This Norton Critical Edition is based on Hans Gabler's acclaimed text and is accompanied by his introduction and textual notes. John Paul Riquelme provides detailed explanatory annotations. "Backgrounds and Contexts" is thematically organized to provide readers with a clear picture of the novel's historical, cultural, and literary inspirations. Topics include "Political Nationalism: Irish History, 1798-1916," "The Irish Literary and Cultural Revival," "Religion," and "Aesthetic Backgrounds." "Criticism" begins with John Paul Riquelme's helpful essay on the novel's structural form and follows with twelve diverse interpretations by, among others, Kenneth Burke, Umberto Eco, Hugh Kenner, Maud Ellmann, Joseph Valente, and Marian Eide. A Selected Bibliography is also included.

Author Biography

James Joyce was one of innovators of postmodernism. He is widely considered one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Born in Dublin, James Joyce (1882-1941) was a modernist and proponent of the stream-of-consciousness writing style and is widely considered one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. His works feature primarily Dublin figures such as in the short story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922) and Finnegan's Wake (1939). John Paul Riquelme is Professor of English at Boston University. He is the author of Teller and Tale in Joyce's Fiction: Oscillating Perspectives and Harmony of Dissonances: T.S. Eliot, Romanticism, and Imagination. He is editor of the two Bedford literary reprints-Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Dracula.