James Joyce

He suffered from Astraphobia, fear of thunder and lightning

In 1904, he met a woman named Nora Barnacle, who at that time was employed as a chamber maid. They eloped later and eventually married and had two children.

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born in Rathgar, a suburban part of Dublin, Ireland. His parents were John Stanislaus Joyce, a well-respected man in Dublin and Mary Jane May Murray.

His father mismanaged family funds and this led them to poverty. The senior Joyce spent much of the time drinking and did not give the desired attention to the family affairs.

Even as a child, young Joyce was deeply passionate about writing and literature. He would read voraciously and even managed to learn Norwegian all by himself to read Henrik Ibsen's plays.

In 1888, he went to the Clongowes Wood College but had to drop out due to lack of funds. He later went to the O'Connell School and then Belvedere College. He finally graduated with an art degree from the University College Dublin.

In 1900, his work was published for the first time in 'Fortnightly Review'. He had authored a review article of Henrik Ibsen's ‘When We Dead Awaken’ for the journal.

In 1904, along with his love interest Nora Barnacle, he moved to Zurich, Switzerland, and later went to the Italian seaport city of Trieste. He taught English there.

In May 1907, he published his book, ‘Chamber Music', which was a collection of poems. The book had a collection of 36 poems, all of which are based on the theme of love.

From 1909, he continued to write and work on the manuscript of the book, ‘Dubliners'. He also started to look for publishers. He opened the cinema house, ' Volta Cinematograph'.

In 1914, he published his book, ‘Dubliners', which was a collection of short stories. The stories carefully analysed the facets of Dublin society during the early 20th century.

In 1916, he came out with his first novel titled, ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'. The novel had a sort of coming-of-age plot but was not commercially successful. He however, earned praise for his style of writing.

His book, ‘Finnegans Wake’ is regarded as one of the finest works in English literature. It was ranked number 77 on the Modern Library (an American publishing house) list of ‘100 best English-language novels of the 20th century'.

His novel, ‘Ulysses' is revered as one of the most significant works in the genre of modernist literature. It was ranked number one on the Modern Library (an American publishing house) list of ‘100 best English-language novels of the 20th century'