Product Description

'Is there one who understands me?' So wrote James Joyce towards the end of his final work, Finnegans Wake. The question continues to be asked about the author who claimed that he had put so many enigmas into Ulysses that it would keep the professors busy for centuries' arguing over what he meant. Studied by thousands of students and with a huge popular following, Joyce is arguably the greatest writer of the twentieth century, but, for many, his books remain an impenetrable mystery. With the help of an engaging commentary, a guide to Joyce's writing, and a bank of material gleaned from thirty years teaching Joyce in the classroom, David Pierce has produced a book that makes sense of Joyce's work for today's reader. He succeeds in presenting Joyce as an author both more straightforward and infinitely more complex than we had perhaps imagined.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #954105 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
Reading Joyce is absolutely the best kind of introductory book: not a dumbed-down crib, but an informed and passionate guide that both beginners and experts will learn from. (Mark Thwaite) -- The Book Depository, February 2008

Pierce has a gift for readability ... "Don't panic" is the reassuring message that runs through the book... Reading Joyce sets a steady pace but by the end has accumulated a wealth of new information and insight about Joyce and a good bit more besides. (Richard Brown) -- Times Higher Education, 28 February 2008

Sweeping away years of confusing and contradictory scholarly debate, Pierce brings Joyce's writing -- and his characters -- back to life. For anyone intending a serious study of Joyce's writing, Reading Joyce is more than just useful; it's essential. (RC) -- Yorkshire Evening Post, 9 February 2007

[A] combination of biography, literary companion and exegesis, pleasingly illustrated with many black and white photographs....Pierce is a brilliant reader, adept at teasing out connections and associations that are as revealing as they are unexpected. -- London Review of Books Recommendation, 7 February 2008

From the Publisher
Reading Joyce acts as a bridge into the world of Joyce and a deeper understanding of the man and his work. It is designed to give the reader confidence in reading and really appreciating the brilliance of Joyce. In addition, it provides the student with a sharp insight into the complex social, political and historical context of Joyce's fiction. Numerous illustrations and photographs in each chapter bring Joyce and his world to life. The book includes two previously unpublished photographs of the printing rooms of the Freeman's Journal, the setting for the newspaper episode in Ulysses. Its great strength is that it is written by a leading authority who has been teaching Joyce for thirty years and who has a keen understanding of what today's reader needs to get started on reading one of the great modern writers in English.

From the Author
Reading Joyce is not for everyone, and nor should it be, but, for those who develop an interest, the habit can be forming and even last a lifetime. For many readers, Joyce is often embarked upon as a matter of obligation or as part of a high-school or undergraduate programme. My book is written to convey something of the pleasure in reading Joyce, and it is informed therefore by a spirit of humour and appreciation. It issues from a belief that the reader new to Joyce needs a certain amount of guidance, but not an excessive amount. I look to the reader, therefore, who appreciates a challenge and who, long after the prompt books have been put down, will continue reading `the porcupine of authors' as his biographer Richard Ellmann once called him. Indeed, the reader I have in mind is sceptical of reading books with `notes' in the title and is looking for a critical engagement with the writer who is so highly regarded. Not `this means that' but `why should I read this at all' and `how does any of this connect with my life' and `please tell me things but make it interesting'.

Customer Reviews

Superb Joyce book
I bought David Pierce's "Reading Joyce" through Amazon and have enthusiastically read the book these days. I fully agree with what David Lodge writes in the blurb text, "I can think of no better companion for anyone embarking on a serious exploration of Joyce's work, but seasoned Joyceans will also find much to delight and inform them here." The book is, in fact, a literary as well as a critical achievement. In face of the mass of over-researched interpretations and provective speculations that have been dominating Joyce criticism for quite a time, reading "Reading Joyce" is a relief. It is one of the most absorbing dissertations in Joyce I have ever come across. It deserves a place on the shelf of exciting and exceptional Joyceana. It is entertaining in an extraordinary manner. The "unique blend of commentary and confession" (Lodge) clearly surpasses the dry academic discourses, which in fact no longer properly illuminate in a satisfying way what Joyce wrote and thought. Pierce has added to his text a plethora of photographs, maps, drawings etc., which go with highly original, illuminating, commentaries.
Just buy and read it!