John Stanislaus Joyce by John Wyse Jackson

John Stanislaus Joyce by John Wyse Jackson

The life of John Stanislaus Joyce, father of James, Fenian, Parnellite, drunk who claimed to have cured himself of syphilis. Obsessed with the burden of being the only son of an only son, John Joyce himself fathered no fewer than seventeen children with his long-suffering wife (despite many affairs and many engagements he actually married only once) but was concerned only with his eldest surviving son, James. This was through no intrinsic merit on James’s part but because of John Joyce’s excessive belief in the rights of primogeniture such that all his other children were excluded from his will and those who predeceased him were not even named on the family gravestone. John, as James liked to claim, gave to his son all of his wit: most of the characters in Ulysses are barely disguised friends of his and the incidents from his life pepper James’s fiction. John Joyce was the most important person in James’s life. But as well as the light thrown on the century’s greatest novelist, this is a depiction of the high-spirits, ebulliant passions, deep depressions, good humour and warm linguistic skills of the ultimate Dublin character.

‘A vivid portrait’
Brenda Maddox, author of NOra: The Biography of Nora Joyce

‘The old rogue is good company.’
Scotsman

‘A rich chronicle – and one set for much re-reading.’
Irish Independent

‘Genuinely visionary.’
The Times

‘An exuberant account.’
Sunday Times

John Wyse Jackson is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and author of James Joyce’s Dubliners: An Annotated Edition and The Uncollected Oscar Wilde.

SKU	GOR010497228
ISBN 13	9780007291953
ISBN 10	0007291957
Title	John Stanislaus Joyce
Author	John Wyse Jackson
Condition	Very Good
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	HarperCollins Publishers
Year published	2008-07-01
Number of pages	528
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us