Multiple Joyce: 100 Short Essays about James Joyce's Cultural Legacy

by David Collard

In one hundred short essays David Collard navigates James Joyce’s astonishing cultural legacy in the century since the publication of Ulysses in 1922.

Holding up a funhouse mirror to our times, Collard finds a multitude of Joyces, in often ludicrous disguises, wherever he looks—whether at Ally Sloper, Borsalino hats, Anthony Burgess, Cher, first editions, Flann O’Brien, Guinness, Hattie Jacques, John Cage, Kim Kardashian, Lego, Moby-Dick, numismatics, perfume, pianos, Princess Grace, puns, The Ramones, Sally Rooney, Stanley Unwin, Star Wars, waxworks or Zylo spectacles. Endlessly reinvented and exploited, Joyce emerges as a ubiquitous, indispensable and ruthlessly commodified Everyman.

As Rónán Hession puts it in his foreword, Collard is above all “good company”. Whether you’re a devout admirer or wary newcomer, this surprising, unconventional handbook offers an entertaining prompt to dive into the depths of Joyce’s ever-expanding universe with a new awareness that it is very much our own.

Genres: Essays

378 pages, Paperback

Published June 16, 2022

Reviews

[Chris Via]

Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hivwp...

[Lee Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erudite, engaging, all over the place, amusing, casually comprehensive, filled with intriguing new-to-me bits, the related internet filtered and arranged into one handy compendium, ordered into short pieces ideal for brief regular reading experiences, ideal bathroom reading for the Joyce enthusiast.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Rónán Hession’s introduction to this essay collection, he talks about, amongst other things, his relationship to Joyce’s literature and there’s a small similarity to my baptism of fire with Joyce as well.

Like Rónán Hession, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was my first taste of James Joyce. I was 18 at the time and trying to build a solid literary foundation for further study (never happened) I did not find it easy going but I did admire it. Many years later on I bought Ulysses and whenever I start it, I read the first page, I absorb it and languish in it but then I find it so powerful that I close the book, only to open it and find myself stuck on that one page ( funnily enough I do the same thing with Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon – another memorable opening if there was one)

Now that I got my Jocyean demons out of the way, I can review this Anthology.

Writing 100 essays on Joyce may seem like a daunting task but David Collard pulls it off and the result is an entertaining, informative and very funny collection. If you want to know how Joyce influenced the web cartoon Monster High or his connection with Italo Svevo, look no further. Maybe you’re interested in the type of spectacles he wore or his approach to wordplay (and there’s tons of puns here) there’s some essays about that too!

Not only are there essays about Joyce but David Collard delves into other aspects: James Joyce literary tattoos, what it means to read adventurous work (a big THANK YOU for essay 89), the lack of a comma in Finnegans Wake, the power of independent presses, how Joyce translates on audio and film and the famous Mrkgnao.

However, my personal favorite essay is number 50, which is called Confession, in which David Collard writes about he cannot read Finnegans Wake in it’s entirety. It’s a personal memoir involving religion and it’s role in David’s Collard’s view of the arts. I will say that every essay in this collection is an enjoyable read but Confession resonated with me.

After reading Multiple Joyce and I don’t suggest dipping in and out of it. One realises how integral James Joyce is to culture, both popular and underground: There’s a Joycean link to Star Wars, Anthony Burgess, Galley Beggar Press (two in fact) , Johnny Depp even Paolo Coelho (that’s another highlight, anyone who dislikes his writings gets a thumbs up) all have a trace of Joyce in them, which truly makes him a cultural wunderkind. Does one need to be a Joyce scholar to enjoy this book? – definitely not but it is an excellent launching pad for a budding Joyce fan (if I had this book when I was 18! I would have worn it out) or maybe a Joyce fanatic will tick off the things they did know, or be flustered at the title quiz (essay 100, naturally)

Since puns are a big thing I’d like to end on one, which also is a tribute to another adventurous author:

The Bloom of the System

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

First things first I have to apologise to the publisher and author as I was sent this book ages ago and have only now read the book but I have good reason. Joyce is well known to be one of the toughest reading experiences and I had not read anything by the great man, then to get a book that was 100 essays about Joyce’s legacy was a real “eeeeek!!!” moment for me. So I decided it was time to tackle Joyce before I had a go at Collard, the hunt of Joyce in charity shops began (still finding any excuse to procrastinate), 200 purchases later I found a copy of The Dubliners and even though it is the easiest of his to read I could see he was quite the master of words. So I had given Joyce a go, now it was time for Multiple Joyce.

