Critical Companion to James Joyce

Critical Companion to James Joyce: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work

Critical Companion to James Joyce, like its predecessor, is geared to the nonspecialist. It is our aim to provide a clear and comprehensive companion to Joyce’s work, offering information primarily to new readers. Over the course of the book, our entries encompass explanations of expressions that occur in the works as well as terms whose elucidation can provide an indirect but significant understanding of particular works. Ultimately, we hope that our efforts contribute to an enrichment of the reader’s experience of Joyce, but we specifically reject the notion that this, or any other guide for that matter, can serve as anything but a supplement to that reading.

The emphasis in Critical Companion to James Joyce is on providing contextual and critical information of an introductory, wide-ranging, but not exhaustive, nature. We wish to offer in a single volume an overview of Joyce’s work, and of material related to it, that will both give satisfaction to the casual reader and provide encouragement for those approaching Joyce’s work with a more ambitious study in mind. This guide provides enough background in its entries on a variety of specific topics to enhance the immediate enjoyment of Joyce’s works without burdening the reader with the superabundance of detailed information necessary for highly focused critical readings. We have, however, included detailed bibliographies to direct readers to biographical and critical studies offering more specific accounts of aspects of Joyce’s life and work.

Joyce scholars, or Joyceans as they commonly designate themselves, will find much of the information in this book quite familiar. That familiarity comes in part from the generosity of a number of critics— whom we name in the acknowledgments—who have reviewed our work, corrected some errors, and greatly supplemented our comments with their own insights. It also comes from our avid mining of the scholarly studies that have preceded and in many cases inspired this volume for information that will enhance the reader’s understanding of Joyce’s work. We have also profited from comments made by reviewers of James Joyce A to Zand from the observations offered by our Joycean colleagues and students.

A. NICHOLAS FARGNOLI &

MICHAEL PATRICK GILLESPIE