James Joyce holds a unique position in literature. No writer has a
higher reputation, none attracts more ardent devotees, and none poses so
many difficulties for the first-time reader. This book is an original
and well-informed survey of the whole of Joyce's work. It offers close
readings of his early writings such as Dubliners and A Portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man, and an extended examination of his masterpiece,
Ulysses, as well as a stimulating introduction to that notoriously
difficult work Finnegans Wake. Dr Parrinder stresses Joyce's ambivalent
relationship to the Ireland of his youth, and his ability to incorporate
the most banal and profane levels of experience and language into
profound celebration of the human capacity for survival and
regeneration. The Joyce who emerges is a writer of innocence and gusto
as well as immense artistic cunning.