James Joyce: l'homme de Dublin

by Alfonso Zapico

James Joyce (James Augustine Aloysius Joyce, 1882 à Dublin - Janvier 1941 à Zurich) est un romancier et poète irlandais expatrié, considéré comme l'un des écrivains les plus influents du XXe siècle. Ses oeuvres majeures sont un recueil de nouvelles, intitulé Dublinois, et des romans tels que Dedalus, Ulysse, et Finnegans Wake. Bien qu'il ait passé la majeure partie de sa vie en dehors de son pays natal, l'expérience irlandaise de Joyce est essentielle dans ses écrits et est la base de la plupart de ses oeuvres. En racontant son histoire, Alfonso Zapico nous aide à comprendre les liens qu’il peut y avoir entre son oeuvre fictionnelle et sa vie de famille, ses amis mais aussi ses ennemis, son enfance, ses études, la misère… Plus étonnant encore, les lecteurs découvriront comment le chantre de Dublin était avant tout un voyageur impénitent.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Biography, Nonfiction, History, Bande Dessinée, Ireland

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Nacido en Blimea, un pueblo de los Valles Mineros asturianos, Alfonso Zapico es diplomado en Ilustración y Diseño por la Escuela de Arte de Oviedo. Como freelance realiza trabajos gráficos de carácter infantil/juvenil para editoriales nacionales y regionales (libros de texto, dibujos animados, páginas web, ilustraciones…), y ejerce de ilustrador en un proyecto de la Consejería de Educación del Principado de Asturias desde el 2005.

Es colaborador habitual de un periódico regional, La Nueva España, y ha publicado historietas y tiras cómicas en diversas revistas juveniles y digitales de Asturias. Su primer álbum de cómic, La guerre du professeur Bertenev, fue publicado en Francia por Editions Paquet, y recibió el Prix BD Romanesque en el FestiBD Ville de Moulins en el 2007. También ha colaborado en otro álbum colectivo, Un jour de mai, editado en la primavera del 2007 por Paquet con guión del francés Règis Hautiere.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charming enough book – would probably serve as a good primer if you want to dip your toes in without committing to the plunge that is Ellman (though this probably has about 10% of the wholeness of Ellman). Either way, a treat to see some of the scenes in Joyce’s story come to life.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fanboy's introduction to Joyce based on his reading of Richard Ellman's definitive biography, which I highly recommend. To me Joyce is the greatest novelist in English, the pinnacle (and no, I haven't yet climbed Finnegan's Wake) (yet). So this is a kind of way into Joyce as you begin reading, I guess, but I was disappointed because anything about Joyce I will check out. The text is simple and more straightforward than a writer like Joyce deserves. But I haven't read it in the original, in Spanish, so maybe it lost something in translation? Somehow I doubt it, because it is pretty superficial and reductive, in places. He's not very likable or relatable from this text. The art is solid.

Listen, if you have read a little Joyce you might like this as a starter to help you get some background. But beware, there are better sources to get deeper. Like: Read Dubliners and then read sections from Ellman pertaining to it.

