Reauthorizing Joyce

"A particularly rich deconstructive reading of Joyce's texts as well as, by implication, a telling critique of those who 'authorize' and represent Joyce within the 'academic institution'."--Bryan Cheyette, Times Literary Supplement "Mahaffey's most impressive argument is linking language and clothing (the word 'text' derives from texere, meaning 'to weave'). She demonstrates how language functions like material woven of likenesses and differences by analyzing several patterns of weaving in Joyce's work. . . . Language, the clothing of thought, and clothing, the language of flesh, represent two modes of authority, two processes of reading the world. Reauthorizing Joyceartfully demonstrates how Joyce educates the reader to recognize the interrelationship of these two authorities."--Robert D. Newman, South Atlantic Review "A welcome study written by an engaging mind. Most Joyceans, especially those who are responsive to post-structuralist and feminist ideas, will read it with great interest and return to it often."--Charles Rossman, James Joyce Quarterly "Mahaffey makes her way from Dublinersto the Wake, showing not only Joyce-the-Mastermind but also Joyce the Weaver of textile and text-styles."--Carol Shloss, Modern Fiction Studies Vicki Mahaffey argues that for James Joyce, language is the most important link between the unconscious and the socio-historical. It serves as a precise link beween the psychological and the political, between the individual and the communal, between the future and the past. Quoting Finnegans Wake, Mahaffey describes language as a bag full of "presents." This first paperback edition of Reauthorizing Joycesuggests that the reader's role in relation to Joyce's novels is more active and significant than is usually the case. "Reading Joyce goes beyond entertainment into 'hands on' instruction about how to perceive and process language more productively, enjoyably, and responsibly. Joyce provides readers with novels that are workshops in interpretive responsibility and sensual perceptiveness." Language, according to Mahaffey, is the real hero of Joyce's work. This study shows how language functions in Joyce as an index to unconscious desires and as a record of how people have responded to the sensual aspects of language through time.Mahaffey, Vicki is the author of 'Reauthorizing Joyce' with ISBN 9780813013442 and ISBN 0813013445.