--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When I read James Joyce, I'm not really…" description: "\"When I read James Joyce, I'm not really interested in the Dublin of 1904. I'm interested in being in the presence of a voice and a sensibility underpin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/joseph-o-neill-10798_authenticity_when-i-read-james-joyce-i-m-not-really-i_1666841.png" --- # When I read James Joyce, I'm not really interested in the… ![“When I read James Joyce, I'm not really interested in the Dublin of 1904. I'm interested in being in the presence of a voice and a sensibility underpinned by an authenticity which, I think, if you're a good writer, you can extract from the specific details of your own time. I think most writers do…” quote by Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/joseph-o-neill-10798_authenticity_when-i-read-james-joyce-i-m-not-really-i_1666841.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/joseph-o-neill-10798_authenticity_when-i-read-james-joyce-i-m-not-really-i_1666841.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f60/joseph-o-neill-10798_authenticity_when-i-read-james-joyce-i-m-not-really-i_1666841.png) > “When I read James Joyce, I'm not really interested in the Dublin of 1904. I'm interested in being in the presence of a voice and a sensibility underpinned by an authenticity which, I think, if you're a good writer, you can extract from the specific details of your own time. I think most writers do hope that their books will be read in ten years.” [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker values the timeless, authentic voice in literature over historical setting, believing great writers extract universal truth from specific details. **In simple terms:** Great writers capture universal truth from their era. Key Takeaway Focus on authentic voice, not just setting. Themes literature authenticity timelessness Mood analytical inspirational Type quote philosophical When to use this quote - writing workshops - literary analysis - teaching - reading clubs - publishing Key Concepts narrative voice historical context creative extraction Questions to Reflect On - How can you balance specificity with universality? - What makes a voice feel authentic? A Different Perspective Historical details may limit broader relevance if overemphasized. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Authenticity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authenticity/) [Being](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/being/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Dublin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dublin/) [Extract](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extract/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Presence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/presence/) [Sensibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensibility/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Voice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/voice/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writers/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Write about winter in the summer. Describe Norway as Ibsen did, from a desk in Italy; describe Dublin as James Joyce did, from a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/write-about-winter-in-the-summer-describe-norway-as-ibsen-did-from-a/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [James Joyce wrote the definitive work about Dublin while he was living in Switzerland. We're all where we come from. We all have our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-guare/james-joyce-wrote-the-definitive-work-about-dublin-while-he-was/) [John Guare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-guare/) > [I wrote the book Don't Die, My Love as I was going through radiation, so it certainly has an air of authenticity about it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lurlene-mcdaniel/i-wrote-the-book-don-t-die-my-love-as-i-was-going-through-radiation/) [Lurlene McDaniel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lurlene-mcdaniel/) > [People like authenticity and I think I have the courage of my convictions and am authentic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maxime-bernier/people-like-authenticity-and-i-think-i-have-the-courage-of-my/) [Maxime Bernier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maxime-bernier/) > [I think teens trust each other's opinions about products because of the quality of authenticity that they think their friend's recommendation has.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/i-think-teens-trust-each-other-s-opinions-about-products-because-of/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [New York has influenced me a lot in terms of my own independence. I'm really struck by the idea of authenticity, and I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paloma-elsesser/new-york-has-influenced-me-a-lot-in-terms-of-my-own-independence-i-m/) [Paloma Elsesser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paloma-elsesser/) > [Sometimes people confuse contrivance and authenticity, and sometimes I think authenticity can get in the way of a good excuse to do something theatrical.