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Minds at War: James Joyce's Ulysses

Exploring the influence of the First World War on Irish artists, writer Fintan O'Toole reflects on James Joyce's influential novel Ulysses.

How great artists and thinkers responded to the First World War in their work

To mark the centenary of the Easter Rising, this series of Minds at War explores how Irish artists were influenced by the First World War.

1. The writer Fintan O'Toole reflects on James Joyce's novel "Ulysses"

James Joyce spent the First World War away from the fields of combat and living as an exile first in Trieste and then in neutral Switzerland. It seemed that he had cut himself off from the war as much as he possibly could. Yet, as Fintan O'Toole argues, his novel "Ulysses" was a landmark that would arise from the abyss of war . It was Joyce who had the command of words to open up expression again and, by staying out of the conflict itself, he allowed himself to create the great counterbalance to the cratered fields and shattered villages.

Producer: Emma Kingsley.

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15 minutes

Last on

Mon 11 Apr 2016 22:45

Broadcast

  • Mon 11 Apr 2016 22:45

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