Seidel has written an admirable brief introduction for the general reader. Obviously the product of many years of teaching Joyce, it's concise, fresh and very accessible. Ronald Bush, St John's College, University of Oxford Entering the Joycean labyrinth - whether for the first time, or the twenty-first - one could not wish for a wiser, more gracious, better-humored guide than Michael Seidel. He ranges over the full spectrum of Joyce's writing with a lightness of touch and a sureness of direction that makes being his student an unmitigated delight. Kevin J. H. Dettmar, Southern Illinois University In James Joyce: A Short Introduction, Michael Seidel has pulled off one of the most difficult feats in current publishing. Seidel manages to capture anew what it is that makes Joyce's writing unique, and to elucidate even his most abstruse of abstrusities with a directness, clarity and infectious pleasure which reminds one all over again why one loves Joyce. Jeri Johnson, Exeter College, University of Oxford In James Joyce: A Short Introduction, Seidel has provided a clear and accessible distillation of the biographical and historical background to Joyce's work as well as a set of methodological tools designed to help the 'general reader' understand and interpret Joyce's use of language and narrative form. Resisting the urge to 'decode' Joyce's style by appealing to content, Seidel has done an admirable job of demystifying some of Joyce's techniques without dismissing or devaluing their importance. Irish Studies Review