[David Lentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have devoured every major work that James Joyce ever wrote, including "Portrait", "Dubliners", "Finnegans Wake" and in the case of "Ulysses" have savored it half a dozen times. Joyce may well be the greatest novelist who ever wrote in the English language. Consequently, I have also consumed a bevy of books about his life as such an understanding informs an appreciation of the creative process and his overcoming the high hurdles of the track of his life. For example, I have read and reviewed on Goodreads "The Most Dangerous Book," a tome by Kevin Birmingham about Joyce's life. I have also read Homer's "Odysseus" and "Iliad" a few times in different translations, which serve to frame the literary narrative of Joyce's life as a Dubliner in "Ulysses." Since I have recently published a work of autofiction entitled "The Fine Art of Grace," I am intrigued by biography (Joyce) and autobiography (Knausgard). So this graphic biography intrigued me when my wife brought it home from the library because she thought it might be my cup of tea. She was right, yet again, as it is. Zapico's graphic biography serves a purpose intended by writers to create pictures rendered by the words arising from a flat 2D surface. This book enabled me to understand how the struggles of Joyce shaped him into an immortal writer: he was forced to overcome dire poverty as he was devoted to his writing. He took on menial jobs teaching English in Trieste only to overcome paralyzing debt and was evicted from apartments more than two dozen times. His genius was repeatedly rejected as incomprehensible and censored both by the church and state. He suffered near blindness from painful repeated surgeries for iritis for which one treatment prescribed placing leeches on his eyeballs. His daughter, Lucia, had severe and painful psychiatric issues including a blind, debilitating love of Joyce's colleague, Samuel Beckett. Joyce lived in Trieste during the rise of the Nazis, Ireland during the ascent of the IRA at the height of the Troubles, suffered censorship for obscenity in the USA and the repression of the Catholic Church globally. Clearly, the man suffered for his work and behaved as his own worst enemy. He was incredibly egocentric, as everyone addressed him as a genius, and arrogant: more than once he rudely responded to the collegial kindness and generosity of Yeats, perhaps the greatest poet ever to write from Ireland. He declined an offer by Warner Brothers to take "Ulysses" to the silver screen. He drank far too much and infuriated neighbors with boorish misbehavior after bouts at the pubs. Fortunately for Joyce he met Nora Barnacle who steered him through his enormous personal and social flaws to stabilize his life despite a lifelong battle to stay sober, which was more often lost than won. Once during the writing of "Ulysses," Joyce became so exasperated that he actually threw the masterpiece manuscript into the fire that Nora immediately rescued by quick work pulling it out of the flames. Can you imagine if she were not there and then to save the manuscript of the greatest novel so far written by mankind? Zapico's award-winning, graphic biography portrays scenes from Joyce's real life, which are depicted so vividly in his novels. He brings to life Joyce's ill treatment by a teacher at Clongowes Wood with a pandy bat for accidentally breaking his glasses as narrated in "Portrait of the Artist." Or take Nora and Joyce sleeping head-to-foot because their bed was so small in Zurich like Leopold Bloom and Penelope in "Ulysses." So if you admire the literary novels of James Joyce and want to learn more about how his life bleeds into ink, you should read this graphic biography by Zapico: it's simply well done.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dantes não, mas agora sinto um pouco de curiosidade de como seria a vida pessoal de alguns escritores, que me parecem meio marados, no entanto não me abalanço a ler os calhamaços dos seus biógrafos. Assim, esta banda desenhada veio mesmo a calhar para conhecer James Joyce. E não fiquei desiludida: o homem era mesmo doido.

[Auntie Terror · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four point something stars, actually.
I liked the style of drawing, and it fit the general flow of Joyce's life which could almost be summed up as "the luck of the Irish". Only almost, though. It is an interesting biographical graphic novel and makes Joyce's life easily accessible, but being that, there is only so much credit the creators can be given for the "story", I think.

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was disappointing. The art was nice, but the text was simplistic, often juvenile. If it weren't for the occasional nudity and constant talk of drinking and "whoring," this could be given to an 11-year-old with no fear they couldn't comprehend it. I also found the portrayal of Joyce's publication history extremely confusing and kept having to go back and reread parts--and I was already pretty familiar with Joyce's publication history, so I can't imagine how it would be for someone who's new to all of this. But worst of all, this book is missing any sense of Joyce's creative inspiration. He just comes off as a drunken arrogant jerk who constantly gets mixed up in humorous scenarios, and his literary accomplishments seem like an afterthought, or even an accident. This was originally published in Spanish, so it's possible there are translation issues, but either way the end result is not good.

[Juan Nalerio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dublinés es la recreación en comic de la vida de James Joyce. El relato es muy entretenido y cuenta la vida de este gigante autor, mostrando todas sus facetas. Así, desfila el niño atormentado por la religión, el adolescente incomprendido, el joven juerguista y enamoradizo, el brillante escritor.

La obra se puede ver como un gran viaje en tren, mostrando Dublín, Trieste, París y Zurich, las cuatro ciudades fundamentales en la vida del irlandés. Aparecen también los escritores que de alguna manera u otra entraron en su vida; Ibsen, Yeats, Pound, Svevo, Beckett etc y los círculos de la alta cultura europea de principios del siglo XX que James frecuentó.

Recomendada para los lectores joyceanos que quieran tener una perspectiva general de este genio. Gracias Hyp.

[Margarida Galante · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Joyce (1882-1941) foi um escritor irlandês, e é considerado um dos maiores escritores do século XX. Entre as suas obras mais conhecidas estão "Dubliners", "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" e "Ulysses". Com excepção de um conto, "Os Mortos", incluído em "Dubliners", não li ainda nenhum dos seus livros.

Gosto muito da cidade de Dublin, onde já estive algumas vezes, e é impossível dissociar James Joyce desta cidade irlandesa. Curiosamente, o autor viveu uma grande parte da vida exilado, tendo passado por Trieste, Zurique e Paris, muito presentes nesta novela gráfica.

