James Joyce Omnibus (Complete and Unabridged)

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 - 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde and is regarded as one of the most influential and important authors of the 20th century. Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922), a landmark work in which the episodes of Homer's Odyssey are paralleled in a variety of literary styles, most famously stream of consciousness. Other well-known works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939). His other writings include three books of poetry, a play, his published letters and occasional journalism.
Joyce was born in 41 Brighton Square, Rathgar, Dublin, into a middle-class family. A brilliant student, he briefly attended the Christian Brothers-run O'Connell School before excelling at the Jesuit schools Clongowes and Belvedere, despite the chaotic family life imposed by his father's alcoholism and unpredictable finances. He went on to attend University College Dublin. In 1904, in his early twenties, Joyce emigrated to continental Europe with his partner (and later wife) Nora Barnacle. They lived in Trieste, Paris, and Zurich.

Although most of his adult life was spent abroad, Joyce's fictional universe centres on Dublin, and is populated largely by characters who closely resemble family members, enemies and friends from his time there. Ulysses in particular is set with precision in the streets and alleyways of the city. Shortly after the publication of Ulysses, he elucidated this preoccupation somewhat, saying, "For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal."

James Joyce (1882 - 1941) one of the most influential writers in the20th Century modernist movement. In 1999, Time Magazine named Joyce one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century, stating that "Joyce ... revolutionised 20th century fiction". In 1998, the Modern Library, ranked Ulysses No. 1 and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man No. 3, on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

This Omnibus Edition features his two greatest novels - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses, as well as his famous book of short stories - Dubliners and an example of his poetry - Chamber Music.

-A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man- is heavily autobiographical, it is a coming of age novel where a young man gradually comes to recognise his artistic gifting.

-Ulysses- is a novel that takes place in a single day, 16 June 1904. Joyce uses every literary technique in the book including the stream of consciousness that characterise his works. The characters and incidents of the Odyssey of Homer are set instead in Dublin amongst common folk. The book is both fondly describing in immense and accurate detail the city of Dublin and also dwelling on the squalor and misery within the city.

-Dubiners- is a series of short stories, which like all his fiction is set in Ireland. They are incisive investigations into the inertia of Dublin society at the time.

-Chamber Music- is his first full-length poetry collection, consisting of 36 short lyrics.