James Joyce

Born on 2 February 1882 in Dublin, Ireland, James Joyce was one of the most revered writers of the 20th century. His masterpiece, Ulysses, remains an unparalleled literary feat. His exploration of language and his exceptional use of the stream-of-consciousness technique immensely contributed to the modernist avant-garde, inspiring contemporary writers to experiment with fresh perspective.

A brilliant student, Joyce briefly attended the Christian Brothers-run O’Connell School before excelling at the Jesuit schools Clongowes and Belvedere. In 1904, in his early twenties, he emigrated permanently to continental Europe with his partner and future wife, Nora Barnacle. Though most of his life was spent in Trieste, Paris and Zurich, his fictional universe was largely set in Dublin, with characters who resembled his family members, acquaintances, friends and enemies. Joyce’s other well known works include Dubliners, a short-story collection; his first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which caught the attention of the American poet, Ezra Pound, who praised him for his unconventional style and voice, and the masterly Finnegans Wake. Following the Nazi invasion of Paris, he and his family moved to southern France in 1940. On 13 January 1941, following an intestinal operation, the writer passed away in Zurich, where he is buried in the Fluntern cemetery.