Customer Reviews

Here Comes Everybody: An Introduction to James Joyce for the Ordinary Reader

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Burgess, who is known for his almost fetishistic interest Shakespeare, was also quite a Joyce-head as well. This introduction, while difficult to find, is truly wonderful. I have read a few books on Joyce, and none can match Burgess' eloquence and enthusiasm. Ellman's biography is still the definitive Joyce tome, but Burgess has a freedom to wax fan boy in a way that Ellman could not, and the result is marvelous. Burgess' comments on Joyce's life are witty, touching and truthful, but what makes this book a must-have is his commentary on Finnegans Wake. No other critic has, in so few pages, made the "man-made mountain" seem so clear.
There are a few moments when Burgess labels certain linguistic acrobatics as "obvious" when they are clearly not. This book is not, in fact, for the ordinary reader. Presumably, however, an ordinary reader would not tackle the Wake in the first place. Burgess must be excused a touch of pretension here and there (he is a literary scholar, and literary scholars all lost touch with the ordinary reader ages ago), and the sheer rapture of this introduction makes it a must-read for any aspiring Joyce fan.
A lovely book, well worth the high price for a used copy.