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Unhemmed As It Is Uneven: Joyce's Odyssey in Print

Burns Library Exhibit

Four wall cases featuring exhibits highlighting collections in the Burns Library.

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Unhemmed As It Is Uneven: Joyce's Odyssey in Print

June 16 - October 8, 2015

"In the name of Annah the Allmaziful, the Everliving, the Bringer of Plurabilities, haloed be her eve, her singtime sung, her rill be run, unhemmed as it is uneven!" (From Finnegans Wake, I.5.104)

Born in Dublin though seemingly fated never to return, Irish novelist and poet James Joyce (1882 - 1941) attempted to transpose the common life of his native city onto a heroic scale through a series of progressively experimental novels. Frequently autobiographical in content yet mythological in substance, they enthralled readers in Joyce's personal odyssey while exasperating publishers and provoking censorship.

This exhibition focuses on the publication of three of Joyce's masterworks: his early short story collection, Dubliners, his epic Ulysses, and his enigmatic Finnegans Wake. It also highlights Boston College's sustained engagement with Joyce through professor Joe Nugent's "Raidin the Wake" reading group and student-curated digital projects, including the JoyceWays appDigital Dubliners iBook, and the newly launched Dubliners Bookshelf website.