Trilingual Joyce is a detailed comparative study of James Joyce’s personal involvement in both French and Italian translations of the iconic 1928 text Anna Livia Plurabelle, which later became the eighth chapter of Finnegans Wake.

Considered to be completely untranslatable at the time of its publication, the translation of Anna Livia Plurabelle represented a fascinating challenge to Joyce, who collaborated in experimental renderings of the text, first into French and later into Italian. Patrick O’Neill’s Trilingual Joyce is the first comparative study of all three of the Anna Livia Plurabelle variations, and fills a long-standing gap in Joyce studies. O’Neill, an Irish-born professor who has written widely on texts in translation, also discusses in detail the avant-guard novelist and playwright Samuel Beckett’s contribution as a young man to the French rendering of Anna Livia Plurabelle.

Patrick O’Neill is a professor emeritus in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Queen’s University.

Patrick O'Neill's profile page

"Trilingual Joyce is a book that steers straight ahead from the beginning with an added attention to details. Because of his linguistic and translational mastery, O’Neill carefully and steadily guides the way for readers who are interested in Joycean translation studies. The book is a must."

<em>James Joyce Quarterly</em>

"With his ability to discuss Finnegans Wake acutely, clearly, and intelligently, […] O’Neill offers true comparative studies of the original, […] its various translations, and also of those translations in relation to each other."

<em>University of Toronto Quarterly: Letters in Canada 2018</em>