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-marr/sometimes-people-confuse-contrivance-and-authenticity-and-sometimes-i/) [Johnny Marr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-marr/) > [There's just something, maybe it's the authenticity. I think that's the appeal and why people choose to watch really unpolished and unprofessional videos on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lindsay-ellis/there-s-just-something-maybe-it-s-the-authenticity-i-think-that-s-the/) [Lindsay Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lindsay-ellis/) > [If you do a quantity challenge, the problem you'd face would be a starchy challenge. If it has a lot of potatoes, a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-richman/if-you-do-a-quantity-challenge-the-problem-you-d-face-would-be-a/) [Adam Richman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-richman/) > [“For example, it is only by work we extract gold from the soil. It takes work to discover the oil that is already deposited…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/for-example-it-is-only-by-work-we-extract-gold-from-the-soil-it-takes/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [Art is embedded in nature and they who can extract it, have it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albrecht-durer/art-is-embedded-in-nature-and-they-who-can-extract-it-have-it/) [Albrecht Durer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albrecht-durer/) > [For thousands of years, long before there was such a thing as a science of chemistry, people were fascinated by plants, because they knew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-petsko/for-thousands-of-years-long-before-there-was-such-a-thing-as-a/) [Gregory Petsko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-petsko/) > [Reality does not easily give up meaning; it's the biographer's job to clobber it into submission. You're meant not only to tame it but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-schiff/reality-does-not-easily-give-up-meaning-it-s-the-biographer-s-job-to/) [Stacy Schiff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-schiff/) > [In the past, Google has used teams of humans to 'read' its street address images - in essence, to render images into actionable data.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-battelle/in-the-past-google-has-used-teams-of-humans-to-read-its-street/) [John Battelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-battelle/) > [In minor crises, the preacher can extract himself emotionally and allow others to express grief and fear and doubt while he remains strong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-forbes/in-minor-crises-the-preacher-can-extract-himself-emotionally-and/) [James A. Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-forbes/) ## More by Joseph O'Neill > [I felt shame - I see this clearly, now - at the instinctive recognition in myself of an awful enfeebling fatalism, a sense that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/i-felt-shame-i-see-this-clearly-now-at-the-instinctive-recognition-in/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“...even my work, the largest of the pots and pans I'd placed under my life's leaking ceiling, had become to small to contain my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/even-my-work-the-largest-of-the-pots-and-pans-i-d-placed-under-my/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [I think you sense the metaphorical resonance of what you're writing without analysing it too carefully. That leads you down dead ends. You stop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/i-think-you-sense-the-metaphorical-resonance-of-what-you-re-writing/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [It takes a long, long time to write what I do write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/it-takes-a-long-long-time-to-write-what-i-do-write/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [I have been to Turkey almost every summer holiday of my life and pretty much only on summer holidays, which makes me a very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/i-have-been-to-turkey-almost-every-summer-holiday-of-my-life-and/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“I see, I tell him, looking from him to Rachel and again to him. Then I turn to look for what it is we're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/i-see-i-tell-him-looking-from-him-to-rachel-and-again-to-him-then-i/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“Like an old door, ever man past a certain age comes with historical warps and creaks of one kind or another, and a woman…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/like-an-old-door-ever-man-past-a-certain-age-comes-with-historical/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“She merely wiped the floor with paper towels and said nothing, brushing her free hand against my shoulder blade—my shoulder blade!—as she carried the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/she-merely-wiped-the-floor-with-paper-towels-and-said-nothing/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“I am vertiginously reminded that the human race refreshes itself in absolute ignorance and that without an enormous, never-ending labor of pedagogy, everything would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/i-am-vertiginously-reminded-that-the-human-race-refreshes-itself-in/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [You want a novel to tap as directly as possible into your most unspeakable preoccupations. And in America, in particular, cricket is pretty unspeakable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/you-want-a-novel-to-tap-as-directly-as-possible-into-your-most/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“A self-evident and prefabricated symbolism attaches itself to this slow climb to the zenith, and we are not so foolishly ironic, or confident, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/a-self-evident-and-prefabricated-symbolism-attaches-itself-to-this/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“...bright-shirted racers of the Tour de France zoomed by like fantastically bicycling macaws.