Joyce's Voices

Hugh Kenner

DALKEY ARCHIVE Press, 1978 - Literary Criticism - 120 pages

When a correspondent from Missouri wrote to Hugh Kenner and asked that he elaborate on his assertion that "Joyce began Ulysses in naturalism and ended it in parody," Kenner answered with this book. Joyce's Voices is both a helpful guide through Joyce's complexities, and a brief treatise on the concept of objectivity: the idea that the world can be perceived as a series of reports to our senses. Objectivity, Kenner claims, was a modern invention, and one that the modernists—Joyce foremost among them—found problematic. Accessible and enjoyable, Joyce's Voices is what so much criticism is not: an aid to better understanding—and enjoying more fully—the work of one of the world's greatest writers.

What people are saying

Review: Joyce's Voices

User Review  - matt - Goodreads

Taking this one pretty slowly, since it'll be the cornerstone of my thesis on Joyce. It's pretty excellent- not the least so because it's built around the idea of language and narrative. The idea is ...

Review: Joyce's Voices

User Review  - Alix Sandomir - Goodreads

Excellent book for anyone studying Joyce or just looking for a bit of help understanding Ulysses. The chapter on the Uncle Charles principle is indispensable. Kenner also has an enjoyable style of writing that doesn't make you want to doze off like some of his more turgid contemporaries.

About the author

Hugh Kenner (1923-2003) was one of the greatest literary critics of the twentieth century. He taught at several universities during his lifetime and was a frequent contributor to the National Review. His numerous critical books include The Pound Era Joyces Voices Gnomon Samuel Beckett: A Critical Study and Flaubert Joyce and Beckett: The Stoic Comedians several of which are forthcoming from or are published by Dalkey Archive Press.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Joyce's Voices; American Literature Series; Dalkey Archive scholarly series
• Author: Hugh Kenner
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: DALKEY ARCHIVE Press, 1978
• ISBN: 1564784282, 9781564784285
• Length: 120 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh