What did James Joyce think about history? He boasted that Dublin could be rebuilt from the pages of his novels, yet Joyce stopped writing essays and reviews at an age when many authors are just beginning to express themselves on important extra-literary topics--and the Joyce that emerges in biographies and memoirs is notoriously unreliable about history and politics.
In Joyce and the Subject of History, some of the brightest stars in Joyce criticism tease out the historical implications embedded in Joyce's oeuvre without conceding too much to the comprehensive historical claims of the fictions themselves. At a time when much historical work remains surprisingly under-theorized and much theoretical work excludes the detail and rigor of serious historical research, this collection attempts to bridge the gap between history and theory, to reconceive the field of literary historical scholarship as a whole. As an added resource, the book concludes with Robert Spoo's extensive Annotated Bibliography of historical work on Joyce.
Despite incorporating shared assumptions and common goals, this collection was not designed to issue in consensus. "Joyce and history" remains, inevitably, an open subject, and the essays in this volume give an idea of just how open that subject is.
Historical scholars of Joyce for years to come will look first to Joyce and the Subject of History. The collection will also appeal to those interested in modernism, twentieth-century literature, Irish studies, or historical models of literary study in general.
Mark A. Wollaeger is Associate Professor of English, Vanderbilt University. Victor Luftig is Associate Professor of English, Brandeis University. Robert Spoo is Associate Professor of English, University of Tulsa, and editor of the James Joyce Quarterly.
