James Joyce
2nd February 1882 13th January 1941
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
How well do you know the history of Zurich and some of its famous inhabitants? The James Joyce Pub is well known especially amongst the English-speaking expat community in Zurich as a popular watering hole – but why the name and who exactly was James Joyce?
Well of course the pub is named in honour of the Irish writer James Joyce who lived and eventually died in Zurich. Joyce’s masterpiece the epic 700 page novel “Ulyssees” was published in 1922 and “Finnegann’s Wake” in 1939. He is also famous for his autobiographical novel “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” which appeared in 1916 and for his short stories “Dubliners” in 1914.
An extremely influential writer Joyce is said to have been a major influence on writers such as Samuel Beckett and Salman Rushdie and although a great traveller all over Europe, particularly to Paris and Trieste, he spent some of his most productive time as a writer whilst living in Zurich. During the war years Zurich was home to many foreign exiles and artists, and Zurich’s bohemian, multi-cultural society appealed to him greatly.
James Joyce died in Zurich on 13th January 1941 he is buried in Fluntern Cemetry in Zurich. The James Joyce pub in Zurich is located at Pelikanstrasse 8, 8001 Zurich. The James Joyce Foundation is committed to keeping alive the memory and work of James Joyce for the literary world and for Zurich. Other English/Irish pubs in Zurich include the Oliver Twist, the Nelson, Lady Hamilton’s and the Lion pub or if you’re close to the Viadukt why not pop in for a traditional ploughman’s or try a beer, cider or glass of port at Michael Jones’s British Cheese Club?
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