Rating: 
Summary: The Definitive Biography
Review: It is hard for one to state that any biography can be definitive for one can always point toward areas in a person's life which the reader believes should or could have been better represented or illustrated. However, after reading Ellmann's biography, not doubt lingers that Ellmann has come closest to achieving that title in the realm of human depiction. This text, in its nearly 900 novel-esque pages, not only gives the background of Joyce, but also lends-but rarely forces-the ideas, persons, and events in Joyce's life that influenced his great works. Many have stated that reading this tome will deflate anyone's opinion of the writer, the text revealing the humanistic side of the writer, conversely I found it merely supported and aided my awe in relation to the expansive nature of Joyce's mind and his humble (and hilarious) nature in which he approached his craft. Though some recommend this text prior to reading the masterpieces-Portrait, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake-I find that a minimal amount of familiarity (as least via secondary criticism or summary) is helpful in order to connect the real faces with the fictional ones of Joyce's work.
Rating:
Summary: the greatest portrait of the greatest artist
Review: Richard Ellman is acknowledged by this anonymous reader as one of the most respectable scholars in regard to James Joyce. He is as well the utmost biographer of Joyce, and this book is the amazing result of his passion, cleverness and undesrtanding of the greatest irish genius of the century.
Rating:
Summary: No one gets it like Richard Ellman
Review: Richard Ellman was this nation's foremost Joyce scholar for almost three decades, and his great, vast biography is perhaps the best ever written of a literary figure. This book is a wonderful fusion of Ellman's unique critical vision and rigorous biographical technique. Beyond his obviously deep understanding of the subject, Ellman writes in an engaging, eloquent prose that kept me interested for the 750-page sprawl of the book. Going in, I was a vague admirer of Joyce's work; coming out, I felt ready to go forth to encounter for the millionth time the farthest reaches of his fiction.
Rating:
Summary: No one gets it like Richard Ellman
Review: Richard Ellman was this nation's foremost Joyce scholar for almost three decades, and his great, vast biography is perhaps the best ever written of a literary figure. This book is a wonderful fusion of Ellman's unique critical vision and rigorous biographical technique. Beyond his obviously deep understanding of the subject, Ellman writes in an engaging, eloquent prose that kept me interested for the 750-page sprawl of the book. Going in, I was a vague admirer of Joyce's work; coming out, I felt ready to go forth to encounter for the millionth time the farthest reaches of his fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Learn about the Dublin Ulysses' Odyssey through Life
Review: Richard Ellmann the late author of many scholarly biographies of literary luminaries (such as Oscar Wilde and William Butler Yeats) has written a classic work on James Joyce (1882-1941). The paperback version I read was an updated edition based on the 1959 book, This latest edition adds news material on Joyce.
James Joyce was a wanderer who never saw Dublin after 1912. The expatriate author lived in lower middle class circumstances with his longsuffering wife Nora Barnacle who he didn't marry until 1931. The Joyce family lived in Trieste, Paris and Zurich where the author died in his late 50s. Joyce eked out a living as a teacher of English and translator. He spoke several languages as was the most erudite major author of the century.
Ellman's work is very detailed with footnotes and letters on almost every page. This may prove distracting to the general reader. Be warned that this work is scholarly and is not written in a popular style.
Ellmann discusses the genesis of such classics as Joyce's
Dubliners, Ulysses and the almost incomprehensible Finnegan's Wake. Joyce's life was centered around his writing and his family of Nora and the two children Georgio and Lucia )who had severe mental problems). His life was not an exciting one but a journey of the human intellect and soul to the mountaintop of the most innovative writing of the age. Joyce had severe difficulties in his eyesight suffering over a dozen operations to help his eyes. He was an eccentric Irish bard who sang his songs to all who would seek to explore his world. No one is more associated with Dublin that this Dante of the Irish capital.
This biography took me over a week to read. It is slow going and not a page turner. It is, however, the one work you must read if you seek to understand Joyce. Ellmann has done his homework and produced a literary life masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Joyce's Shadow
Review: Richard Ellmann's biography is by far the most comprehensive and readable book on the life of this Irish genius. Ellmann takes us through Joyce's quarrels with his family,church and nation, "the nets," his courtship and family life with Nora, and most importantly, shows the biographical link between Joyce's life and work.This book is a treasure.
Rating:
Summary: Portrait of the artist as a young and old man
Review: Twenty two years ago I was enrolled in Richard Ellman's class on James Joyce at Emory University and when I was introduced to him by the head of the English Department I was informed that Ellman was the best informed authority on Joyce since 1941 when that person was of course Joyce himself. This expertise is demonstrated in this, the definative work on Joyce and his work. In it Joyce not only recounts the particulars of his life (he also edited collections of Joyce's letters so he was more than familiar with the twists and turns of that extraordinarily disorderly life). Professor Ellman was also an authority on the Irish literary scene, producing studies on Yeats, Becket (with whom he regularly exchanged letters) and Wilde. To master not only the works of Joyce is a feat in an of itself, but to master the works of all of the leading Irish modernists probably is a unique accomplishment unknown in scholarship. It is perhaps a facile observation to note the numerous biographical details with which Joyce invested his life. The date of 16 June 1904, known as "Bloomsday" was the day when Joyce first "stepped out" with his companion/wife Nora. It does provide a great deal of insight into what Joyce chose to put into the books and what he chose to discard. This book provides unprecedented insight (except perhaps Leon Edel's books on Henry James) into the creative process. What is sad about this book is the difficulty one can have in locating a copy. I was fortunate in finding it readily available when I spent six weeks studying all of Joyce's works with Professor Ellman. It is unfortunately difficult to locate now. There are other books on Joyce that are out there, but few have been accepted as universally as this one. If you want to know all the twists and turns of the mind that gave the world Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist and Ulysses, there is no better work than this one.
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