Esta biografia em BD dá a conhecer o homem, as suas origens, a sua família e relacionamentos, bem como os seus vícios e um pouco do seu génio. James Joyce viveu de forma intensa e tinha uma personalidade bastante particular. A sua obra é única e muito do que escreveu esteve envolvido em polémicas, foi censurado e muitas vezes incompreendido.

Gostei muito de conhecer um pouco da vida desta grande figura da literatura e adorei o detalhe das ilustrações que, mesmo a preto e branco, me transportaram para os ambientes retratados.

[Georgina Koutrouditsou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ίσως ο καλύτερος και κυρίως ο πιο ξεκούραστος τρόπος για να διαβάσεις την βιογραφία ενός σπουδαίου συγγραφέα!Ευχάριστο ανάγνωσμα,ωραία προσωπικότητα ο Τζόυς.

[Maria João (A Biblioteca da João) · Rating 4 out of 5]

8 de 10*

Opinião:
https://abibliotecadajoao.blogspot.co...

[Alberto Martín de Hijas · Rating 3 out of 5]

La vida de Joyce se ha contado en muchas ocasiones, pero creo que Zapico se apaña para transmitirla con interés en una historia con buen ritmo y una narrativa fluida.

[Nafsika · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Στη βία υποκύπτει μόνο το σώμα μου, το πνεύμα μου, ποτέ!"
Εχοντας πρώτα διαβάσει το βιβλίο "Γράμματα στη Νόρα" κατανοώ και γνωρίζω τώρα σε μεγαλύτερο βαθμό τη ζωή του ΤΖΕΗΜΣ ΤΖΟΥΣ. Δε θα μπορούσα να βάλω λιγότερα αστέρια, διότι τον συμπαθώ ιδιαίτερα.
Η γραφή του ΑΛΦΟΝΣΟ ΘΑΠΙΚΟ μου φάνηκε απλοϊκή αλλά όχι βαρετή. Οι εικόνες που τη συνόδευαν συνέβαλλαν σε αυτό.

[Tabuyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro editado como un cómic con unas ilustraciones preciosas en el que se narra la vida de James Joyce. Me ha gustado mucho pese a que Joyce no me ha caído nada bien. http://contandoteunlibro.blogspot.com...

[Monica San Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diría que Dublinés es mucho mas que un comic, es una biografía novelada gráficamente, en algunos esa linealidad pesa un poco sobre el comic pero sin duda la vida de Joyce lo merece. Sin duda un gran trabajo

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, it's a good story for telling but too descriptive for a graphic novel. Somehow I find it mismatching the book format.
The best (and funniest) moment for me was when James Joyce met Marcel Proust and they told each other how they’ve heard of each other but haven’t read each other’s books. And then they found out that they both like truffles.

[Camelia Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautifully realized graphic biography. The art is effective. The text is simple and concise. The author's focus is on James Joyce of course, but it would be nice if he had told the ending of Lucia after her father's death. And there is very little of how Nora felt about her husband.

While reading the book, my dislike for James Joyce just grows. A selfish drunk is a selfish drunk, even when he is also a genius.

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un buen cómic donde Zapico nos desgrana la vida de Joyce y nos muestra aspectos y lugares que influyeron en el autor irlandés.
Si te gusta Joyce es una gozada ya que es bastante completo e incluso aparecen las vidas de sus hijos.

[Noninuna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like Jane Austen, James Joyce is also one of the famous authors in English literature. Ulysses and Dubliners are some of his creations that been mentioned again and again in other fiction and nonfiction. Through this biography, I learned a lot about who he is and his background as a man and an author.

Truth to be told, I was not impressed with what I found. Tho, this graphic biography did deliver what it supposed to!

[Nele · Rating 3 out of 5]

It always seems like all famous people knew eacht other. Like how can you put Jung, Picasso, Hemingway and Rockefeller together in your mind. Not only people but also probably the most famous bookshop in Paris "Shakespeare and Company" played an important part in Joyce's life. I still don't know if I want to read one of his apparently very obscene books, so much so that Ulysses was forbidden and burnt in America.

[Pedro Alhinho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma biografia bem escrita e desenhada que dá de Joyce uma visão depressiva e deprimente.
Sobram em detalhes de bebedeiras e dividas o que falta de aproximação à obra.

[Katy]

I received my copy free through Goodreads Giveaways
My daughter took this one to enjoy

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quotes:
He had to come to realize that a heretical lifestyle was more manageable, and lot more fun, than constant pangs of guilt.