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/bright-shirted-racers-of-the-tour-de-france-zoomed-by-like/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [Novel-writing is a bit like deception. You lie as little as you possibly can. That's the way I do it, anyway.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/novel-writing-is-a-bit-like-deception-you-lie-as-little-as-you/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“For those under the age of 45 it seemed that world events had finally contrived a meaningful test of their capacity for conscientious political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/for-those-under-the-age-of-45-it-seemed-that-world-events-had-finally/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) > [“Perhaps the relevant truth- and it's one whose existence was apparent to my wife, and I'm sure to much of the world, long before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-o-neill/perhaps-the-relevant-truth-and-it-s-one-whose-existence-was-apparent/) [Joseph O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) [Explore all 61 Joseph O'Neill quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-o-neill/) ## More Authenticity quotes > [“the property that grounded the self in Romanticism was sincerity, and in modernism was authenticity, then in postmod ernism it is visibility.10”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hedges/the-property-that-grounded-the-self-in-romanticism-was-sincerity-and/) [Chris Hedges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hedges/) > [Every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/every-genuine-expression-of-love-grows-out-of-a-consistent-and-total/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [Real artists offer authenticity, not just money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rhymefest/real-artists-offer-authenticity-not-just-money/) [Rhymefest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rhymefest/) > [“I figure the more people think I'm just mildly weird, the less likely they are to know how weird I really am.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melanie-hooyenga/i-figure-the-more-people-think-i-m-just-mildly-weird-the-less-likely/) Melanie Hooyenga > [I think people can read authenticity and they know when you're involved and when you're just slapping your name on something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/la-la-anthony/i-think-people-can-read-authenticity-and-they-know-when-you-re/) [La La Anthony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/la-la-anthony/) > [“I strive for authenticity even though it brings with it vulnerability and the inevitable judgment of others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-r-w-lee/i-strive-for-authenticity-even-though-it-brings-with-it-vulnerability/) [L.R.W. Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-r-w-lee/) > [Children go where they find sincerity and authenticity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-cantona/children-go-where-they-find-sincerity-and-authenticity/) [Eric Cantona](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-cantona/) > [Accepting the reality of our sinfulness means accepting our authentic self. Judas could not face his shadow; Peter could. The latter befriended the impostor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brennan-manning/accepting-the-reality-of-our-sinfulness-means-accepting-our-authentic/) [Brennan Manning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brennan-manning/) > [“Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, focus your energy on what you can create.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-bennett/instead-of-worrying-about-what-you-cannot-control-focus-your-energy/) [Roy Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-bennett/) > [Anything that I ever do is from the heart and authentic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/belinda-carlisle/anything-that-i-ever-do-is-from-the-heart-and-authentic/) [Belinda Carlisle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/belinda-carlisle/) > [What I love about Nivea is they're all about authenticity. The brand isn't pretending to be anything it isn't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tessa-virtue/what-i-love-about-nivea-is-they-re-all-about-authenticity-the-brand/) [Tessa Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tessa-virtue/) > [There is nothing which so certifies the genuineness of a man's faith as his patience and his patient endurance, his keeping on steadily in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-is-nothing-which-so-certifies-the-genuineness-of-a-man-s-faith/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When you're really famous, there's very little authenticity in people, so you prefer the company of children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-ryan/when-you-re-really-famous-there-s-very-little-authenticity-in-people/) [Katherine Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-ryan/) > [“We could not be fulfilled if we weren't inauthentic some of the time—inauthentic, that is, in relation to such things as our passing desires…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/we-could-not-be-fulfilled-if-we-weren-t-inauthentic-some-of-the-time/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [No man knows the genuineness of his convictions until he has sacrificed something for them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-hubbel-chapin/no-man-knows-the-genuineness-of-his-convictions-until-he-has/) [Edwin Hubbel Chapin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-hubbel-chapin/) [Browse all 1,437 Authenticity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authenticity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When I read James Joyce, I'm not really interested in the Dublin of 1904. 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