Nora : The Real Life of Molly Bloom

by Maddox, Brenda

• ISBN13: 9780618057009
• ISBN10: 0618057005
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-06-16
• Publisher: INGRAM

Summary

In 1904, having known each other for only three months, a young woman named Nora Barnacle and a not yet famous writer named James Joyce left Ireland together for Europe -- unwed. So began a deep and complex partnership, and eventually a marriage, which endured for thirty-seven years. This is the true story of Nora, the woman who, transformed by Joyce's imagination, became Molly Bloom, arguably the most famous female character in twentieth-century literature. It is also the story of Ireland, a social history encapsulated in the vivid recreation of Joyce and his small Irish entourage abroad. Ultimately it is the portrait of a relationship -- of Nora's complicated, committed, and at times shocking relationship with a hardworking, hard drinking genius and with his work. In NORA: THE REAL LIFE OF MOLLY BLOOM, the award-winning biographer Brenda Maddox has given us a powerful new lens through which to see both James Joyce and the woman who was in turn his inspiration and his salvation.

Author Biography

Brenda Maddox is the author of several books, including D.H. LAWRENCE: THE STORY OF A MARRIAGE and, most recently, YEAT'S GHOSTS: THE SECRET LIFE OF W.B. YEATS. She lives in London.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
List of Illustrations	xv
Introduction	xvii
PART I: LILY
Exit from Finn's	3	(4)
The Man-Killer	7	(16)
The Summer of 1904	23	(26)
PART II: BERTHA
Signora Joyce	49	(25)
Madonna and Child	74	(15)
Away Alone	89	(20)
A House of Joyces	109	(26)
PART III: MOLLY
Second Exile	135	(18)
Artists and Models	153	(16)
``Circe'' Goes to Paris	169	(24)
In a Free State	193	(5)
Molly	198	(13)
Fame	211	(16)
Square Robiac	227	(28)
Legitimate Interests	255	(28)
PART IV: ANNA LIVIA
Madness in Progress, I	283	(22)
Madness in Progress, II	305	(14)
Madness in Progress, III	319	(17)
Flight into Zurich	336	(10)
Staying On	346	(13)
The Sound of Lions	359	(15)
Nora Speaking	374	(11)
Appendix: Man of Letters	385	(18)
Notes	403	(36)
Bibliography	439	(14)
Index	453