James Joyce Tower

James Joyce Museum
© Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council Public Library Service

Sandycove Martello Tower
Copy of postcard

The No.11 martello tower and battery, near Sandycove, houses the James Joyce Museum. James Joyce (1882-1941) was an extremely important writer, who was born in Rathgar, Dublin and died in Zurich, Switzerland. He spent much of his life in exile abroad with his wife Nora Barnacle.

His most famous book is Ulysses, which is considered by many scholars to be the greatest novel of the twentieth century. This book changed the face of English literature forever.
 

The first scene in Ulysses is set in the tower at Sandycove. The tower can be seen in the background of this image, which is from an old postcard.

Here is a short quote from the first chapter of Ulysses, where the tower is mentioned:

"They halted while Haines surveyed the tower and said at last:- Rather bleak in wintertime I should say. Martello you call it?"