Our Joyce

the long version

In the beginning of his literary career, James Joyce was an Irishman writing to protest the deplorable, volatile conditions of his native country. Today, he is an icon revered as a literary genius within the academic cottage industry known as "Joyce studies." Our Joyce explores his amazing transformation of a literary reputation, offering an unusually frank look into how and for whose benefit literary reputations are constructed. One of only a few studies of literary reputations, Our Joyce will appeal to a broad range of literary critics and to nearly anyone who is interested in biography. Writing from within the Joyce industry that he analyzes, Kelly challenges our current view of James Joyce and the debilitating term 'genius' that we use to canonize writers.