The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

Professor Megan Quigley was quoted in the New York Times on a new edition of James Joyce's  Ulysses with illustrations by Eduardo Arroyo: “I tell my students," said Professor Quigley, "to find anything they can that will help us to understand Joyce’s master novel — literature or music mentioned, historical references, later novelists influenced by Joyce (like Sally Rooney), maps, charts, previous minds who have tussled and argued and written about Joyce in everything from scholarly articles to blogs and fanfic. Joyce’s universe is one for the obsessive reader who will find any clues to chart their way through the novel. I’m happy to throw my hat in to support an edition of Ulysses  with images.”  You can check out the full article  here.

The Rosenbach library in downtown Philly is running an essay contest for critical essays about Ulysses or another Joyce text. Submissions are due on Monday, April 15 , and our very own Dr. Megan Quigley is one of the judges! The winners will (appropriately) be announced at the Rosenbach's Bloomsday celebration on June 16. Check out full requirements and submission instructions here !

Christie and Nick attended Bloomsday at the Rosenbach celebrating James Joyce's epic novel Ulysses . See what Christie said about the event below! Here are a few photos of the Bloomsday event on Saturday, which included a day-long reading of Ulysses with musical interludes of live traditional Irish music. Ed Rendell and the Irish Ambassador to the US were among the readers at the event. I've been asked to read at next year's event, along with the undergraduate essay contest winner. Each reader did about two pages, and there were short readings from each of the episodes with brief summaries up on the screens. A couple readings were accompanied by professional vocalists, who sang for Simon Dedalus and for the Croppy Boy song. Several people in the audience had their Gabler editions open on their laps. The Rosenbach House was offering free admission, so we got to explore the house a bit and ran into Penn professor Dr. Paul Saint-Amour, who attended the Kevin Dettmar lectu...

When : Monday 2/5 at 6pm Where : Jack McShea's Pub in Ardmore We'll have Irish dancers, Irish trad musicians, and open mic readings. Come out for some great craic!

Students in Megan Quigley’s graduate Ulysses course presented their final research papers while decking the halls for their final class of the semester! Note the three creative James Joyce themed tree ornaments! Parallax and Henry Flower (the nom de plume of Bloom when he writes love letters to Martha Clifford)... ...and, of course, a “corpse of milk” man!

On Tuesday, the Villanova English community was treated to a fantastic lecture on Joyce's correspondences from guest speaker Dr. Kevin Dettmar. Dettmar discussed the profuse use of correspondences throughout Joyce's fiction, the mode of the correspondences Joyce himself wrote during his lifetime, and, in particular, the illuminating importance of the letters exchanged between Joyce and Grant Richards, his publisher.  Dettmar also discussed his in-progress project: the gathering, transcription, and publication of a massive collection of Joyce's previously unpublished letters. Thank you to Drs. Megan Quigley and Kamran Javadizadeh for organizing! English Colloquium faculty and guest speaker Dr. Kevin Dettmar / Prof. Megan Quigley / Prof. Kevin Dettmar (Pomona) / Prof. Mary Mullen / Alex Brodin / Prof. Kamran Javadizadeh / Prof. Paul Saint-Amour (Penn) / Christie Leonard (behind camera)

Members of  Dr. Quigley 's Joyce classes (grads and undergrads) ventured into Philly this past Saturday for a special viewing of Joyce's  Ulysses  manuscripts, letters, and several notebooks. The presentation was packed with facts about Joyce's extensive revision process for the book--some pages went through as many as twelve rounds of revisions! First edition! Alex was a fan. 

Dr. Hugh Ormsby-Lennon recently published "Pinching Snuff: Dean Swift as Paralytic Gnomon in James Joyce's 'The Sisters,'" in  Swift Studies  29 (2014), 89-129.

At 4:30 PM on Tuesday, February 15th, the Irish Studies Program will be hosting "James Joyce, Pioneer of Page and Screen." There will be a lecture given by John McCourt of the University of Trieste, followed by a film. McCourt is a world-renowned Joyce scholar who has written about Joyce’s time in Trieste in his biography, The Years of Bloom: James Joyce in Trieste, 1904–1920. The event will take place in Room 300 of the St. Augustine Center and we encourage you to attend!

On Thursday, February 3rd the Villanova Irish Studies Program helped celebrate James Joyce's birthday at Flip and Bailey's. There was Irish music, dance, and readings at the open mic from works by James Joyce and other Irish writers. The Villanova Irish Dance Club also performed, as did musicians from Villanova and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Thanks to all who attended and performed!