Well this book was nothing like I expected, plenty of humour to set you at ease and jam packed full of facts, opinions, quotes and an intense look at the Monsters High universe. Right from the start the reader is put at ease, checking out a doll called Finnegan Wake makes you realise this collection is going to be fun, no idea what I was worried about. The next big moment for me was Collard describing the two different types of readers, A and B, the A’s like books with plot, structure and an ending, B’s like chaos, unreliable characters, the opposite of structure…an empty void or something…and the ending is left open for interpretation. This was a proper mind blowing moment for me, it explains why I am drawn to books nobody I know would read. All these interesting moments and the book had barely touched on the works of Joyce.

Collard understands that not everybody is going to be able to “get” Joyce and he respects those that try and fail, what this book tries to do is to ease the reader into Joyce’s world, by taking tiny little moments from the book and expanding that bit and giving it real world imagery you start to understand what all the fuss was about. The essay’s are so varied, I was left wondering how he managed to come up with so many ideas for each essay whilst at the same time thinking 100 was only the tip of the Joyce iceberg. The first 86 or so essays were interesting, funny and at times quirky there was a moment after that were it seems Collard had had too many Guinness’s and had ripped his shirt off to do battle with lazy critics and reviewers…the highlight of the book for me, such wonderful wit mixed with pure rage. And if Joyce hadn’t written and if Collard hadn’t created this collection then I would never have heard Joey Ramone performing The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs…imagine missing out on that.

I’m not sure if Collard started out with the intention of inspiring readers to take the leap and pick up Ulysses or not but he has been successful with this reader, having completed this I feel I know Joyce well and am raring to give Ulysses a go (probably not Finnegans Wake)….To the charity shops!

Blog review https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2023...

[Nic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of the time I was thoroughly entertained. Some essays were sort of half assed (e.g. #87 Information Superhighway is just a list of Google’s answers after typing in “James Joyce”)

Some essays go a bit wide of James Joyce as the main subject and he rails against authors or poets and then reels in his strong opinions. Sure, they’re his opinions, but he gets up in arms about people who speak ill of Joyce’s writings (rightly so) and then does the same about other people’s writings. Just felt a little out of touch at times.

But hey, he also takes a bite out of that rabid anti-trans POS j.k. rowling, so he gets a rousing cheer from me. For the most part I really enjoyed this book and I’m very glad I read it.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brings out the quality people don't expect in reading Joyce, which is to say obsessing over him: it's fun!

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joycean bathroom reading. In a good way.
I am back to my reading of James Joyce (and related material) in honor of the 2022 100th anniversary of the publication of "Ulysses".
I loved this book - and later on I will share why I gave it 4, instead of 5, stars.
Collard had me hooked from the first essay (pretty much all of them are 2-4 pp long), on the now discontinued action figure, Finnegans Wake (TM - as he points out every time he refers to it in the book). One of these Monster High figures sits on his writing desk - and you can buy one yourself online, in the resale market for about $100.
He really goes down the Joyce rabbit hole, and takes you along with him.
How many Jews were there in Dublin while Joyce lived there? Links to webpages (and the web has been very very good to Joyce studies!) - like the one, still in progress, listing all the connections between Joyce and music. What he listened to, what has been influenced by him. Books that have Joyce as a character, or have continued the story of his characters.
Let's just say my bill for Amazon, and my Joyce Wish List, grew quite a bit while reading this book! Like the 2 semi-legal little booklets published not that long ago, "Finn's Hotel" and "Cats of Copenhagen", neither of which I had known about previously.
Why 4 and not 5? If he mentioned Eimear McBride's novel "A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing" one more time he could have named the book "Multiple McBride". OK, I did buy a copy of the book, and just now I purchased a copy of his own Readers Guide to the novel (the guide is about 170 pp, to a 240 pp novel!).
And, at the very end, he gets off of Joyce. 3 of the last few pieces are on Rooney, Melville, and Eliot (the longest piece, at 15 pp), with barely even an attempt to connect them to Joyce. Interesting, but not Joyce. He should have been pulling the previous 95 essays together, getting ready to make a Big Statement about Joyce. Instead we get "Moby Dick" vs "Moby-Dick", or Eliot and cinema! And then he ends with essay #100 - a Multiple Joyce game. Who said what about Joyce - with a multiple choice of authors provided. I got 5 out of 24 right. A few were by authors I had never heard of before. It should have been an Addendum, not a chapter.
I started out planning to read 2 or 3 pieces a night. Then moved to 10 pp. Then to 10-20 pp. By 100 pp into this volume I was reading about 30-40 pp per night. And adding books and websites and music and videos to pursue the next day. OK, I enjoyed this so much that I semi-burned through it!
Collard is more of a "well-read amateur" than a "scholar". Although at times he is so well read that it borders on the scholarly.
One of the reasosn I most appreciate this book is I had NO plans, or interest, in reading "Finnegans Wake". But his own story of reading (or not reading) FW gave me a new way to approach that daunting tome. He admits he has not read it all himself, and not even attempted to read it cover to cover. Every now and then he picks it up and reads a few pages here and there. Just enjoying the flow of the language, the intelligence behind the puns, and the creation of new words. Not having read it has not stopped him from writing about it, or appreciating it. Having read a fair amount *about* it has also helped him. My own first copy ever is on its way here.
OK, I LOVED this book that is all over the place, and all over Joyce.
4.5 out of 5.

