James Joyce: The Years of Growth, 1882-1915: A Biography

This 1st biography of Joyce in more than a generation will serve as an important supplement to Richard Ellmann's famous study, focusing as it does on Joyce's Irish background & that of his family. Using recently discovered or previously overlooked sources, Costello sheds new light on his subject while bringing Joyce-with both his flaws & his genius-to life in a vivid & memorable manner. The theme of the biography is the theme of all Joyce's work-the transformation of raw life into art. There are few writers whose early memories proved to be so rich a mine for the creative imagination that infused their work. In his fiction, Joyce's genius used the lives of the people close to him in Dublin at the turn of the century-their loves, their feuds & their struggles to overcome hardship-to create the stories of his work. Costello has unearthed many real-life models for so much of what Joyce was to write in later years-John Casey, Emma Cleary, the Misses Morkan etc. Among Costello's most fascinating revelations is the discovery that one of the most famous characters in 20th-century fiction, Leopold Bloom, derives not from a Jew but from a Belfast Presbyterian. Costello's intimate knowledge of the city of Dublin-its culture, history & politics-allows him to place Joyce's actions, writings & convictions in their natural setting & to show Joyce, surprisingly, as an Irish cultural nationalist with very firm views about his country's struggle for independence. With its startling revelations, James Joyce: The Years of Growth 1882-1915 interweaves the many strands of person, place & time to create a brilliant new portrait of Joyce, the artist & the man. It's a major achievement, essential to our understanding of this towering figure of 20th-century literature.