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Jump to navigationJump to searchDotter of Her Father's Eyes by Mary M Talbot and Bryan Talbot (view source)
Revision as of 13:21, 26 January 2012
, 13:21, 26 January 2012no edit summary
If there's one person able to produce a worthwhile potted history of James Joyce's daughter, it should be Mary M Talbot. She's an eminent academic, and her father was a major Joycean scholar. Both females had parents with the same names too - James and Nora, both took to the stage when younger after going to dance school, but it's the contrasts between them this volume subtly picks out rather than any similarities, in a dual biography painted by one person we know by now as more than able to produce a delightful graphic novel - [[:Category:Bryan Talbot|Bryan Talbot]].
Mary taker takes herself from her '50s childhood through to university and the start of a family. The life she offers is one of being more than daunted by her father, and one that grew to fear the weight of the back of his hand. There's definitely no sliding down the banisters for her; whereas Joyce encouraged that in his Lucia. ''Children should be educated by love, not punishment'', he is quoted as having said. But by the end one daughter reaches the threshold of a happy adult career, the other touches international fame, yet is stymied and ends tragically.
Bryan Talbot of course is on hand to design his wife's plotting superbly. The 1950s and 1960s are sepia, with just a touch of other colours where most relevant on each page, which is a brilliant look. There's a lovely touch too in Mary's hairstyles changing through the ages, until both Talbots emerge regrettably as token ban-the-bomb hippies - thankfully they've got both got a more distinguished look in the current day.