[Gastjäle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 / 5.0

A relaxed yet sprawling compendium of Joyce-related data, Joyce-sparked thoughts and Joyceward digressions. Due to the lax rigour of the essayettes, the subject of each writing played a big part in whether a certain writing was gripping or not. This is not to say that Collard's writing is negligible (I quite liked his diction and turns of phrase), but we are talking about essays here—and not, say, poetry—so stylistic embellishments of this sort do not invite me to overlook the subject matter and enjoy the en sich.

Or perhaps they might. Yet my quibble is that I expected Joyce to be more prevalent in these essays. When he wasn't (say, when he would launch on an excited ramble about pandemoniac Google searches, plastic toys, quaint cinema or magic lanterns), it felt like a slight betrayal. There were times when Collard would link his excursions back to Joyce in an enlightening way (like in essay 61), yet it wasn't all too uncommon for him to seemingly tag ol' Jim at the end to wrap up his essay. If the subjects were exciting (such as in the great Melville encomium, essay 98), or if the digressions would prove to serve a curious bit of trivia about Joyce, it wouldn't matter so much, and thankfully the majority of the table of contents would fall in these categories.

As for the writer himself, Collard comes off as a casually funny and curious bloke, who (despite his insecurities) has amassed a respectable mound of Joycedata. What's funny is that though he has not read Finnegans Wake in its entirety and has his reasons for not planning to do so for the time being, he seems to have a firmer grasp on the work than I have. I am not feeling particularly ashamed or insecure about my purchase on the great logoleviathan, but I find it inspiring to see how an incomplete read (meaning "not cover-to-cover") has nonetheless sparked so much enthusiasm in searching and studying—and even a pretty sober and reserved take on the "evidence". He also makes a point of not appearing as elitist in spite of being a Joycean and he does this pretty consistently, a great example being essay 89, where he carefully shows to what an extent he can tolerate sweeping statements. Essay 50 is also a very moving confession that sheds light on his personal life, showing the impact Joyce's writings had on him. (I don't necessarily relate to his reasons for not reading Finnegans Wake, but I can respect his feelings / reasoning.) But above all, he ranks Wodehouse acceptably high in the canon, which gives him a big, puffy plume in his cap.

Multiple Joyce is a great source of Joyce trivia, though it does succumb to digressive triviality a bit too often for me to feel more elated over it. However, I got plenty of good reading recommendations from this work, so perhaps I should not be moaning too much. After all, this book is also a celebration of one of the greatest writers ever to languish on a divan, crayonnate a monolith or deanimate dogs en masse—one whom I mire above mine host. And as such a celebration, it should bring many a twinkle in the eyes of lovers of lordly literature.

[Wideboy · Rating 5 out of 5]

By turns erudite and amusing, this wonderful little book showcases its author's wide knowledge, nimble prose, and bracing originality. You don't even need to be interested in either James Joyce or "Ulysses" to enjoy Collard's Jonathan Meades-level brilliance as a cultural critic.

[David Carrasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a good book. I cannot even tell how satisfying this is as a Joycean: a fun book, well-written and researched, instructive and yet engaging. Truly close to a masterpiece, whatever that is.

[Katharine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up. Some of the essays dragged a bit, while others were engagingly thoughtful, pithy, or witty.

[Mark Saya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book, far-ranging, engaging, poignant, witty, lovingly done, introduced me to several great online sites devoted to Joyce, and inspired me to finally tackle the only work of Joyce's that I've never read and thought I never would: Finnegans Wake. Starting January 28, 2024, I've been reading one randomly selected page every day since and loving it. At this pace I can mark it as read here in late 2025!

[AZ BOOKS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful

Here's a short 10 minute Leaf by Leaf video about the book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hivwp...