First published 2014
Literary historian Kevin Birmingham chronicles the turbulent publication saga of James Joyce's Ulysses from 1904 to 1933. Birmingham traces Joyce's journey from young writer to literary innovator, documenting how his unflinching portrayal of Leopold Bloom's inner life made his novel illegal across the English-speaking world. The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice branded Ulysses obscene, forcing Joyce and his allies to wage a prolonged battle against censorship. Birmingham reveals how Joyce's personal struggles with failing eyesight, financial hardship, and domestic pressures intensified during the publication fight. He shows how literary figures like Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, and Sylvia Beach supported Joyce while his book faced smuggling, piracy, and burning. The narrative culminates in the partnership between Random House cofounder Bennett Cerf and civil liberties lawyer Morris Ernst, whose legal strategy focused on the novel's literary merit. Their efforts led to a federal trial that overturned sixty years of obscenity law. Birmingham draws on archival research to illuminate both Joyce's creative process and the broader cultural forces that shaped modern literature.
Genres: biography, history, literary-criticism, 20th-century, non-fiction, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: legal-battle, literary-figures
Setting: English-Speaking World, New York
Period: 1904-1933
419 pages · Hardcover · The Penguin Press/Penguin Random House LLC