Status Updates From James Joyce

Things are picking up a bit. It’s interesting how he draws from his own life for his books, which then affects his life again. There’s a weird fractally self-referential feedback loop there.

For those of you watching from home, I'm reading this book because Finnegans Wake is not giving me many footholds. I have a strange obsession with how he created it (and why it's fractal) and I'm hoping this scratches that itch. Based on the avalanche of obscure detail so far, there should be plenty to mull over. He's only 18 so far.

«Distintos como eran, Lucifer, Parnell y Ulises empezaban a emparejarse en su mente. No era tanto el deseo de parecerse a ellos –ya que era demasiado orgulloso para eso– como que ellos se pareciesen a él, es decir, quería que sus imágenes penetrasen en la suya».

At least Ellmann doesn't pull punches with his subject like many biographers, who fall in love with theirs. Joyce can be a hot mess.

56

Life is good when anonymous rich people have checks sent to you regularly while you're trying to raise a family and your Dubliners manuscript has been rejected 40 times (Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Exiles not far behind).

It's also good with Ezra Pound and W.B. Yeats doing due diligence in the PR game for you.

(He says, waiting for an anonymous check to arrive...)