James Joyce

James Joyce, the pride of Dublin, is a wonderful writer, credited with composing the first Modernist novel. Now, I'm not going to pretend to you that I made it all the way through Ulysses, although I'm sure it's as grand as everyone says it is. However, I find Joyce's shorter works, such as A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and particularly Dubliners -- to be entertaining, accessible, and thought-provoking.

Like his poet counterpart T.S. Eliot, Joyce fills his pages with countless Biblical, Classical, and Romantic allusions. So, if you're not Edith Hamilton, there's no shame in keeping a copy of the Cliff Notes lying around when poring through the tales of Stephen Daedalus.

Rejoice in Joyce.

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