Addiction, quarks and male menstruation
By Glenda Robinson, Jan 26, 2007

San Miguel PEN talk Austin Briggs on “The Joys of Joyce” Tuesday, January 30, 6pm Bellas Artes auditorium, Hernández Macías 75 50 pesos

On January 30, noted James Joyce scholar Professor Austin Briggs will deliver a lecture entitled “The Joys of Joyce.”

Now, wait—don’t turn the page. 

You say you’ve never read Ulysses? Or even tried to penetrate that seminal but devilishly dense novel that has been dubbed the “Mount Everest” of English literature? And what’s more, you’re not even Irish? 

Well, me neither. So I approached the task of interviewing Professor Briggs in his Guadiana home with some trepidation.

I’m here to tell you that you should most certainly leave the comforting glow of your propane calentador and schlep over to Bellas Artes on January 30 because you will have a great time. Professor Briggs, I find, is unassuming, nimble and utterly engaging.

Through his wildly popular course at Hamilton College, he has been leading, sherpa-ing, and even gang-roping students up the Joycean mountain for years. Generations, even. For so long that he finds himself teaching the children of his former students. And he’s still on fire about his favorite subject.

“I have to warn you that reading Joyce can be addictive,” he says, peering at me over the rims of his glasses. “Yes, he may seem obscure, but he’s not ‘if-you-have-to-ask-I-can’t-explain it’ obscure. He’s like a puzzle. All the pieces are there… and everything fits beautifully… but it’s a puzzle you can spend the rest of your life trying to finish. 

“I came to Joyce relatively late in my career—ten years after graduate school. I was teaching American literature, then 19th-century British literature, but once I read Joyce, I just couldn’t stop. Joyce can really get to you.”



Glenda Robinson: You have been called “one of the three funniest Joyceans going.” What is a Joycean? And how does one get to be one? 

Austin Briggs: Joyceans are the Trekkies of the literary realm. We’re fanatics. I’ve never been fond of fraternities, but because of my work I am now a member of the best club in the world. We’re famous for having academia’s most entertaining conferences. Sometimes people wear turn-of-the-century garb. And we usually end our meals by singing “Love’s Old Sweet Song,” which is a leitmotif of Ulysses … ironic when you consider that this is a novel about adultery. 

You get to be a Joycean by writing about Joyce and speaking about Joyce—but you don’t have to be an academic. One of the members of the board of directors of the Joyce Foundation is a graphic artist. 

There is something about Joyce that appeals to a wide spectrum of people. One year, a woman who was a long-time member of an LA Joyce reading group talked her husband—who had never looked at Joyce—into joining her at the Joyce Summer School in Trieste, Italy. A newly retired CEO, he was a very successful man, but not someone I would have expected to show up in my class on Dubliners. Yet, after his second day, his wife told me that he proudly reported to her in hushed amazement, “I spoke in class today.” 

GR: And what is Bloomsday?

AB: Bloomsday is June 16, the single day in which all of the events of Ulysses and its protagonist Leopold Bloom take place. Every year, all over the world, from Topeka to Tokyo, Joyce lovers gather to read his work aloud and have really terrific parties. I guarantee you that if I came to San Miguel in June and put a notice in Atención inviting people to gather in the Jardín at noon for Bloomsday, a group would assemble.

GR: And how did Joyce change literature (besides coining the word “quark”)? Why is Ulysses considered the number one novel of the 20th century?

AB: Well, before Joyce, literary critics had this debate about the novel. It could either be realistic or mythic, but certainly not both. With Joyce you don’t have to choose. Ulysses is a retelling of Homer’s mythic epic, but at the same time it is a wonderfully down-to-earth, realistic novel. Joyce made it possible to use the f-word, to write about sexual fantasies and bodily functions, like having a good bowel movement. And male menstruation.

GR: Wait a minute. I’ve heard of male menopause…but male menstruation?

Prof Briggs demurs. “You’ll just have to come to my lecture.” 



Austin Briggs is the Tompkins Professor of English Literature, Emeritus, at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He received his BA from Harvard and his Ph.D. from Columbia and did postdoctoral study in film theory and criticism at Boston University. He and his wife live in San Miguel five months of the year. 

The funds raised by this lecture will help provide PEN scholarships for deserving local students. They will also go to support the ongoing efforts of PEN International: defending writers imprisoned or under attack for their work, and promoting freedom of expression throughout the world. For more information about San Miguel PEN or its annual Winter Lecture Series, contact Lucina Kathmann at lucina@unisono.net.mx  or 152-0614. For upcoming PEN events go to www.sanmiguelauthors.com