The Irish writer, Deirdre Madden, has written key novels about the Northern Irish Troubles and about contemporary Ireland. In these works, she weighs up the aftermath of violence and the impact of the shift to a more open but materialist society in the country overall. Memory, trauma, and the abiding but elusive links between the past and the present are central concerns of her fiction. This pioneering set of essays by leading experts in Irish Studies explores the many dimensions of her novels from a wide variety of perspectives. Madden's skill at interweaving novels of ideas with artist novels that draw out the complex inner predicaments of her characters is highlighted. States of dislocation are concentrated on in her texts, but also the quest for a home in the world and a lasting set of values that allows for personal integrity and authenticity. These multifaceted explorations bear out the compelling and enduring aspects of Madden's highly regarded novels. -- .

Voices on Joyce gathers together interpretations of Joyce's work by scholars in a wide span of disciplines: music, history, literature, philosophy, sport, geography, modern languages, economics, theatre studies and law. The depth and range of James Joyce's relationship with key historical, intellectual and cultural issues in the early twentieth century are explored, including: the growth of Dublin as a city, the advance of Irish separatist nationalism, criminal trials in late nineteenth-century Ireland, the influence of Classical authors such as Aristotle and Ovid, the Irish Literary Revival, the value of operatic music, notions of the aesthetic and of a democratic readership, and the history and social import of Jewish communities and traditions. The twenty essays in this collection draw out the openness and pluralism of Joyce's writing and underscore the need for readings of his work from a large variety of diverging perspectives. The wide ranging voices in this collection are composed by present and former UCD academics, and constitute a unique reckoning with the legacy of Joyce by members of his alma mater.A portrait of Joyce emerges as a writer deeply embedded in Irish intellectual discourses and as a figure of vital on-going importance in the social and cultural debates of twenty-first century Ireland. Photos interleaving the essays by the modernist and photojournalist, Lee Miller, taken in Dublin in 1946, provide vivid images of Joycean locations and of their artistic reimagining.

""Ulysses" is always lauded as one of western culture's most important books. This collection of essays re-asserts the worth and vitality of Joyce's monumental text, not because it is challenging but because it speaks so powerfully to significant present-day issues: anti-Semitism, film, melodrama, fashion, photography, silenced women, advertising, and more."--Jennifer Fraser, author of "Rite of Passage in the Narratives of Dante and Joyce" June 16, 2004, was the one hundredth anniversary of Bloomsday, the day that James Joyce's novel Ulysses takes place. To celebrate the occasion, thousands took to the streets in Dublin, following in the footsteps of protagonist Leopold Bloom. The event also was marked by the Bloomsday 100 Symposium, where world-renowned scholars discussed Joyce's seminal work. This volume contains the best, most provocative readings of Ulysses presented at the conference. The contributors to this volume urge a close engagement with the novel. They offer readings that focus variously on the materialist, historical, and political dimensions of Ulysses. The diversity of topics covered include nineteenth-century psychology, military history, Catholic theology, the influence of early film and music hall songs on Joyce, the post-Ulysses evolution of the one-day novel, and the challenge of discussing such a complex work amongst the sea of extant criticism.

"Did you hear that? God is having a contest for the biggest and brightest star ..". Yes, God had his eye on Twinkle, but what he was most intrested in was Twinkles heart..... Twinkle really wanted to know what he was made for... He had trained and studied Gods word ...... Twinkle was prepared for anything .....God said "Twinkle I have great plans for you.."...