James Joyce

Ulysses

Born in Dublin in 1882, the precocious oldest child in a large, impoverished family, Joyce couldn’t wait to get out of Ireland—then wrote about it all his life. He inherited his father’s fine tenor voice, weakness for alcohol, and inability to support a family. Despite Joyce’s literary success, he was chronically poor all his life.

From Ulysses:

“Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressing gown, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him on the mild morning air.”

Educated by the Jesuits, he earned a BA from University College in Dublin, then left for Europe, eventually taking with him Nora Barnacle, a chambermaid who became his wife: he called her his “portable Ireland.” The Joyces had two children, and the family moved to Trieste, where Joyce taught English, but also spent time in Rome, Paris, and Zurich. He was a true eccentric, and had a wide circle of devoted friends who kept him afloat.

Joyce was an innovative writer whose stream-of-consciousness technique influenced much of Modernist literature. His masterpiece, Ulysses, was also the subject of a landmark obscenity trial. In the words of his wife, “I guess the man’s a genius, but what a dirty mind he has!” (She also famously asked him, “Why don’t you write books people can read?”) The stories in Dubliners (1914) are Joyce’s most accessible (and widely beloved) works. Joyce died in 1941, disappointed that Finnegans Wake, his last book, was generally considered incomprehensible.

Ulysses takes place in the course of one day—June 16, 1904—and that date is celebrated internationally as “Bloomsday” (after the book’s hero, Leopold Bloom) with readings and pub crawls in Joyce’s honor.

ALSO RECOMMENDED:

Dubliners. Fifteen easy-to-read tales of human emotion, many only a few pages long, published in 1914 but still relevant today. Insightful and elegantly written; an absolute delight.

Ruddy Mary

Joycean characters are known for their alcoholic overindulgence, and drinks featured in his stories include stout, whiskey, brandy, rum, porter, wine, cider, beer, and gin. The Ruddy Mary, made with gin instead of vodka (a la Bloody Mary), is often used as a pick-me-up after overindulging.

2 oz. gin

4 oz. tomato juice

1/2 teaspoon finely grated horseradish

3 dashes Worcestershire sauce

3 dashes Tabasco Sauce

2 dashes soy sauce

Pinch of sea salt

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Generous squeeze of fresh lime juice

Pinch of celery seeds

Place all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Pour into a hurricane-style glass over ice. Garnish with lime wedge and celery. Serves 1.