James Joyce's Dublin

Because he needed to find work, Joyce left Ireland in 1912 and never came back, spending the rest of his life in Italy, Croatia, France or Switzerland. This is amazing when we read his books and notice how Dublin is always at the centre of his stories. He probably missed his hometown and could not forget it, so he decided to express what he felt about it and its people.

He was so fascinated with his country and what was happening there that when someone asked him toward the end of his life if he considered returning to Ireland one day, he answered:

This answer was quite significant and helps us understand the relationship that existed between the writer and his homeland.

Yet, he was not always gentle and criticized Ireland in his books, comparing it to “an old sow (female pig) that eats her farrow (piglets)” in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, where Joyce denounced his country which oppressed its citizens. He quite often denounced its conservatism, piety or nationalism. Spare the rod and spoil the child...

James Joyce described Dublin and its inhabitants with such accuracy that even today every street corner, every passer-by or every landmark seems to come out of one of his numerous stories. Dublin owes him more than he owes Dublin. He gave his readers a perception of the city that will never disappear and he wrote so much about this capital city that any sociologist should read him to understand the manners of its inhabitants, despair and struggle with the economic depression. No wonder the Irish are so proud of him.

Bloomsday is a festival which honours James Joyce and his famous novel, Ulysses. This celebration which first took place in 1954 tends to prove that the Irish have forgiven Joyce’s exile and his harsh words against his homeland, and they prefer remembering his literary skills and the fact that he placed Dublin at the center of his writings.

Few authors can be assimilated to a place but James Joyce is one of them. He was so engrossed in his city that he said: