Minds at War: James Joyce's Ulysses

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How great artists and thinkers responded to the First World War in their work To mark the centenary of the Easter Rising, this series of Minds at War explores how Irish artists were influenced by the First World War. 1. The writer Fintan O'Toole reflects on James Joyce's novel "Ulysses" James Joyce spent the First World War away from the fields of combat and living as an exile first in Trieste and then in neutral Switzerland. It seemed that he had cut himself off from the war as much as he possibly could. Yet, as Fintan O'Toole argues, his novel "Ulysses" was a landmark that would arise from the abyss of war . It was Joyce who had the command of words to open up expression again and, by staying out of the conflict itself, he allowed himself to create the great counterbalance to the cratered fields and shattered villages. Producer: Emma Kingsley.