Joyce in the Hibernian Metropolis: Essays - Tapa dura

This volume collects the best essays from the 1992 International James Joyce Symposium held in Dublin, which had as its title "In the Heart of the Hibernian Metropolis." Dublin, of course, has special attraction for Joyceans as both the source and subject matter of Joyce's genius, but the essays reproduced here reflect - like the symposium itself - the newest and most exciting trends in Joyce scholarship from around the world.
The volume includes an introductory essay by the president of the Republic of Ireland, Mary Robinson. The thirty essays that follow were selected from those delivered at nearly 120 different sessions. Faced with so many possibilities, the editors have produced a book that reflects the flavor and intellectual range of the world of Joyce studies as we head toward the end of the century - Joyce's century.
The inclusions range from major addresses to essays on topics as diverse as Joyce and race, elements of imagery in Joyce's works, the Joyce papers of the National Library, Joyce and cinema, Joyce's reputation (including examinations of attacks on his work), Joyce's relationships with other writers, Leopold Bloom and being Jewish in Ireland, Joyce and feminism, musical elements in Joyce's works, Joyce and commodity culture, Finnegans Wake and sexuality, Joyce and homosexuality, Joyce's narrative strategies, and various theoretical questions. This collection is a vital contribution to Joycean scholarship and will be of great interest to critics, teachers, and students of James Joyce, as well as those interested in modern literature, Irish studies, and critical theory.

Morris Beja, professor emeritus of English at Ohio State University, is the author or coauthor of many books on Joyce and other modernists, including Twenty-First Joyce.

David Norris has been teaching at Nottingham University for more than 20 years.