James Joyce Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: James Joyce
OCCUPATION: Author
BIRTH DATE: February 02, 1882
DEATH DATE: January 13, 1941
EDUCATION: Clongowes Wood College, Belvedere College, University College Dublin
PLACE OF BIRTH: Dublin, Ireland
PLACE OF DEATH: Zurich, Switzerland

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James Joyce was an Irish, modernist writer who wrote in a ground-breaking style that was known both for its complexity and explicit content.

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James Joyce

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Eventually Joyce and his family settled into a new life in Paris, which is where they were living when Ulysses was published. Success, however, couldn't protect Joyce from health issues. His most problematic condition concerned his eyes. He suffered from a constant stream of ocular illnesses, went through a host of surgeries,

and for a number of years was near blind. At times Joyce was forced to write in red crayon on sheets of large paper.

In 1939 Joyce published Finnegan's Wake, his long awaited follow up novel, which, with its myriad of puns and new words, proved to be an even more difficult read than his previous work. Still, the book was an immediate success, earning "book of the week" honors in the US and the United Kingdom not long after debuting.

A year after Finnegan's publication, Joyce and his family were on the move again, this time to southern France in advance of the coming Nazi invasion of Paris. Eventually the family ended back in Zurich.

Sadly, Joyce never saw the conclusion of World War II. Following an intestinal operation, the writer died at the age of 59 on January 13, 1941 at the Schwesternhause von Roten Kreuz Hospital. His wife and son were at his bedside when he passed. He is buried in Fluntern cemetery in Zurich.