James Joyce is the author who has had perhaps the most influence on me. He is a master of language and prose, and his work is one of the great artistic gifts given to the world. I just read the short story "The Boarding House" in his Dubliners collection, and this is how I want to write. No, I do not wish to imitate him, but I do desire to hold such a command of the language, the characters, and the reader's emotions that no one can deny that when I am writing, I am in the hands of Love. His portraits of isolation, internal and external conflict, and suffocating cultural and religious mores and taboos stimulate an acute vision of the nightmarish landscape we have created for ourselves in the modern world. Sure, his works - such as the well known and groundbreaking novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses - are not filled with the plot driven adventures of most popular works of today, but as one who has read these narratives with a close attention to the love that went into Joyce's craft, I can say that one feels more alive and observant after traversing the small-minded Irish world - that embodies the prejudices and corruptions of the world at large - Joyce brings to life in his works.
"The Boarding House" is a short, but excellent example of the power of Joyce's art. Another short story example would be "The Dead," perhaps one of the most analyzed short stories in the English language. Each reading of it reveals more of the genius that went into its creation. To write with such a dedication to the purity of the art of the craft is my chief concern when I put pen to paper. Joyce shows me what is possible if I but remove the obstacles to the creative nature within me.
Thank you, Mr. Joyce, whereever you are now out in the Cosmos. Your example has been inspiring for over 6 years to this fledgling artist.
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