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by James Joyce

This book contains the complete novels of James Joyce in the chronological order of their original publication.

[1916] A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
[1922] Ulysses
[1939] Finnegans Wake

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Literature, Collections, Irish Literature

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

James Joyce was an Irish novelist, poet, and a pivotal figure in 20th-century modernist literature, renowned for his highly experimental approach to language and narrative structure, particularly his pioneering mastery and popularization of the stream-of-consciousness technique. Born into a middle-class Catholic family in the Rathgar suburb of Dublin in 1882, Joyce spent the majority of his adult life in self-imposed exile across continental Europe—living in Trieste, Zurich, and Paris—yet his entire, meticulous body of work remained obsessively and comprehensively focused on the minutiae of his native city, making Dublin both the meticulously detailed setting and a central, inescapable character in his literary universe. His work is consistently characterized by its technical complexity, rich literary allusion, intricate symbolism, and an unflinching examination of the spectrum of human consciousness. Joyce began his published career with Dubliners (1914), a collection of fifteen short stories offering a naturalistic, often stark, depiction of middle-class Irish life and the moral and spiritual paralysis he observed in its inhabitants, concluding each story with a moment of crucial, sudden self-understanding he termed an "epiphany." This collection was followed by the highly autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), a Bildungsroman that meticulously chronicled the intellectual and artistic awakening of its protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, who would become Joyce's recurring alter ego and intellectual stand-in throughout his major works.
His magnum opus, Ulysses (1922), is universally regarded as a landmark work of fiction that fundamentally revolutionized the novel form. It compressed the events of a single, ordinary day—June 16, 1904, a date now globally celebrated by literary enthusiasts as "Bloomsday"—into a sprawling, epic narrative that structurally and symbolically paralleled Homer's Odyssey, using a dazzling array of distinct styles and linguistic invention across its eighteen episodes to explore the lives of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom, and Stephen Dedalus in hyper-minute detail. The novel's explicit content and innovative, challenging structure led to its initial banning for obscenity in the United States and the United Kingdom, turning Joyce into a cause célèbre for artistic freedom and the boundaries of literary expression. His final, most challenging work, Finnegans Wake (1939), pushed the boundaries of language and conventional narrative even further, employing a dense, dream-like prose filled with multilingual puns, invented portmanteau words, and layered allusions that continues to divide and challenge readers and scholars to this day. A dedicated polyglot who reportedly learned several languages, including Norwegian simply to read Ibsen in the original, Joyce approached the English language not as a fixed entity with rigid rules, but as a malleable medium capable of infinite reinvention and expression. His personal life was marked by an unwavering dedication to his literary craft, a complex, devoted relationship with his wife Nora Barnacle, and chronic, debilitating eye problems that necessitated numerous painful surgeries throughout his life, sometimes forcing him to write with crayons on large white paper. Despite these severe physical ailments and financial struggles, his singular literary vision remained sharp, focused, and profoundly revolutionary. Joyce passed away in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1941, shortly after undergoing one of his many eye operations. Today, he is widely regarded as perhaps the most significant and challenging writer of the 20th century. His immense, complex legacy is robustly maintained by global academic study and institutions such as the James Joyce Centre in Dublin, which ensures his complex, demanding, and utterly brilliant work endures, inviting new generations of readers to explore the very essence of what it means to be hum

Reviews

[Claudia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overall impression? The most unpleasant reading of my life.

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Finnegan's Wake - DNStart

I just skimmed through it. Does it have a narrative thread? Or is it just a linguistic experiment? Don't know and don't care, to be honest.

I thought at some point to count down all the words I could recognize, but it was just a blitz thought. Still, I wonder how many languages did Joyce use words here from. There is at least a Romanian one (too bad I can't find the link where I read that…)

Being the erudite he was, I just wonder why he wrote this one, knowing that nobody would ever understand it properly. Yes, there are a lot of studies on it, it got dissected and scrutinized, but I doubt that one fully comprehended it.

My guess is was written out of an overextended ego, to remain in history as the most unique, original and excruciating books ever to be written. To demonstrate the whole world his misunderstood genius.

