Exiles (play) Summary
James Joyce

Biography EssayFew writers have as secure a claim to be the major figure of the modernist period in literary history as James Joyce, a position that he prepared himself for with diligence and commitme... Read more

James Joyce is a monument of modernism in literature. In the opening passage of his biography, James Joyce, Richard Ellmann aptly summarized the writer's impact on twentieth-century letters, "We are s... Read more

Considered by many critics as the major writer of the twentieth century, James Joyce is nonetheless a minor poet both in the quantity and quality of his verse. The second of the ten children of John a... Read more

Rather than forging radically new means for fiction, the novels of James Joyce--A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922), and Finnegans Wake (1939)--as well as his single short-s... Read more

In the following review, Nightingale responds unfavorably to Harold Pinter's production of Exiles at the Mermaid Theater. Last autumn, I was part of the critical consensus that almost unrese... Read more

In the following essay, Magalaner and Kain discuss reviews and varying opinions about Exiles. Joyce's sole surviving drama, Exiles, was composed during the spring of 1914. Gorman considered ... Read more

In the following essay, Aitken discusses the relationship between Exiles and Joyce's Ulysses. James Joyce's play, Exiles, is clearly an additional exploration of the situation which c... Read more

In the following essay, Harmon examines the main character in Exiles. In James Joyce's Exiles it is easy to see Richard Rowan as a dominating figure. In scene after scene his probing, inquis... Read more

In the following essay, Tysdahl discusses the influence of Ibsen on Exiles. In appearance Exiles is like one of Ibsen's realistic dramas from beginning to end. Joyce's stage-direction... Read more

In the following essay, Brandabur discusses the themes of Exiles. “When you are a recognized classic people will read it because you wrote it and be duly interested and duly instructed, ... Read more

In the following essay, Maher compares Exiles to Hamlet and examines the relationships of the characters in Exiles. Joyce described Exiles as “three cat and mouse acts” (Exiles 123); ... Read more

In the following essay, Dombrowski and Pearson examine the problematic characters in Exiles. Long considered an inferior work of largely curiosity value, Exiles has increasingly been recognized as ... Read more

In the following essay, MacNicholas outlines the stage production history of Exiles. It is generally agreed, perhaps especially among Joyceans, that Exiles is a bad play, opaque to both reader and ... Read more

In the following essay, Benstock discusses the characters and their relationships in Exiles. The outbreak of the Great War in 1914 caught the Joyces in Austrian Trieste as British nationals, yet Jo... Read more

In following review, Pound declares Exiles to be unstageable in the atmosphere of the contemporary theater. Two months ago I set out to write an essay about a seventeenth century dramatist. As I ha... Read more

In the following review, originally published in 1918, MacCarthy enthusiastically discusses the published version of Exiles. Exiles is a remarkable play. I am more sure of this than of having under... Read more

In the following essay, Fergusson discusses Ibsen's influence on Joyce. In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man we read of Stephen that “as he went by Baird's stonecutting w... Read more

In the following excerpt, Farrell discusses how Joyce was influenced by Ibsen in writing Exiles. It is commonly known that James Joyce, in his youth, was influenced by Ibsen's plays. Formall... Read more