One Hundred Years of James Joyce's "Ulysses"

by Colm Tóibín (Editor), Michael D. Higgins (Foreword by), Colin B. Bailey (Foreword by)

Overview

Ulysses is widely regarded as the greatest novel of the twentieth century. Commemorating the 1922 publication of this modernist masterwork, One Hundred Years of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” tells the story of the writing, revising, printing, and censorship of the novel.

Edited by world-renowned Irish novelist and literary critic Colm Tóibín, this book presents ten essays by preeminent Joyce scholars and by curators of his manuscripts and early editions, as well as an interview with Sean Kelly, the New York gallery owner who donated his extensive Joyce collection to The Morgan Library & Museum. Beginning with Tóibín’s expert interpretation of the Dublin context for Ulysses, the volume follows Joyce in Trieste, Zurich, and Paris from 1914 up through the novel’s publication—and the international scandal and fame that ensues. It draws on Joyce’s notebooks and letters, as well as extant manuscripts and proofs, to provide new insights into Joyce’s life, the narrative and place of Ulysses, and the printed book.

Rich and illuminating, this volume is essential for scholars, fans, and readers of the novel. Along with the editor, contributors include Ronan Crowley, Maria DiBattista, Derick Dreher, Catherine Flynn, Anne Fogarty, Rick Gekoski, Joseph M. Hassett, James Maynard, and John McCourt.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780271092898
Publisher:	The Morgan Library & Museum
Publication date:	06/07/2022
Series:	Penn State Series in the History of the Book , #31
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Colm Tóibín is the author of ten novels, including Brooklyn and The Magician, and two collections of stories. He is a contributing editor at the London Review of Books and the Irene and the Sidney B. Silverman Professor of Humanities at Columbia University. He is the coauthor of Henry James and American Painting, also copublished by Penn State University Press and The Morgan Library & Museum.

Table of Contents

President of Ireland’s Foreword

Michael D. Higgins

Director’s Foreword

Colin B. Bailey

Acknowledgements

1. The Music of the Future

Colm Tóibín

2. Ulysses and Dublin

Anne Fogarty

3. Finding Ulysses in Trieste

John McCourt

4. Ulysses in Zurich

Ronan Crowley

5. Joyce in Paris, 1920-1922

Catherine Flynn

6. Revisioning Ulysses

Maria DiBattista

7. Ulysses and Free Speech: Looking Back to Move Forward

Joseph M. Hassett

8. The Rosenbach Manuscript

Derick Dreher

9. The Origins of the University at Buffalo James Joyce Collection

James Maynard

10. Sean Kelly

Interview by Colm Tóibín and John Tidwell

11. The Sean and Mary Kelly Collection

Rick Gekoski

Notes

Bibliography

List of Contributors

Index

Credits

Editorial Reviews

03/07/2022

The making and aftermath of James Joyce’s Ulysses get the spotlight in this smart collection of essays brought together by novelist Tóibín (The Magician), published in collaboration with the Morgan Library & Museum. “Joyce in Paris, 1920–1922” by Catherine Flynn covers the novel’s publication history, focusing on Joyce’s time in France and his relationship with Shakespeare & Company owner Sylvia Beach. “Ulysses and Free Speech: Looking Back to Move Forward” by Joseph M. Hassett recounts the obscenity charges brought against the book’s American publisher in 1921. “The Rosenbach Manuscript” by Derick Dreher traces how Joyce’s manuscript made its way to Philadelphia’s Rosenbach Library. Maria DiBattista’s excellent “Revisioning Ulysses,” on Joyce’s editing process, is accompanied by remarkable images of Joyce’s typed schema, making for a kind of cheat sheet for the novel’s complex web of relationships. Lavish illustrations appear throughout, and by the end, readers will be sympathetic to the claim made by Margaret Anderson, who serialized part of the novel in the Little Review in 1918, that “this is the most beautiful thing we’ll ever have.” The result is a fascinating glimpse into Joyce’s posthumous transformation from novelist into cultural icon, just right for fans and scholars. (May)

Publishers Weekly

A fascinating glimpse into Joyce’s posthumous transformation from novelist into cultural icon, just right for fans and scholars.”

—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2022-03-25
A happy centenary birthday tribute for a literary classic.

Acclaimed Irish novelist Tóibín gathers original essays and interviews for the latest volume in the publisher’s History of the Book series. Collectively, the pieces venture incisively into what James Joyce called his “damned monster-novel.” Avoiding the usual tropes and time-worn critical approaches to the novel, these essays are fresh and accessible to general readers. Tóibín begins with a probing essay on the novel’s often overlooked historical setting in 1904 Ireland and England. Exploring the intimate, complex role of Dublin in the novel, Anne Fogarty invites readers to “surmise things the text does not tell us, an impulse that would be a misstep in the case of most other fictions.” Three essays reveal how much the places where Joyce lived influenced the composition of Ulysses: Trieste; Zurich, where he wrote a large portion of the novel; and Paris, “perhaps the only city in the world where Ulysses could come to fruition and find publication,” according to Catherine Flynn. In Paris, Joyce found stability, financial support, and fame. In the intriguing “Revisioning Ulysses,” Maria DiBattista notes that Joyce “composed [the novel] with an eye for accuracy that would satisfy not only the town gossip but also the municipal engineer,” as he gradually devised new linguistic techniques to portray his characters. After an essay dealing with the historical and legal issues surrounding the novel’s famous censorship trials, Derick Dreher writes about Joyce’s handwritten, heavily edited Ulysses manuscripts and the fascinating history behind them. In 1924, they sold at auction for $1,975. Bibliophiles will savor James Maynard’s essay about the world’s largest collection of Joyceana, at the University of Buffalo—“unmatched glimpses into his writing process and literary relationships”—and how it was assembled. The book also includes excellent illustrations.

A treat for those readers who appreciate wrestling with a beast of a novel.

Kirkus Reviews