This book demonstrates the various ways in which specialist textual work on the genesis of Ulysses directly intersects with other critical and interpretive readings. Crispi analyzes how the stories in the published book achieved their final form and discloses previously unexamined versions of them for everyone who enjoys reading Ulysses. Thereby, it is also a commentary on Joyce's conception of Ulysses more generally. Framed by a contextual introduction and four bibliographical appendices, the seven main chapters are a critical investigation of the fictional events and memories that constitute the 'lives' of the Blooms. Luca Crispi excavates the raw material and examines the creative processes Joyce deployed in the construction of the Blooms and so the writing of Ulysses. Based on decades of research, it is an original engagement with the textual archive of Ulysses, including the exciting, recently-discovered manuscripts now in the National Library of Ireland.

At the same time, it also chronicles the production of Ulysses from 1917 to its first edition in 1922 and beyond. From a genetic critical perspective, it explores the conception and evolution of the Blooms as fictional characters in the work's wide range of surviving notes and manuscripts. This book is both a study of how James Joyce created two of the most iconic characters in literature-Leopold Bloom and Marion Tweedy Bloom-as well as a history of the genesis of Ulysses. Joyce's Creative Process and the Construction of Characters in Ulysses Van Hulle's book offers a fresh perspective on these texts, showing that they are not just preparatory versions of Finnegans Wake but a 'Work in Progress' in their own right. All of these pre-book publications were 'alive' in both bibliographic and textual terms, as Joyce continually changed the texts in order to prepare the book publication of Finnegans Wake. Van Hulle highlights the beautifully crafted editions published by fine arts presses and Joyce's encouragement of his daughter's creative talents, even as his own creative process was slowing down in the 1930s. In this publication history, Dirk Van Hulle examines the interaction between the private composition process and the public life of Joyce's 'Work in Progress', from the creation of the separate sections through their publication in periodicals and as separately published sections. And while they are undeniably integrated very skillfully, they also function separately.

Several of these sections, which James Joyce confidently claimed would 'fuse of themselves', are still recognizable in the text of Finnegans Wake. It grew out of a set of short vignettes, sections and fragments. The text of Finnegans Wake is not as monolithic as it might seem.

James joyce work in progress