Ep. 60 - The Holy Office

They both lived in a Martello Tower, sure, but what else do James Joyce and Bono have in common?

A portrait of the Artist as a young man

We take a short break from analyzing Ulysses to take a look at one of Joyce’s early poems - “The Holy Office.” If you love 100+ year old gossip, strap in! This one gets dishy. Topics include the significance of the year 1904 in James Joyce’s life, the Irish Literary Revival, a young Joyce’s penchant for writing angry poetry, Joyce’s desire for artistic Truth rather than mere aesthetics, why you should care about “The Holy Office” and how it will further your understanding of Ulysses, The Goblin - Joyce’s unrealized literary magazine, Joycean trash talk, the laxative qualities of Joyce’s writing, how the Irish Literary revival actually reinforced Victorian class structure and cultural mores, Cheddar Goblin, and why Joyce saw himself as the Aquinas of Dublin.

They both lived in a Martello Tower, sure, but what else do James Joyce and Bono have in common? We take a short break from analyzing Ulysses to take a look at one of Joyce's early poems - "The Holy Office." If you love 100+ year old gossip, strap in!

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Media Mentioned in this Episode:

“The Great Hunger,” Patrick Kavanagh

“The Wandering of Oisin,” W. B. Yeats

“An Encounter,” James Joyce

Further Reading: 

1. Burgess, A. (1968). ReJoyce. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

2. Colum, M., & Colum, P. (1958). Our Friend James Joyce. Doubleday & Co., Inc. 

3. Ellmann, R. (1959). James Joyce. New York: Oxford University Press.

4. Ellmann, R. (1972). Ulysses on the Liffey. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.65767/page/n39 

5. Finnegan, T. (2014, Mar 6). "The Holy Office" (annotated) 1904 poem by James Joyce. Ulysses Page-By-Page. Retrieved from http://ulyssespages.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-holy-office-annotated-1904-poem-by.html

6. Gogarty, O. (1948). Mourning became Mrs. Spendlove and other portraits grave and gay. New York: Creative Age Press

7. Killeen, T. (2014, June 7). James Joyce: down and out in Dublin. The Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/james-joyce-down-and-out-in-dublin-1.1820565 

8. Mooney, M.D. (2012, May 15). “I stand, the self-doomed, unafraid, unfellowed, friendless and alone, indifferent as the herring bone.” Poems of Irony and Wit. Retrieved from https://lightneasy.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/the-holy-office-by-james-joyce/

9. Royan, T. (2018, Oct 23). “A Cathartic Manifesto: Corporeality In James Joyce, Part 1.” Esthesis. Retrieved from https://esthesis.org/a-cathartic-manifesto-corporeality-in-james-joyce-part-1-tim-royan/

From the James Joyce Centre:

1. On “The Holy Office” http://jamesjoyce.ie/on-this-day-14-august/ 

2. On Thomas Kelly and The Goblin https://jamesjoyce.ie/on-this-day-5-december/ 

3. On James Starkey, aka Seumas O’Sullivan https://jamesjoyce.ie/on-this-day-17-july/