James Joyce was one of the most original novelists of the 20th century, whose work shows a unique synthesis of realism,the¡°stream of consciousness¡±and symbolism. His masterpiece ¡°Ulysses¡± has been called ¡°a modern prose epic¡±.
             •Ù But he is also the greatest enigma in 20th - century literature. His admirers have praised him as ¡°second only to shakespeare in his mastery of the English language¡±,
             •Ú whereas the average readers and not a few reviewers have complained that his masterpiece, especially ¡°Finnegans Wake¡±,are difficult to comprehend and even ¡°unreadable¡±.It may be still early to arrive at a final estimation of his literary achievement. We had better regard ¡°Ulysses¡± and ¡°Finnegans Wake¡±as unprecedented experiments in a new prose style and a new novel form, the verdict of whose real value will be given by future literary historians,or by time, who is the most impartial literary historian of all. Yet Joyce is one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century¡ªperhaps the greatest. There is no avoid him. Those who have found themselves unable to finish Ulysses or even to begin Finnegans Wake should try his first book, Dubliners.
             The works of James Joyce showed remarkable coherence from begainning to end. The main themes,symbols,even some characters,of the later books are introduced in Dubliners. Martin Cunningham in ¡°Grace¡±for example, reappears in Ulysses. ¡°Grace¡± itself can be taken as a kind of Finnegans Wake in miniature: a resurrection comedy, a tale of corpse that will not stay dead. Like the Wake, ¡°Grace¡±opens with the Fall of Man¡ªMr.Kernan tumbling down a flight of stairs into a gentlemen¡¯s lavatory¡and ends with a new beginning. Mr.power,one of the friends who plot to take Mr.kernan to a religious retreat,says as much when he delivers the bruised a...