[ExI] Joyce (was: John C. Wright Interview)

[Damien Broderick]

At 06:03 PM 1/28/2008 -0500, John K Clark wrote:

>And I would maintain that JK Rowling has had far more influence on
>human affairs than Joyce, certainly her sort of literary phenomenon
>is much more uncommon than the Joycian sort. It's one thing to
>produce some verbal razel dazzle that impresses a few collage
>professors,

There probably *are* some collage professors by now; it's a 
distinctive and sometimes important form of art. I especially enjoy 
Joan Miro's collages. (Anticipated response: "Never heard of her.")

>but creating a meme that 400 million minds want to
>embrace is hard.

Mohammed and Paul of Tarsus managed it, as did Marx and Stalin and 
Mao. This might indicate that widespread popularity is not a 
water-tight test of worth.

But since you're offering us your literary criticism, John, it's fair 
to ask for a list of the works of James Joyce that you read before 
pillorying them. I know that a feller of your integrity wouldn't jump 
in to mock work you hadn't read, right? That would be (to recycle one 
of your favorite critical terms) BULLSHIT.

Damien Broderick