James Joyce, one of the 20th century’s most influential writers, transformed storytelling with Ulysses. The novel redefined language, but Joyce himself was just as eccentric as his work.

Born in Dublin in 1882, Joyce was reading Shakespeare by the age of six. Although he spent much of his life abroad, Dublin stayed at the center of his imagination, with Ulysses serving as a virtual map of the city.

He had a near-superstitious fear of thunderstorms, shaped by Catholic teachings. During storms he often hid under furniture, convinced he was escaping divine punishment.

Joyce also battled severe eye problems, enduring more than a dozen surgeries. Nearly blind, he wrote in large crayon letters on oversized paper, sometimes managing only a few words a day.

Despite this, his style of stream of consciousness, inventive wordplay, and interior monologues captured the messiness of thought and life. Ulysses was banned for its explicit content, but Joyce never doubted its brilliance.

He nearly became an opera singer, and his love of music runs through his writing. His lifelong partner, Nora Barnacle, was both his muse and his inspiration. Their candid letters reveal a more intimate side of Joyce.