The James Joyce Centre

The James Joyce Centre is set in an 18th-century Georgian townhouse on North Great George’s Street, Dublin, and is dedicated to one of the most celebrated writers in Irish history. Set over three floors, it covers his life and celebrates his writing, looking at the amazing insight he’s given into what life was like in Dublin in the early 20th century.

The ‘Joyce Study’ is set up inside to resemble the places he lived and wrote in, while working on Ullysses, between 1914 and 1922.  This book reads like a stream of inner thoughts. Some might find the experimental style of this book hard to understand but it has been named by many as one of the greatest books in modern literature. Interactive installations and films will give you more information on the background and controversies he had in publishing this book. Although it was finished in 1922, it wasn’t legally published in the US until 1934, after the well-known court case: United States vs One Book Called Ulysses. You can also examine the content of the book episode by episode.

Other famous works include Dubliners (1914), a collection of short stories about middle-class life in Dublin, and Finnegans Wake (1939), in a similar style to Ulysses. Even if you don’t have time to visit the centre, it’s definitely worth reading one of these books before visiting the city, for the depiction of what life was like in Dublin.

One interesting piece on display is a copy of Joyce’s death mask. You can even observe the original front-door from No. 7 Eccles Street. This is the home address of the character Leopold Bloom in Ulysses. It also displays furniture from the apartment of Joyce’s friend and advisor, Paul Léon. Joyce often met up with supporters in this apartment, where he also worked on translating parts of Finnegans Wake.