The Poetry of James Joyce Reconsidered
Edited by Marc C. Conner
Foreword by Sebastian D. G. Knowles, Series EditorPaper: $24.95
- Series: The Florida James Joyce Series
"The authors demonstrate collectively that the lyric poems reward--and will continue to reward--greater attention than they have hitherto received. The collection as a whole should inspire the next generation of Joyceans to foreground Chamber Music and Pomes Penyeach in their scholarship and in their teaching."--Victor Luftig, coeditor of Joyce and the Subject of History
To many, James Joyce is simply the greatest novelist of the twentieth century. Scholars have pored over every minutia of his public and private life from utility bills to deeply personal letters in search of new insights into his life and work. Yet, for the most part, they have paid scant attention to the two volumes of poetry he published.
The nine contributors to The Poetry of James Joyce Reconsideredconvincingly challenge the critical consensus that Joyce’s poetry is inferior to his prose. They reveal how his poems provide entries into Joyce's most personal and intimate thoughts and ideas. They also demonstrate that Joyce's poetic explorations--of the nature of knowledge, sexual intimacy, the changing quality of love, the relations between writing and music, and the religious dimensions of the human experience--were fundamental to his development as a writer of prose.
This exciting new work is sure to spark new interest in Joyce's poetry, and will become an essential and indispensable resource for students and scholars of his life and work.
Marc C. Conner is professor of English at Washington and Lee University and editor of Charles Johnson: The Novelist as Philosopher.
- Sample Chapter(s):
- Table of Contents
- Excerpt
"Places Joyce's poetry well within the modernist context rather than viewing it strictly as the adolescent glimmers of a budding genius."
--CHOICE
"Employing thematic , historical, philosophical, and eco-critical approaches, these nine essays demonstrate a wide range of possibilities for studying Joyce’s poetry, especially in relation to Joyce’s other writings…presents an effective argument for the reconsideration of Joyce’s poetry and the significance of Joyce as a poet."
--James Joyce Literary Supplement
"The comparative analysis fully demonstrate that Joyce's poetry is not 'secondary' but 'complimentary' to his prose...a rich reference for Joycean scholars and an invaluable starting-point for further work."
--James Joyce Broadsheet