Steve Bender's James Joyce
Elective at the Dalton School
This purpose of this page is to provide links to sites that can aid and abet a group of high school seniors embarking on a first-time reading of Joyce's major works. The page is a work-in-progress; in addition to links to web sites, it will eventually contain the assignments for my class and the student work the course generates.
The best source for biographical information on Joyce remains Richard Ellman's book, James Joyce (2nd Ed. 1959. New York: Oxford UP, 1982). More basic biographical material can be found at the following web-sites:
Biographical Essays, Quotations, Arcane Facts,and Links from the Irish Times (this site includes links to a "History of Joyce", a piece on "Joyce and Religion", an essay on "Joyce and Exile", a piece on "Joyce's Use of Weather", and "10 Things You Probably Don't Know About Joyce")
James Joyce once joked that if Dublin vanished from the face of the globe it could be reconstructed in minute detail from his works. His fiction pulsates with the sights, sounds, and smells of the city. Here are links to some helpful topographical sites on the Web:
The June 16, 1904 Irish Evening Telegraph (needs Adobe Acrobat)
Joyce generates an incredible amount of critical writing. Here are links to some useful critical materials I've found on the web for students at the secondary school level. Of course, a good deal of the most helpful criticism still resides between the covers of conventional books. These, as you may know, can be found in libraries and bookstores throughout the land. The bibliographies I've linked to below should help to get you started:
To enter into ongoing critical discussion of Joyce with scholars and students throughout the world, subscribe to the James Joyce mailing list by sending e-mail with the command "subscribe" in the body of the message to: j-joyce request@lists.utah.edu
Most of the Joyce-related critical material on the Web deals with the more "difficult" works-- Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Still, there are some useful guides and notes for Dubliners and Portrait on-line. What follows is a list of links to sites that can help the novice Joycean navigate through this vast and rich terrain (for more specific essays on topics of interest to you, see your teacher in lab or consult the critical bibliographies listed above).
A Guide to Dubliners From the Folks at Penguin Books (includes synopses, vocabulary, study questions, paper topics, et. al.)
A Great Portrait of the Artist Page From Pomona (this page features an excellent account of the book's critical reception as well as detailed notes on the novel)
Joyce's Homeric Schema for Ulysses (in very useful hypertextual form)
The Deep Structural Schema (from Stuart Gilbert's James Joyce)
An Odd, Chapter-by-Chapter Guide by Students at Pomona (created by students, some chapters receive more serious analytical attention than others; still, some good insight can be gleaned from this interesting hypertextual gloss)
Some Excellent Ulysses Resources From the Irish Times (especially good for the intimidated-- includes a concise essay on why the novel is so important)
Study Ulysses Hypertextually While Browsing Through the Bloomsday Evening Telegraph (an interesting and cleverly designed hypertextual presentation of many of the ideas, issues, and techniques of the novel)
Share the Insights of Other Intrepid Travellers Involved in a Ulysses Read-through (an archive organized to allow a user to essentially replicate on his or her own the experience of the Participants in a major Internet Ulysses Readthrough Project)
Confused by "Wandering Rocks"? Follow the Maps... (for more maps, see "Joyce's Dublin")
Still Controversial After All These Years: A New Edition Evokes Strong Emotions
a sketch of Leopold Bloom by James Joyce (the text is the the first line of Homer's Odyssey in Greek)
All That Whet Your Appetite For More?
Click Here for a (Fairly) Definitive List of Joyce Links On The Web
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since 11:53am June 20, 1997
