Joyce's grand operoar

the long version

A passionate musician as well as a writer, James Joyce grew up hearing his father sing opera arias and for a time aspired to become a singer himself. The abundant allusions to opera throughout Joyce's work reflect his immersion in this world. In Joyce's Grand Operoar, two internationally respected Joyce scholars join forces to present over 3,000 of Joyce's opera allusions as they appear in Finnegans Wake. Ruth Bauerle's long, richly detailed, and often amusing introduction critically interprets Joyce's life and work in terms of its operatic and literary interconnections. The resulting volume will delight both opera lovers and Joyceans. The allusions are organized first by the page and line of their appearance in Finnegans Wake and then cross-referenced by opera composers and their works, librettists, designers, critics, and conductors, as well as by arias, characters, and singers. The rich musical subtext of Finnegans Wake incorporates Joyce's earlier opera allusions in a grand opera finale of his own.