Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Mariner Books (2000), 512 pages
Description
Nora Joyce is commonly portrayed by the literary world as an illiterate, coarse chambermaid and no match for her husband's genius. This biography studies Nora's life before, with, and after James Joyce and she is revealed as devoted, passionate, eloquent, irreverent, long-suffering and a powerful influence upon her difficult and demanding husband.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member albertgoldfain
A remarkable biography of a truly remarkable life. The biographer has taken great pains to reconstruct a historically accurate account of Nora from years of correspondence and first hand accounts. This is no easy task as they seemed to have moved every year and were displaced by wars. She also does
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a good job reconciling this information with the mythology surrounding Joyce and the very memorable female characters in Joyce's fiction who persist as reflections of Nora. Show Less
LibraryThing member christinejoseph
Feel like I know her —
great accomp. to Dubliners by James
she was his Irish Galway Joyce
girl went off w/ him — unmarried 21 yrs
one bk Joyce made up own language
"Work in Progress" — Finery on Wake
Pg 307 — mental illness with daughter Lucia
she Nora didn't feel singled out By father
Nora + JJ
All knew people — Nancy Cunard, Tom Becket
Peggy Guggenheim
JJ — history of family — hist of world
female char — universal mother — liffey River of life — women speak universal tongue
3 Bks Compare
Nora — J Joyce wife
Z — Zelda FS. Fitzgerald's wife
Aviator's Wife — Lindbergh
All strong women @ same time in history knew each other in Europe
not easy living with these genius writers — so insecure, temperamental — true with all great men?
Nora was twenty years old and penniless when she eloped from Ireland with Joyce, a man of brilliant promise but few accomplishments whom she'd known but three months. She remained with him until his death thirty-seven years later, bearing him two children, governing a succession of unruly households in Trieste, Paris, and Zurich, holding him and the family together through the force of her own formidable pluck. Most importantly for Joyce's work, Nora served as his "portable Ireland," his living link to the homeland he used as the basis for his masterpieces.
great accomp. to Dubliners by James
she was his Irish Galway Joyce
girl went off w/ him — unmarried 21 yrs
one bk Joyce made up own language
"Work in Progress" — Finery on Wake
Pg 307 — mental illness with daughter Lucia
she Nora didn't feel singled out By father
Nora + JJ
Show More
— worth anti-Irish he built his art on it — men in pubs women in drunkAll knew people — Nancy Cunard, Tom Becket
Peggy Guggenheim
JJ — history of family — hist of world
female char — universal mother — liffey River of life — women speak universal tongue
3 Bks Compare
Nora — J Joyce wife
Z — Zelda FS. Fitzgerald's wife
Aviator's Wife — Lindbergh
All strong women @ same time in history knew each other in Europe
not easy living with these genius writers — so insecure, temperamental — true with all great men?
Nora was twenty years old and penniless when she eloped from Ireland with Joyce, a man of brilliant promise but few accomplishments whom she'd known but three months. She remained with him until his death thirty-seven years later, bearing him two children, governing a succession of unruly households in Trieste, Paris, and Zurich, holding him and the family together through the force of her own formidable pluck. Most importantly for Joyce's work, Nora served as his "portable Ireland," his living link to the homeland he used as the basis for his masterpieces.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mykl-s
Molly Bloom's life is more interesting than that of James Joyce.
Subjects
Awards
National Book Award (Finalist — Nonfiction — 1988)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Biography — 1988)
Notable Books List (1988)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
512 p.; 6 inches
ISBN
0618057005 / 9780618057009
UPC
046442057004