{"id":48625,"date":"2018-01-02T13:40:05","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T18:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=48625"},"modified":"2018-01-02T13:40:05","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T18:40:05","slug":"useless-joyce-explores-the-usefulness-of-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2018\/01\/useless-joyce-explores-the-usefulness-of-literature\/","title":{"rendered":"Useless Joyce explores the usefulness of literature"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What is James Joyce\u2019s <em>Ulysses <\/em>about?<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a question Tim Conley asks students at the end of his fourth-year seminar course on the famous novel, and the answers reflect the profound effect the book has: Life. Existence. Loneliness. Living.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoyce multiplies and deepens meanings,\u201d says Conley, a professor in the Department of English Language and Literature.<\/p>\n<p><em>Ulysses<\/em> and <em>Finnegans Wake<\/em> are often thought to be difficult and impractical texts, but Conley\u2019s new book, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/utorontopress.com\/ca\/useless-joyce-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Useless Joyce: Textual Functions, Cultural Appropriations<\/a><\/em> (University of Toronto Press) invites readers to think differently about Joyce\u2019s works.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis work is constantly challenging and even overturning what I \u2014 and many other readers \u2014 think they know about language\u2019s relationship to the world and our experience of it,\u201d says Conley.<\/p>\n<p>The professor uses Joyce\u2019s works to explore the question of the usefulness of literature and art. He examines how Joyce challenges what it means to use another\u2019s words, and how processes of editing, translation and annotation affect a text\u2019s dissemination and use.<\/p>\n<p>Conley also explores how Joyce\u2019s works can be read as guides to public speaking, diet and even dating.<\/p>\n<p><em>Useless Joyce<\/em> is Conley\u2019s most recent contribution to the field of Joyce studies. Previous publications include <em>Doubtful Points: Joyce and Punctuation, Joyce\u2019s Disciples Disciplined: A Re-exagmination of the \u201cExagmination of Work in Progress\u201d [sic]<\/em>, and <em>Joyce\u2019s Mistakes: Problems of Intention, Irony, and Interpretation<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoyce makes us listen to the world more carefully, to hear all the things that it is saying,\u201d says Conley.<\/p>\n<p>And what is <em>Ulysses<\/em> about?<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>Ulysses<\/em> is a universe, a multifaceted experience that cannot be summarized,\u201d answers Conley.<\/p>\n<p>Students interested in reading Joyce\u2019s <em>Finnegans Wake<\/em> are invited to join Conley\u2019s reading group Tuesdays from noon to 2 p.m. in GLN 146.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is James Joyce\u2019s Ulysses about? That\u2019s a question Tim Conley asks students at the end of his fourth-year seminar course on the famous novel, and the answers reflect the profound effect the book has: Life. Existence. Loneliness. Living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":48626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[37,1,4],"tags":[76,30,6137],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48628,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48625\/revisions\/48628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}