13 January: James Joyce

James Joyce died on this date in 1941. 10 facts about him:

1. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on February 2, 1882, in Rathgar, south Dublin.
2. He was first published at the age of nine. He wrote a poem called “Et Tu Healy?” which so impressed his father that he had it published and handed out copies to family and friends, and even, allegedly, sent a copy to the Pope.
3. Joyce was attacked by a dog as a child which left him with a lifelong phobia of Dogs.
4. He also had a phobia of thunderstorms after being told by his governess that thunder and Lightning was the manifestation of God’s anger. Even when he lost his faith in later life, the fear remained. In his book Finnegan’s Wake, he invented a 100 letter word for the thunderclap which might have occurred at the fall of Adam and Eve. The word is: Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk and incorporates the words for thunder in French, Italian, Greek and Japanese.
5. In the same book, he invented another word, a much shorter one this time. ‘Three quarks for Muster Mark!’ was a cheer by three seabirds to King Mark. Physicist Murray Gell-Mann liked the word, and suggested it for the subatomic particle in the 1960s.
6. Joyce had really bad eyesight and had about 12 operations on his Eyes during his life. He wore an eye patch for a time, and could only write on large sheets of paper with red crayon. For this reason, he named his daughter Lucia, after St. Lucia, patron saint of the blind.
7. Writing wasn’t the only activity affected by his eyesight. It limited his ability to defeat others in bar brawls. Joyce would go out drinking and often get into fights, but couldn’t see well enough to land a punch on the opponent; but he had a workaround for this, too. He’d turn to his drinking buddy and say, 'Deal with him!' The drinking buddy in question was Ernest Hemingway.
8. Joyce’s life partner was Nora Barnacle, a chambermaid from County Galway. They lived together for 27 year and had two children before finally getting married in 1931. Their first date was on 16 June 1904 which became the date on which his famous novel Ulysses was set, which in turn is celebrated as Bloomsday in literary Dublin. What you might not know is that Bloomsday could have been two days earlier, on June 14. That was the date Joyce originally made with Nora, but she stood him up. He was keen enough to write her a letter to fix another date and the rest is history.
9. He was an investor in the first dedicated cinema in Ireland.
10. He died after surgery for a duodenal ulcer. His last words were said to have been, "Does nobody understand?"

Character birthday

Earthmover: A woman with the power to create landslides and earthquakes. She appears to be a weak and vulnerable girl until she uses her power. She is part of a group of heroes with elemental powers. Her real name is Maia.