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The perfect coda to Ulysses. Birmingham‘s book delves into the history of censorship and some of the key players involved while deftly blending parts of Joyce‘s biography and the many hurdles Ulysses had to face. After reading this book my theory that Joyce was a troll is further cemented. But I also feel bad for him; he suffered a lot of hardship and knowing his plight does help put Ulysses in a different perspective.

Highly recommend.

Probably quite an odd book to get so passiinate about, but this made by brain explode! A mixture of biography of Joyce and the book and legal history it's a really good read too and makes you realise how important the book is and the extent of censorship. It also places Ulysses within the context of modernism and the other writers who were affected by it (didn't realise how big a fan Hemingway was!). Some great research too.

When a book sets your brain on fire in the best way possible and you want to go looking for obscure articles about feminist journals on jstor. I love the way Birmingham explores Joyce's life and work against the backdrop of emerging modernism and how it reflected societal change. Aside from Joyce I am also learning about Ezra Pound and Dora Marsden.

Great book really gives a lot of insight into the battle to publish Ulysses.

None of these things are true...

If an agreement isn't voluntary, it's coercive. If you have not explicitly consented to an authority, then it is your master. Because all governments are compulsory, they are all oppressive. To overthrow a monarchy and create a democracy is merely to trade the tyranny of the king for the tyranny of the majority--if you happen to be in the minority, the distinction is irrelevant.

In a world overrun by mediocrity, individuals with extraordinary talent had extraordinary responsibility.

Risk generated devotion. Your relationship to a book changes when you have to hide it from the government.

"Mr. Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls." It's been a long time since I've read Ulysses but reading this book about the struggles to get it published is making me revisit some favorite passages.

My first book of my third year of law school is involuntary: I was assigned this for an intellectual property and the first amendment class. But I thought I would share this because the first line really drew me in!