This is a homage to James Joyce, whose last great masterpiece "Finnegan’s Wake" had it’s locate in Chapelizod, where the river Liffey begins its last descent to the sea. Contemporary Japanese photographer Motoko Fujita captures the spirit and body of this historic village on Dublin's fringes, and the enclosure of Phoenix Park that surrounds it. In over fifty stunning black and white images, she wa
lks the viewer through a townscape and landscape little changed in the seventy years since Joyce's death, commemorating as did he the essences of a natural world fixed in time. The result is an immersive journey of recall and renewal. Nice essay texts by Joyceans, local scholars and historians shadow and enlarge upon these original photographs. They include contributions from Senator David Norris, the actor Barry McGovern, the academic Sam Slote, and John McCullen, landscape historian and Chief Park Superintendent in Phoenix Park since 1984. Joyce's celebrated textual editor Danis Rose writes about 'The Strange Case of the Disappearing Bread: Bloom's Budget for 16 June 1904': biographer W.J. McCormack describes 'Sheridan Le Fanu and Greater Chapelizod', where the late Thomas MacGiolla and Raphy Doyle evoke their native environ. Japanese professor Shigehisa Yoshizu concludes with a commentary on the Fujita photographs. Order for the book; Contact to Motoko Fujita! coming with a special book mark and artist's sign.
