners, Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus, are likened to the adventures of Homer's Odysseus and Telemachus. Also renowned or notorious is the cyclically structured dream-fantasy Finnegans Wake (1939) [for Joyce in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy see under links below], whose polyglot narration blends scores of world languages in what to the casual reader can seem an impenetrable Labyrinth of puns, portmanteau words, crossword-like wordplay and phrases with multiple meanings. Those who have found this novel richly rewarding and have published relevant critical studies include James Blish, Anthony Burgess and the major US critic Edmund Wilson (1895-1972).
Joyce's singular novels have also been an influence on some significant works of sf, including James Blish's "Common Time" (August 1953 Science Fiction Quarterly) and A Case of Conscience (part 1 September 1953 If; 1958); Philip José Farmer's "Riders of the Purple Wage" (in Dangerous Visions, anth 1967, ed Harlan Ellison) with its nods to the "Aeolus/Cave of the Winds" segment of Ulysses and "WINNEGAN'S FAKE!" punchline; Brian W Aldiss's linguistically extravagant Barefoot in the Head: A European Fantasia (fixup 1969); and Samuel R Delany's cyclically structured Dhalgren (1975). Less loftily, James Blish invokes the multilingual "Eurish" of Finnegans Wake for Klingon-proof Communications in his Tie to Star Trek, Spock Must Die! (1970). Joyce is referenced in further novels including William Melvin Kelley's Dunfords Travels Everywheres (coll of linked stories 1970), Richard Grant's View from the Oldest House (1989) and John Coulthart's Lord Horror: Reverbstorm (1994-2000; 2012). Joyce himself is a character in Tom Stoppard's play Travesties (first performed 1974; 1975) and Leopold Bloom appears as one character in Terry Eagleton's Saints and Scholars (1987). [GW/DRL]
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce [born James Augusta Joyce]
born Rathgar, Dublin, Ireland: 2 February 1882
died Zurich, Switzerland: 13 January 1941
works (selected)
- Dubliners (London: Grant Richards, 1914) [coll: hb/nonpictorial]
- Ulysses (Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922) [portions first appeared March 1918-December 1920 The Little Review: hb/nonpictorial]
- Finnegans Wake (London: Faber and Faber, 1939) [portions first appeared 1924-1932 as "fragments from Work in Progress": hb/nonpictorial]
links
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