Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom by Brenda Maddox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Brenda Maddox' Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom, a biography of Nora Barnacle, James Joyce's wife, is one of the best biographies I have ever read. For once, I have to agree with the blurb on the cover, which says, "A brilliant biography that radically alters our understanding... The first book to read about James Joyce himself."

To me, the most important message of the book is how much James Joyce owes to his wife, and after reading the biography, one will most likely question whether all the greatness of Joyce's work would be possible without Nora.

Ms. Maddox writes, "Nora is important because she belonged to Joyce and because she never did. She was the stronger of the two, an independent spirit who had far more influence on him than he upon her." She then quotes Arthur Power: "[...] I do not believe James Joyce could have coped with the difficulties of daily life had it not been for the great devotion and courage of his wife Nora. Theirs was a constant companionship based on love and congenial understanding. [...] no important move would be made one without the other. Unless one had seen them together one would not realize how much James Joyce depended on his wife Nora."

I love the quote from Elizabeth Curran, the daughter of Joyce's Dublin friend: "She could laugh him out of his depression by her plain, down-to-earth humor. [...] He never shut her up, not for a minute. [...] people could see their closeness. He would start a conversation with Nora, intentionally shutting all the others out. They had a kind of running banter between them on a very intimate level. She was a relief and an outlet for him. It made a wonderful impression -- this utter understanding between two people."

The fragments of the biography that discuss Nora's influence on Ulysses and Finnegans Wake are fascinating even for this reviewer, who is completely inexpert in literary analysis. The biography is extremely well researched and thoroughly annotated (91 pages of Appendix). It is not an easy recreational read because of the serious themes, high level and depth of literary analysis, and the stunning amount of detail in chronicling Nora and Joyce's life. I am promising myself to reread Ms. Maddox' work when I have more time in summer.

View all my reviews