Well, as an ordinary reader, I'm not impressed, I'm just amazed why anyone would ruin his health and everything else writing an incomprehensible work for 99,9% of readers, just to ensure his immortality in the literary world. Or perhaps this was indeed his ultimate aim. Only he knew exactly why, and that he took with him in the grave and no one will ever know...

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Ulysses - DNF

This was my third try to read Ulysses and definitely the last. I have thought that reading it now, after his first two novels and years after my second try, I will see it with other eyes. Nope.

I read for pleasure, to have a great time, to blow my mind with awesome ideas, stories, great characters and/or writing styles, to learn more about the topics I'm interested in, and any other reason in between. I also appreciate experimental writing, various figures of speech but only when I like a story. Otherwise, no. I'm no literary critic, nor do I wish to become one.

This book may have all the praise in the world, may be the masterpiece of all masterpieces ever created, but for me it was a chore, a tiresome story with obnoxious characters, and extremely boring. Therefore, this is where we part.

For those of you who want to read it and for a better understanding, below site is a useful tool: http://m.joyceproject.com/

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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 2*/5

Not much luck with this one either; too many pointless dialogues which annoyed me to no end. Here and there they are intermingled with introspective passages which are beautifully written but most of the time just as tedious. I guess I'm not on the same wavelength with a teen boy coming of age. Maybe it's the catholic background that makes a teenager to think that much of god; I most certainly had different thoughts at that age. It may be part autobiographical, but it doesn't change anything, from my PoV.

Ulysses will be next, but not right now.

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Dubliners 2*/5

This must be the most boring collection I have ever read. I don't dispute Joyce's literary skills, it's just that my enjoyment in reading it was close to none.

In terms of worldbuilding, the stories are a combination between Salinger (bland, dull characters & setting) and A.J. Cronin (the dark atmosphere), although I loved Cronin in my youth.

Taken separately, the stories don't tell much, but after finishing all, one can form an opinion about Dublin and its inhabitants, ordinary people, with their struggles, petty behaviours, mostly a narrow minded society.

I am surprised though that I wasn't deterred by it like it happened years back with Ulysses, which I tried to read two times and failed. But it's pretty different, from what I can remember, and is missing the disgusting parts which are the only things I recall from it.

However, even if the stories are not compelling at all, and neither the characters appealed to me, I had appreciated the writing, the polished use of language, and how the standalone stories form a unity when seen in perspective. The way I see it, this is not about the Dubliners as individuals, but them as a whole, the portrait of Dublin, the city, seen through its citizens, as puzzle pieces which have a meaning only when put together.

I have also made a bit of net search, to see what I missed from reading it, and have found a comprehensive analysis of all the stories, from different points of view. I've read a few from each category, and seems to be a much more enjoyable experience than reading this volume was. Here it is:

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dublin...

As a side note, my impression that Joyce the man was much more interesting than Joyce the writer was only enhanced by this collection. From his writing, he appears to be such a somber, conservative man, whilst he was exactly the opposite:

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2...

Obviously, this is just trivia, but somehow it makes him seem more human and down to earth, closer to us, mere mortals.

That is why I would recommend reading more about him prior to his works, because you'll see with other eyes what he tried to convey in his works. Dubliners, at first glance, might seem as a conservative approach of the society of those times, but I think it's more of a criticism toward it. The sarcasm is very subtle, but it's there. Only one needs to know more about the author before delving into his writings.

Of course, knowing all this did not increase my enjoyment, but I was able, at least, to appreciate his writing skills.

And nonetheless, because I have this edition, it will stay on the 'currently reading' shelf for the next, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Hopefully, by the end of the year, to go through all of them. But it's not like I have a deadline, so, will see.

[Tanja · Rating 2 out of 5]

The different novels are interesting but just not for me. I am glad I have read them, and I did like them, but his style of writing doesn't captivate me, and I had trouble staying focused on the stories as I was reading them.

[laurentiu]

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[Robert Whelan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dubliners was good, rest was pretty impenetrable and boring. Skipped Finnegans Wake for now.

[Shaoroun · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got through the first 2 books, enjoyed the first one well enough, was kind of disappointed by tue 2nd, did not understand Ulysses at all and I gave up on it, tried starting Fineganns Wake but at this point I just lost interest and patience with it