James Joyce 1: Dubliners
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How do the hosts introduce James Joyce and the Dubliners project?
Jonty, I think the reading material that you hold when you're in public communicates a huge amount of information about yourself. Do you think that you have more credibility in public reading Ulysses by James Joyce or The Odyssey by Homer?
That's a very good question. 20 years ago, I would have thought Ulysses, but I've come to seriously revise that view, partly from having read The Odyssey and reread Ulysses. again this year. And I think if you're in the know, somebody reading Ulysses is immediately a bit suspect. I mean, James Joyce was quite a pervy guy. And I think if somebody's reading Ulysses, you start to, you know, there's a bit of a porny vibe about them, isn't there? Is porny an adjective? Yeah, it is now.
Oh, it's definitely an adjective.
The Ulysses reader has a pervy vibe in the way that the Odyssey reader doesn't. That's what I think.
I agree.
What about you?
Yeah, so you're right. When I was at university, there was no higher status marker than to be seen reading a copy of Ulysses and a conversation would ensue about which chapter was the best and blah, blah, blah. But that has completely lost its charm for me. And now it's all about Homer, who I'm totally obsessed with at the moment and just think is absolutely brilliant.
Yeah.
Your question is the perfect segue into the theme of this new series for Secret Life of Books, which is both a continuation of The Odyssey, but also something a little bit different as well. This is The Secret Life of Books. I am Jonty Claypole. I have just spent an evening at a Christmas party looking at my wife, thinking how extraordinary and wonderful she is and looking forward to getting back home with her, not knowing that all the time she's thinking of her first lover, not me. Terrible, terrible realisation I'm going to have.
It's a very generous interpretation of your state of mind at that Christmas party, but more on that later. I'm Sophie Gee, a pretty, rather longing kind of a girl who's grown up in Dublin, doesn't have much of a future, doesn't have much to hope for, a somewhat alcoholic and difficult father, and I've received a tempting offer to relocate to Buenos Aires. with a lover, but does he really mean to do right by me? Or will he do something very dishonourable? It's a dilemma.
Get on the boat, Sophie, and find out.
I don't know, John T, but listeners, you're going to find out because this week is Dubliners by James Joyce.
Hello, if you're the kind of person who loves books and the stories behind them, let me tell you about a podcast you might enjoy. I'm Jack Wilson, the host of the History of Literature podcast, where we talk to writers, scholars, biographers, and other guests as we try to understand just how literature works and what its impact on the world has been. Why are great books so great? How can reading fiction and poetry make us think and feel? And how does that fit into our busy lives today? At the History of Literature podcast, we dive into the greatest books from all over the world, from famous classics to underappreciated gems. Our goal is to stretch our minds and to see what big-hearted and great-souled people we can become, using literature as our inspiration and our guide.
If this sounds like a journey you'd like to join, try the History of Literature podcast, available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
To finish our series on the Odyssey and rewritings of the Odyssey in English, we're of course going to spend time talking about what's probably the most famous version of all, James Joyce's Ulysses. No one comes to James Joyce or Ulysses without preconceptions, not least myself and Sophie in The Secret Life of Books, because we have mentioned Ulysses quite a few times during the course of this podcast. But generally with a sort of unfavourable tone to our voices when we do so.
Well, we're bringing a lot of emotional and psychological judgment to this series, Jonty. Let's see if we have to check.
Which we are trying to park. So to back up, no one comes to James Joyce without preconceptions.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
How do the hosts introduce James Joyce and the Dubliners project?
0:00–7:37
2
What personal impressions and preconceptions about Ulysses shape this series?
7:37–29:24
3
Why do the hosts backtrack to Dubliners and A Portrait before Ulysses?
29:24–1:18:33
4
How did Joyce’s childhood and family life influence his writing themes?
1:18:33–1:22:00