Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of interviewing John Joyce for the forthcoming first anthology from Poets and Writers for a Different World Movement. During our meeting, we discussed John’s observations on the journey Irish art and literature has taken since the publication of his granduncle’s novel, Ulysses, and also John’s own work within the field of literature and music. These are some of of the more memorable observations from our meeting :

In holding a mirror up to society of the early 1900’s, [Joyce] explored what was really going on in terms of a country reputed to have had the biggest red light district in Europe at that time (this region of Dublin was immortalized in the ‘Circe’ chapter of Ulysses) as well as highlighting a society troubled by alcohol misuse, an issue we continue to trivialize

Dedicated to recording human nature with as much authenticity as possible, [Joyce] believed if he could get to the heart of Dublin, he could get to the heart of all the cities in the world. When Joyce first held up the nicely polished mirror, people didn't like it, and this discomfort was certainly to blame for the early rejection of his work.

Dublin has a remarkable literary heritage for a relatively small European capital, and Joyce as a forerunner in experimental writing, stretched the stylistic possibilities of the English language to their limits. He was attuned to the music of language and used this talent to cross frontiers. He took delight in playing with his medium. In combining the mythical with the absurd and using stream of consciousness, Joyce had a profound impact on future generations of writers and indeed his influence continues to make itself known.