JAMES JOYCE: THE TRIALS OF ULYSSES
Directed by Ian Graham
2000, 52 mins.
Purchase: $310 Rental: $125
Tells the story of Joyce's epic novel, Ulysses, his most famous creation and certainly the most renowned work of fiction of the twentieth century. Filmed in Zurich, Trieste, New York and Dublin, the video portrays Joyce's own trials as a writer, his long struggle with his magnum opus, and his persistence in trying to have his "buke" made available to a mass audience. Ulysses was published in 1921 by Sylvia Beach, a young American bookshop owner in Paris, and funded by Harriet Shaw Weaver, an English woman, both of whom were acutely aware of the scandal and sensation that Joyce's novel would create. Readers in England and America were initially deprived of Ulysses, which became the focus of sensational charges of pornography and obscenity. A landmark U.S. Federal Court decision in 1934 finally ended the legal debate, but more than eighty years after its publication, Ulysses still causes controversy.
Featuring interviews with well-known authors, academics, Joycean scholars and surviving relatives, James Joyce: The Trials of Ulysses recounts the gestation and birth of this classic novel and its growth to maturity. It also captures aspects of Joyce's own life, the influence on his work of his lifelong partner, Nora Barnacle, his feelings about writing, and his struggle with a cherished masterpiece.
Irish Studies Literature
"Truly fascinating...This is a scholarly treatment that is interesting and engaging, containing information that would illuminate the work for any serious Joyce scholar or fan. Recommended for strong literature collections."