The James Joyce BBC Radio Collection: Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man & Dubliners

James Joyce · Gordon Bowker

Jun 2019 · BBC Digital Audio · Narrated by Andrew Scott, Frances Barber, Full Cast, Henry Goodman, Jim Norton, Niamh Cusack, and Stephen Rea

4.7

3 reviews

Audiobook

13 hr 12 min

Unabridged

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About this audiobook

Three BBC radio productions of major works by James Joyce – plus Gordon Bowker’s fascinating biographical account of his life

Ulysses
In this full-cast dramatisation of Joyce’s epic modernist novel, the stories of Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom combine as they meander through Dublin in the course of one day, 16 June 1904. Andrew Scott stars as Stephen, with Henry Goodman as Bloom, Niamh Cusack as Molly Bloom and Stephen Rea as the Narrator.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
An abridged reading of James Joyce's autobiographical masterpiece portraying the adolescence of Stephen Dedalus, who must question the culture and religion of his native land before he can break free to become an artist. Read by Andrew Scott.

Dubliners
This abridged collection of fifteen naturalistic tales depicts an array of characters from childhood, through adolescence, to maturity. Stories of love, loss, friendship, marriage, politics and family combine to create a unified world and a celebration of a city. Read by Stephen Rea.

James Joyce – A Biography
Gordon Bowker’s comprehensive study explores Joyce’s years spent in exile in Europe, and examines how his life shaped his genius. Read by Jim Norton, with Andrew Scott as the voice of Joyce.

Ratings and reviews

4.7

3 reviews

CHRYSTYN RI

July 10, 2025

Seems as if I spoke too soon! After a near-perfect performance, "Daedeleus" blows "the ineluctable modality" chapter???? Otherwise, MY former review read: " I'm a Literature scholar; still, the 'BBC' presentation'takes it!' Combined with The Norton Classic edition, One's bound to be a 'James Joycean-buff' in no time!"

John Bradley

June 6, 2022

A "Great - Production" : of the ALLEGEDLY ~ "None Acting" or "Non Performance"! "Ulysses" { Book } by James Joyce : Since 1922 ( onwards ). WORLDWIDE ~ better Known as "BLOOMSDAY" celebrated on "June 16th" ; even in 2022 { "One Hundred Years" } : LATER.

About the author

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on 2 February 1882 in Rathgar, Dublin and educated at Jesuit schools before attending University College, Dublin. After graduating, he left Ireland for Paris, at first to study medicine, but returned home after a year when his mother became ill. Joyce struggled to make a living in Dublin, and soon left the country again, this time in the company of Nora Barnacle, who would be his life-long companion and mother of his two children. Settling in Trieste, Joyce taught English and began once more to write. He published a volume of verse, Chamber Music in 1907, which was followed by Dubliners in 1914, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which was published serially in the Egoist magazine. These works won Joyce the attention of Ezra Pound, and through Pound, the patronage of publisher Harriet Shaw Weaver. In 1920, Joyce moved to Paris, where he began writing Ulysses, though by now suffering severe difficulties with his sight. Ulysses was published in 1922, and was celebrated as a work of immense literary importance by writers such as T.S.Eliot and Hemingway. It was followed by Finnegan's Wake, published in its completed form in 1939. Joyce and his family fled the German occupation of France by moving to Zurich in 1940, but his health rapidly worsened, and he died on 13 January 1941.

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