Gluttony is English. Pride is French. Wrath is Spanish. Lust, contrary to appearances, is German. Sloth is Slav. The Italian sin is avarice. And of course, for the Irish, I've reserved envy. / And the Jews? What is the sin of the Jews, Joyce? / The Jews? They have none, unless it's the one that is always pinned on them: the deadliest of all. You know, crucifying Jesus...

A writer should never write about the extraordinary. That is for the journalist.

Do you remember the ballad about the man who gets drunk and falls down the stairs? Everyone thinks he's dead, but in the middle of the wake he smells the whiskey and wakes up? / Finnegan's Wake? / Aah! I've always loved that song.

Ezra Pound could make no sense of Joyce's new book either. 'Dear Jim: to me, all this chaos could be a divine vision, or a formula to cure gonorrhea. I understand nothing.' 'So the only thing I can say is, good luck.'

Eugene Jolas spoke English, French, and German, and words fascinated him. He and his wife were a remarkable couple. They were searching for a theory of art that would be, at the same time, a philosophy of life. They wrote the 'Manifesto of the Revolution of the Word', in which they espoused freedom and imagination in language. They then founded a literary magazine for creative experiments: 'Transition'. And where would the Jolases find a text that would embody their revolution? Obviously in Joyce's 'Work in Progress' [Finnegan's Wake] In April 1927, it began to appear by installments in 'Transition'.

Monsieur Joyce, they say your new book is a mixture of music and literature. Is that true? / No. It's purely musical. / It's a strange book. Is there some hidden meaning to it. / No, no. The text is just meant to make you laugh. / But then, why have you written the book in such a strange way? / Well, it's to keep the critics busy for the next three hundred years.

Imperceptibly, Joyce returns to Dublin every day, where his presence and his unique outlook on life remains. A life that is at times dark, often comic, and almost always supremely happy.

[Justpassingby]

A short but pleasant presentation of Joyce's travels and troubles in captioned drawings. The famous author is presented as an eccentric alcoholic, narcissistic, obsessed with his art and morbidly indifferent towards nearly every other aspect of life. Being friends with Joyce must have been a trying experience and one cannot but admire the strength and humour of his companion Nora Barnacle who bore their two children and shared his misery and poverty. Near the end of the book she is quoted saying: "Well, Jim, one day I'll have to read one of your books. Seeing how well they sell, they must be good."

Alfonso Zapico presents Joyce's claims that his works have no deeper meaning, and that Finnegan's Wake was written merely to puzzle critics, as unironical. I am not sure that this is entirely justified: Joyce would make those claims whether they were true or not, if only to avoid discussing his own work.

I have not seen any other works by Zapico but I like the style that combines fairly realistic drawings of the characters' actual faces, many among them famous, with the symbols and conventions of traditional comic strips. Joyce, of course, would mock these concerns and demand only (as he did from the painter Patrick Tuohy) that his tie come out well.

[Ashley Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A graphic novel treatment of Joyce's biography. Gives historical context and a sense of whimsy.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dublinés es la lectura conjunta del club de lectura de este mes y no defraudó. No suelo leer muchos cómics, aunque me gustan.

Dublinés podría resumirse como una biografía hecha cómic del escritor irlandés James Joyce. Ha sido una lectura distinta, entretenida y didáctica. Es verdad que es un libro que no se puede leer del tirón porque puede llegar a ser algo pesado y "aburrido". No es una novela, sino la biografía de un escritor con sus altibajos.

Recomiendo leerla por capítulos, algo que ayudará a separar por etapas la vida del escritor a la vez que disfrutar de la historia de su vida y no llegar, como digo, a "cansar".

Son pocos capítulos por lo que en cuestión de varios días o una semana se puede leer, con tranquilidad. Cada comienzo de capítulo viene acompañado de una ilustración a toda página.

He de decir que el dibujo de Zapico me ha gustado mucho, así como su forma de presentarnos a los personajes que vivieron en torno a Joyce, con una pequeña frase o párrafo que los reconoce a través de la historia y los distingue del resto de secundarios.

No tenía ni idea de todo lo que vivió James Joyce hasta que pudo ver sus obras publicadas, pero también de la mala vida a la que se dio y la suerte que tuvo con muchos de sus benefactores. Le tocó vivir en ciertas etapas algo convulsas, en las que se desenvolvió con soltura.

