
At Fault
Joyce and the Crisis of the Modern University
Sebastian D.G. Knowles(Author)
University Press of Florida
Published on 30. March 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
318 pages
978-0-8130-6848-0 (ISBN)
Description
At Fault is an exhilarating celebration of risk-taking in the work of James Joyce. Esteemed Joyce scholar and teacher Sebastian Knowles critiques the state of the modern American university, denouncing what he sees as an accelerating trend of corporatization that is repressing discussions of controversial ideas and texts in the classroom. Arguing that Joyce offers the antidote to risk-averse attitudes in higher education, he shows how the modernist writer models an openness to being "at fault" that should be central to the academic enterprise.Knowles describes Joyce's writing style as an "outlaw language" imbued with the possibility and acknowledgment of failure. He demonstrates that Joyce's texts and characters display a drive to explore the boundaries of experience, to move outward in a centrifugal pattern, to defy delimitation. Knowles further highlights the expansiveness of Joyce's world by engaging a diverse range of topics, including Jumbo the elephant as a symbol of imperialism, the gramophone as a representation of the machine age, solfege and live music performance in the "Sirens" episode of Ulysses, Joyce's jokes and the neurology of humor, and inventive ways of reading and teaching Finnegans Wake.Contending that error is the central theme in all of Joyce's work, Knowles argues that the freedom to challenge boundaries and make mistakes is essential to an effective learning environment. Energetic and delightfully erudite, and offering insights drawn from over thirty years of classroom experience, Knowles inspires readers with the infinite possibilities of free human thought exemplified by Joyce's writing.
Reviews / Votes
This is the damnedest book. . . . Giddy and audacious." - James Joyce Literary SupplementMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Florida
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
42 black & white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
547 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8130-6848-0 (9780813068480)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
03/2021
University Press of Florida
€29.49
Available for download
Person
Sebastian D. G. Knowles is professor of English at Ohio State University. He is the author of several books, including The Dublin Helix: The Life of Language in Joyce's "Ulysses."