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From: mcg@tekecs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: James Joyce
Message-ID: <1442@tekecs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 19-Jun-83 18:58:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: tekecs.1442
Posted: Sun Jun 19 18:58:08 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 27-Jun-83 02:11:24 EDT
Lines: 18


In my opinion, Joyce's work falls into two categories:
"Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", and everything else
("Ulysses", "Finnigan's Wake", etc). "Portrait" is by far the
most accessible of Joyce's works, with the most easily identifiable
plot, characters, and language. The others require real work to read,
as well as a good imagination, as Joyce takes many "liberties"
with the language. He is particularly fond of inventing his own
words.

Also, a familiarity with: a) Irish culture; b) Irish history; and
c) the Bible and Roman Catholic ritual helps in reading all of his
books.

I am not commenting on the "value" of these books, only their
accessibility to the general reader.

S. McGeady