Some images which were used for the purpose of the 2004 exhibition 'James Joyce and 'Ulysses' at the National Library of Ireland.

Some images which were used for the purpose of the 2004 exhibition 'James Joyce and 'Ulysses' at the National Library of Ireland.

The author discusses how he became an author and illustrator of children's books and offers illustrations from future projects

This book sheds light on how the text and physical design of James Joyce’s two most challenging works, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, reflect changes that transformed Europe between World War I and II.

Ulysses remains less widely read than most texts boasting such a canonical status, largely due to misunderstanding about how to read it, and this guide provides an easy to follow remedy. By showing how Joyce reacted to the historical and cultural context in which he was situated, the radical nature of his use of language is laid bare in a chapter-by-chapter analysis of Ulysses. This approach enables the student reader to read and enjoy the novel's plurality of styles and to understand the terms of critical debate surrounding the nature and significance of Joyce's novel.

"This book was crying out to be written." The Irish Times "Scandalously readable." Literary Review James Joyce's relationship with his homeland was a complicated and often vexed one. The publication of his masterwork Ulysses - referred to by The Quarterly Review as an "Odyssey of the sewer" - in 1922 was initially met with indifference and hostility within Ireland. This book tells the full story of the reception of Joyce and his best-known book in the country of his birth for the first time; a reception that evolved over the next hundred years, elevating Joyce from a writer reviled to one revered. Part reception study, part social history, this book uses the changing interpretations of Ulysses to explore the concurrent religious, social and political changes sweeping Ireland. From initially being a threat to the status quo, Ulysses became a way to market Ireland abroad and a manifesto for a better, more modern, open and tolerant, multi-ethnic country.

The Important Books takes a look at some of the most significant and talked about authors, illustrators, and titles in the genre, including Maurice Sendak, Margaret Wise Brown, William Joyce, and Chris Van Allsburg. While focusing on those books that are distinguished by some degree of originality in both word and image, the author points out that the importance of picture books is not primarily pedagogical--they are not intended to serve as "dumbed down" versions of young adult or adult novels--and the audience for these great books is not solely children. Because the children's picture book is designed to provide the context for an intimate transaction involving the imaginations of both parent and child, there is a social value to the form that lends a special poignancy to the pleasure it provides.