Throughout his life James Joyce attempted to escape - from war, religion, convention, narrative structure, language... "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets." - from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Published in … [Read more...] about James Joyce in summary: escape is a key theme in his work