Collected Epiphanies of James Joyce
Collected Epiphanies of James Joyce
A Critical Edition
Joyce’s early texts, which informed his later masterpieces, available for the first time in a comprehensive critical edition
This book offers the first critical edition of the forty short texts James Joyce called “epiphanies.” Among Joyce’s earliest literary compositions, although published posthumously, the epiphanies are a series of highly polished miniatures, many of which Joyce reused in his later writings. By presenting the epiphanies with background details and thorough annotations, this edition provides a vivid insight into his art.
Collected Epiphanies of James Joyce features an introduction to the texts that summarizes Joyce’s concept of epiphany; their biographical and cultural context; their echoes and adaptations in Stephen Hero, Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake; and their critical reception and editorial history. Each epiphany is transcribed directly from its original manuscript, accompanied by extensive notes that include more information specific to each piece, as well as textual variants.
Styled as prose poems, dramatic sketches, or combinations of the two, the epiphanies can be seen not only as lyrical counterparts to Joyce’s poetry in Chamber Music but also as bridges to the writer’s landmark fiction. This collection demonstrates that the epiphanies offer a paradigm case for studying the development of Joyce’s work as a whole, prompting a reassessment of their literary significance.
A volume in the Florida James Joyce Series, edited by Sam Slote
“The epiphanies are a major early development of Joyce’s specific brand of modernism. This edition, with its wealth of information and thorough commentaries, offers a fascinating overview of these enigmatic, minimalist literary productions and makes us realize how essential a stage they were in the birth of Joyce’s oeuvre.”—Valérie Bénéjam, coeditor of Cognitive Joyce
“The editors give us a fresh version of the epiphanies with an excellent new commentary through their authoritative annotations, as well as a strong and clear critical history in their introduction. This book will be treasured by readers and transform scholarship in this area of Joyce studies.”—Katherine Ebury, coeditor of Joyce’s Non-Fiction Writings: “Outside His Jurisfiction”
Sangam MacDuff, research fellow at the University of Lausanne, is the author of Panepiphanal World: James Joyce’s Epiphanies. Angus McFadzean, program director of the Oxford University Summer School for Adults and tutor in the Department of Continuing Education, is the author of Suburban Fantastic Cinema: Growing Up in the Late Twentieth Century. Morris Beja, Academy Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University, is the author or editor of many books, including James Joyce: A Literary Life and Epiphany in the Modern Novel.
