It is ironic that a man who scarcely wrote a word in his life, failing even to write letters to friends, fathered one of the 20th century's greatest master of words. John Stanislaus Joyce--father of novelist James--had much to say, for sure, but his media were the witty turn of phrase and off-the-cuff song, his stage, the pub. John Stanislaus was raised in Cork then educated in Dublin. Here he quickly rose to prominence in the local pubs where he shared his passionate Irish nationalism and fervor for sports with bar mates. Though he received a comfortable inheritance in early adulthood, Joyce the elder was, by all accounts, a terrible money manager. In fact the few letters he ever wrote were loan requests; thus the Joyce home was loving but often impermanent, shifting with the tides of fortune. Joyce's most important gift to his son James was his contribution to his fiction. John Stanislaus is the model for the hero of Finnegan's Wake and his "memories and extravagant idioms" are the foundation of Ulysses's Leopold Bloom. Writers John Wyse Jackson and Peter Costello include in this biography some of James's character sketches of his father--a real treat for Joyce fans and scholars.
From Library Journal
Jackson (London Times and Spectator) and Costello (James Joyce: The Years of Growth: 1882-1915, LJ 2/15/93) have written a well-researched biography of James Joyce's father, a stereotypical Irish "character." Readers looking for an engaging portrait of a colorful Irish life in the same vein as Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes will be disappointed, if they haven't already been scared off by the book's bland title. Instead, they will find a straightforward study that helps illuminate the great writer. Born in Cork in 1849 to an established middle-class family, John Stanislaus, though enrolled in medical college, did not show great academic promise, preferring instead athletics, music, and drink. Working in Dublin as a secretary in a distilling company, he married May Murray in 1880, and in 1882 James was born. The relationship between father and son was close, but the elder Joyce (who died in 1931) never demonstrated pride in his son's literary success. Yet John Stanislaus was surely the model for many of James's characters and as such is a worthy topic of study for Joyce scholars. Jackson and Costello note, for example, that Leopold Bloom's stream of consciousness can be attributed to John Stanislaus's "tipsy mutteringafter a day out on the town." Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.ADiane G. Premo, Rochester P.L., NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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