Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom - Hardcover

Maddox, Brenda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395365104 ISBN 13: 9780395365106

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 1988

Synopsis

The woman who inspired the intrepid Molly Bloom of James Joyce's "Ulysses" is the subject of this biography of the stong-willed, intelligent, and self-sufficent woman with whom Joyce shared a highly-charged erotic, long-term relationship

About this title

About the Author:

Brenda Maddox is the author of several books, including D.H. LAWRENCE: THE STORY OF A MARRIAGE and, most recently, YEAT'S GHOSTS: THE SECRET LIFE OF W.B. YEATS. She lives in London.

Review:

In 1904, having known each other for only three months, a young woman named Nora Barnacle and a not-yet famous writer named James Joyce left Ireland. He had refused to marry her, proclaiming his adamant opposition both to the institution of marriage and to the institution that would solemnize their vows. Yet this unholy exit from a struggling land was the beginning of an amazing partnership - and eventual marriage - which endured for thirty-seven years. Brenda Maddox's biography of Nora Joyce is a remarkable social history, revealing much about Irish life and character and providing a vivid reconstruction of the elegantly vagabond existence of the perversely charming and brilliant writer and his little Irish entourage. The book is about Nora, who emerges as a unique and fascinating character, but ultimately it is a portrait of her relationship with James Joyce and of the impact she had on his work. Nora is Joyce's "Portable Ireland," and he uses her words, her experiences, and her soul to create his female characters. Brenda Maddox presents the evolution of Nora from the unsophisticated but not simple Irish maid to the worldly woman whom Joyce introduces as Molly Bloom in Ulysses and Gretta Conroy in The Dead. Their union is complicated, committed, and sometimes shocking, yet Nora emerges as a warm, intelligent woman who was a powerful force behind one of the great literary figures of the twentieth century. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Rebecca Sullivan

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0395365104
• ISBN 13: 9780395365106
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 472