Meet the Four Storytellers

Do you know how the evangelists - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - narrate the life of Jesus in the New Testament? Well, Joyce has crafted his own quartet of storytellers in Finnegans Wake: Matt Gregory, Marcus Lyons, Luke Tarpey, and Johnny MacDougall, collectively known as Mamalujo. These four elderly men recount the history of Ireland and can be likened to the Four Masters who penned the Annals, the early history of Ireland.

When I embarked on illustrating The Wake for the first series, I delved into extensive research of medieval manuscripts to find depictions of the "big four." Amongst all my findings, the most marvelous, in my opinion, was to be discovered in the Book of Kells. Joyce owned a copy of Edward Sullivan's 1914 publication on the Book of Kells, which featured several color reproductions accompanied by insightful commentary. Joyce once expressed his fondness for the Book, carrying it with him during his travels to Rome, Zurich, and Trieste, immersing himself in its craftsmanship for hours. To him, it epitomized the quintessential Irish essence, and he drew parallels between the intricate illuminations and the essence of a chapter in Ulysses. In fact, he found much of his own work comparable to the artistry of these illuminations.