Is James Joyce "well-known?"

College Essays
1

<p>My Harvard essay is sort of “inspired” by part of Ulysses by James Joyce, and I do explicitly mention him. Do you think most – or even at least one – Harvard essay-reader will know who James Joyce is? The reader won’t need to have read Ulysses to understand the essay, but it I think anybody who generally knows that James Joyce is connected with stream-of-consciousness writing will find the reference amusing.</p>

<p>(No, I cannot PM you my essay because it’s not anywhere near finished.)</p>

2

<p>…It’s Harvard. Ulysses is one of the best-known novels ever. It is taught by almost every English department. I’d bet that this would include Harvard. I think you’ll be fine.</p>

3

<p>Haha, thanks, that’s what I was expecting. Just making sure. :D</p>

<p>It’s my favourite book ever. Well, one of them at least.</p>

4

<p>I’ve yet to read Ulysses, but I’m a fan of Dubliners. Joyce is brilliant! Good luck!</p>

5

<p>YES!
lol if i know who james joyce is then well… he’s really well known cause i’m usually clueless when it comes to authors.</p>

6

<p>Heh yeah no one at my school knows who James Joyce is except the English teachers and the APUSH teacher. </p>

<p>I swear A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was written about me. I should be receiving royalties.</p>

7

<p>Ulysses and Joyce has been the subject of many, many college essays and supplements. </p>

<p>It’s like the Pet Death essay. </p>

<p>Don’t worry about it.</p>

8

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<p>…oh. Darn.</p>

<p>I suppose if so many people have written admissions essays on Ulysses then my Brilliant Original Idea is probably pretty common…</p>

9

<p>oooh dont worry so much… my opinion is biased… hahaha because

  1. one of my essays is on Ulysses too LOL (i tried not too but i couldnt resist)
  2. a lot of CCers, who are more likely to have read Joyce’s Ulysses, have posted a lot about this. From reading old threads I know of a girl who got into Harvard by writing her essay in Joyce’s stream of conscious literary style and that Brown gets a lot of short answers about analyzing Ulysses.</p>

<p>But this probably just means that Joyce is a fantastic writer.</p>

10

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<p>Yep, that would be it. I suppose it’s still worth a shot though – it’s still more “me” than anything else I’ve written.</p>