James Joyce

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Steve mentions trying to read this when going to writing school, thinking he should 'figure out what people actually write about,' but gave up on it.

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Steve discusses his attempt to improve his literary knowledge before graduate school. He mentions dedicating a summer to trying to get through Joyce's Dubliners, which he thought would be easy because it was 'a little short book,' but found difficult because he had previously only read nature and history books.

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Referenced as a comparison point when discussing the Warren Commission's comprehensive documentation, likening it to Joyce's detailed portrait of Dublin

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Mentioned alongside The Waste Land as a landmark modernist work from 1922. The hosts use both works to illustrate the 'great man' model of artistic creation — the genius of individual authors like Joyce — which they argue no longer exists in 2022's fragmented cultural landscape.

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Mentioned alongside Dostoevsky as something Marilyn was reading as part of her intellectual self-improvement in New York.

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Compared to Lord of the Rings in terms of both authors' obsession with language and the evolution of English

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Discussed extensively as one of the two great literary works published in 1922, described as 'the greatest English novel in English... written in the 20th century,' published on Joyce's 40th birthday (February 2, 1922)

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Mentioned as the literary inspiration for Carlos Fuentes's Terra Nostra, though the hosts note that Terra Nostra is 'infinitely more readable' than Joyce's notoriously difficult final novel. The reference serves to give listeners a sense of Terra Nostra's ambitious, experimental style while reassuring them it is more accessible than its inspiration.

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Referenced when praising Churchill's prose about childhood memories, noting 'Joyce would be proud of that' and comparing Churchill's child's perspective to Joyce's technique