James Joyce Books

A selection of extracts from the work of James Joyce, accompanied by photographs of Ireland.

The remarkable collection of stories that make up Dubliners was described by Joyce himself as a series of chapters in the moral history of his community; and the arrangement of the tales reveals "a progression from childhood to maturity, broadening from private to public scope," as Harry Levin noted in his introduction to The Portable James Joyce. In fact, it is the scope of life that Joyce has limned in these stories--ranging from the opening tale, "The Sisters," in which the boy is confronted with death as he overhears the conversation of his elders, through the memorable "Ivy Day in the Committee Room" with its depiction of small-time politicians recalling their great lost leader, Parnell, to the exquisitely poignant "The Dead," wherein through the chance singing of a song a husband learns of a long-ago romance in his wife's life. While the geographic boundary of these fifteen stories may be middle-class, Catholic Dublin, the artistic boundary is set only by Joyce's far-reaching genius. --back cover

A beautiful and accessible introduction to the writings of James Joyce. Short, entertaining quotes from his major works: Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, with more from his poetry & letters, and some family anecdotes handed down to grand-nephew Bob Joyce.

Written over a seven-year period, from 1914 to 1921, this book has survived bowdlerization, legal action and controversy. The novel deals with the events of one day in Dublin, 16th June 1904, now known as "Bloomsday". The principal characters are Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom and his wife Molly. Ulysses has been labelled dirty, blasphemous and unreadable. In a famous 1933 court decision, Judge John M. Woolsey declared it an emetic book--although he found it not quite obscene enough to disallow its importation into the United States--and Virginia Woolf was moved to decry James Joyce's "cloacal obsession". None of these descriptions, however, do the slightest justice to the novel. To this day it remains the modernist masterpiece, in which the author takes both Celtic lyricism and vulgarity to splendid extremes. It is funny, sorrowful, and even (in its own way) suspenseful. And despite the exegetical industry that has sprung up in the last 75 years, Ulysses is also a compulsively readable book.

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.Dubliners, a Level 6 Reader, is B1+ in the CEFR framework. The longer text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing future continuous, reported questions, third conditional, was going to and ellipsis. A small number of illustrations support the text.In these stories, Joyce describes the lives of ordinary Dubliners. Their lives are not always easy, and they have problems with their families. They were the people who Joyce grew up with and he knew them very well.Visit the Penguin Readers websiteExclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

"This volume combines two of novelist and poet James Joyce's poetry books-Chamber Music (1907) and Pomes Penyeach (1927)-with "The Holy Office" (1904) and "Gas from a Burner" (1912)"--