Ascaso Francisco J, Bosch Jordi
Department of Ophthalmology, University Clinic Hospital, San Juan Bosco Avenue 15, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.
J Med Biogr. 2010 Feb;18(1):57-60. doi: 10.1258/jmb.2009.009064.
James Joyce, considered one of the pre-eminent novelists of the 20th century, attained international renown with his work Ulysses. Its lack of standard punctuation makes it difficult to read. An example would be the famous non-punctuated 'Molly Bloom soliloquy' in the last chapter of Ulysses. Why is Joyce considered so difficult to read? He wrote and proofread Ulysses and Finnegans wake, his last works, during his battle against glaucoma, when his vision was seriously blurred. The distracting and confusing diacritical marks might be explained by Joyce's reduced visual acuity. Could Ulysses and Finnegans wake have been different if Joyce's visual problems had begun in the second rather than the first half of 20th century?
詹姆斯·乔伊斯被认为是20世纪最杰出的小说家之一，他凭借作品《尤利西斯》享誉国际。该书缺乏标准标点，难以阅读。一个例子就是《尤利西斯》最后一章中著名的无标点“莫莉·布卢姆独白”。为什么乔伊斯的作品被认为如此难读呢？他在与青光眼作斗争期间创作并校对了《尤利西斯》以及他的最后一部作品《芬尼根守灵夜》，当时他的视力严重模糊。那些令人分心和困惑的变音符号或许可以用乔伊斯视力下降来解释。如果乔伊斯的视力问题始于20世纪后半叶而非前半叶，《尤利西斯》和《芬尼根守灵夜》会有所不同吗？