Tal vez no venga al caso, pero Nora la que fue su compañera de viaje y, años después, su mujer es parte destacada de su historia. Le soportó estoicamente, tanto sus borracheras, como su comportamiento adúltero y cuidó de la familia lo mejor que pudo. Me sorprende la triste vida que llevó su hija Lucía y cómo, a pesar de sus intentos, no logró ayudarla.

Un estupendo y original cómic donde conocer al escritor y disfrutar del lápiz de Zapico. Recomendable 100%.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining comics biography of James Joyce, who I knew next to nothing about when I started reading this. I was struck by how much Joyce stayed unaffected from politics and the major historical events of his lifetime, especially in contrast to his brother Stanislaus. The book seems to show that Joyce was an incredibly lucky man (also in contrast to Stan), despite the setbacks he had earlier in his career, & his eye disabilities. Great events were swirling around him, he was always broke, but he managed to avoid the bullets and keep a roof over his & his family's heads, continue his writing, & keep the drinks flowing. To his credit, it seems Joyce was conscious of this luck. This book makes me want to read Ulysses & Finnegan's Wake, partly because the book hinted that Joyce didn't intend either book to be taken too seriously. Which is not to say that Joyce didn't take his work seriously, even though he constantly used it as an excuse for his constant bad behavior. Finally, I really enjoyed the artistic style. I liked the details,the characterization of the different personages, & the ways it depicted all these figures in motion.

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this graphic biography on Joyce more than I thought I would. In many ways I feel at a loss, in that I wasn't well versed in Joyce's life story to begin with, only his writings. There's the Ellmann biography, which, from what I understand is a classic, but I haven't read this. But even though I have nothing to compare it to, I'll take Zapico on his domain and assume that he's as accurate as possible (and he even provides a list of references in the back of the book). A limitation of a comics-based biography, though: there's less opportunity, or at least less attempts, to get into the head and psychology of the subject matter, at least compared with prose biographies. In other words, comics biographies strike me as more reportage and event-based than otherwise. Not that comics artists can't use the medium to delve into the interior of their subjects. It's just that with biographies, when the need to cover a lot of ground -- and entire life, in many cases -- is paramount, covering the basics of events is a big task in and of itself.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ Finely detailed graphic bio of the truly fascinating life of James Joyce….lots of details presented chronologically.

From highs to lows to pretty much always being where the action was in early 20th century Europe, this includes Joyce’s flaws and all. I was unaware of the story of his and Nora’s daughter Lucia, or of his rampant eye disease.

Most effectively, it made me want to take another go at reading Ulysses and maybe re-reading Dubliners and The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man which I read while in college. I tried it back in the day, but don’t think I was ready! Haha.

The layout of the book was a bit awkward-I wasn’t always clear on what copy went with what art. It was sort of a hybrid text-heavy graphic treatment. That could be the fault of the kindle app though. But the monochrome art was accessible with decent character differentiation, which can be tricky in one color.

I think fans of Joyce would enjoy this very accessible treatment of his life…or after looking at some of the other reviews here, maybe not! 🤷🏻‍♀️ Hahaha

[Maura Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first graphic novel I have read in a while, and I enjoyed it. It also fits my goal of wanting to read more about literary Ireland before traveling there this summer. There were some grammatical issues here and there, and I got lost in the style at certain points, but I do think it painted a good image of what Joyce's life was like. If you want to know more about Joyce and how he came to write his tomes, but don't want to spend time on a lengthy biography, this is definitely for you. I also think it'd be a good intro to graphic novels for those who are hesitant about the format. There are some graphic sexual scenes, though, so beware of that.

[Carlos Ferreira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novela Gráfica que percorre a vida de James Joyce, o aclamado autor de “Ulisses”, habitualmente considerada a obra-prima literária do cânone ocidental, uma obra que tem tanto de idolatrada como de incompreendida e que na realidade, apesar de tão famosa, nunca foi completada por muitos. Confesso que também nunca a li, embora já tenha tentado por duas vezes e como geralmente não há duas sem três, pode ser que à próxima seja de vez ;-)
Devido a essa aura de génio que o acompanha, tinha curiosidade em conhecer o seu percurso de vida e como foi a génese dessa obra tão fundamental. Constatei que se tratou de um personagem muito particular, inteligente, boémio, extravagante e com uma dose de loucura muito significativa.
Esta biografia não era uma realização fáciil, mas penso que Alfonso Zapico conseguiu levá-la a cabo de modo escorreito e embora não entusiasme, também não desilude. A arte gráfica está bem conseguida, num preto e branco que se coaduna com o relato e com a época.
A edição cartonada da Levoir é de boa qualidade.

Avaliação: 7 / 10