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Celebrating Michael Groden: A Public Tribute

Tuesday, February 15th, 2022
michael groden
Photograph of Michael Groden by Godfrey Jordan. Used with permission.

THE MICHAEL GRODEN PAPERS – trailer, 48 sec.


Friday, March 25, 2022
3:00 – 4:00 pm EDT
Zoom (hosted by UB)

Co-sponsored by the Dublin James Joyce Summer School; Edward Everett Root Press; The Groden, Helper-Morris, Reisman, and Schwartz-James Families; International James Joyce Foundation; James Joyce Literary Supplement; James Joyce Quarterly; James Joyce Society; Johns Hopkins University Press; Unterberg Poetry Center, 92nd Street Y; Western Libraries; Western University; and the Zurich James Joyce Foundation


Program

Welcome and opening remarks, James Maynard, Curator of the Poetry Collection

Video excerpt: The Michael Groden Papers: ReJoyce in Buffalo by Godfrey Jordan, Filmmaker

Remembrances of and tributes to Michael Groden and his legacy by colleagues and former students:

William (Bill) Brockman
Librarian Emeritus, Penn State University Libraries

Ronan Crowley
Vice President and President-Elect, International James Joyce Foundation

Manina Jones
Professor, Department of English and Writing Studies, Western University

Terence Killeen
James Joyce Centre, Dublin

Vicki Mahaffey
Clayton and Thelma Kirkpatrick Professor, Department of English, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Sam Slote
Associate Professor, Co-director of M.Phil. in Irish Writing, School of English, Trinity College Dublin

Miriam Silver Verga
Former M.A. English Language and Literature/Letters Student, University of Western Ontario

Closing remarks, Molly Peacock, Poet, Memoirist, and Biographer


About Michael Groden

Michael Groden was born in Buffalo in 1947 and graduated from Dartmouth College (B.A., 1969) and Princeton University (M.A., 1972, Ph.D., 1975). He moved to Canada in 1975 to teach at the University of Western Ontario (now known as Western University) and was Distinguished University Professor in the Department of English and Writing Studies there until he retired in July 2014.

Groden’s publications include “Ulysses” in Progress (Princeton University Press, 1977; Princeton Legacy Library paperback, 2014) and “Ulysses” in Focus: Genetic, Textual, and Personal Views (Florida James Joyce Series, University Press of Florida, 2010; paperback, 2012) and he served as general editor of The James Joyce Archive (63 volumes, Garland Publishing, 1977-79), compiler of James Joyce’s Manuscripts: An Index (Garland Publishing, 1980), and co-editor of The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994; 2nd edition, 2005; Chinese translation, 2011), Genetic Criticism: Texts and Avant-textes (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), Praharfeast: James Joyce in Prague (Litteraria Pragensia, 2012), and Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: The Johns Hopkins Guide (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012). His memoir about spending a life with Joyce’s UlyssesThe Necessary Fiction: Life with James Joyce’s “Ulysses”—was published in Fall 2019 by Edward Everett Root in the UK.

On June 16, 2004, the 100th anniversary of Bloomsday, he was awarded an honorary D.Litt. degree by University College Dublin, Joyce’s university; in 2006 he was named a Distinguished University Professor at Western University; in 2007 he was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada; and in May 2011 he was awarded the Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research, Western University’s most prestigious award for research.

He lived for many years in Toronto with his wife, poet, memoirist, and biographer Molly Peacock, author most recently of the biographies Flower Diary: Mary Hiester Reid Paints, Travels, Marries & Opens a Door (ECW Press, 2021) and The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life’s Work at 72 (McClelland & Stewart, 2010); the alphabet-based short-fiction collection Alphabetique: 26 Characteristic Fictions (McClelland & Stewart, 2010); and The Analyst: Poems (W.W. Norton / Biblioasis, 2017). Michael Groden passed away on March 25, 2021 after a decades-long bout with cancer.


Publication Discounts

The University Press of Florida is pleased to offer Michael Groden’s “Ulysses” in Focus for $20 + free US shipping with code MLA22.

Johns Hopkins University Press is pleased to offer a 35% discount on Michael Groden’s Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory and The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism with code HJHL (www.press.jhu.edu).

Edward Everett Root Publishers Co. Ltd. is pleased to offer a 35% discount on hardback (ISBN​ 9781911454760 HB $89.95 – with discount $58.45) and paperback (ISBN 9781913087524  PB  $44.95 – with discount $29.20) copies of Michael Groden’s The Necessary Fiction: Life with James Joyce’s “Ulysses” 2nd ed. with code TNF35. Offer ends June 30, 2022. North American customers need to order from National Book Network: Customercare@nbnbooks.com or 1-800-462-6420. Customers from Europe/UK can order directly from the publisher’s website.


Michael Groden Fund for the UB James Joyce Collection

Established by Dr. Michael Groden, the Groden Fund supports the UB James Joyce Collection, including the purchase and preservation of materials related to other Irish and Irish-American poets and artists who credit Joyce as a major source of inspiration. Please consider donating to this fund in recognition of the life and work of Michael Groden.