William York Tindall facts for kids

William York Tindall (1903–1981) was an American expert on the writer James Joyce. He had a long and important teaching career at Columbia University. Many of his well-known books about literature, like A Reader's Guide to James Joyce and A Reader's Guide to Finnegans Wake, are still used today.

He wrote 13 books about writers from the UK and Ireland. These included James Joyce, Dylan Thomas, W. B. Yeats, and Samuel Beckett. Tindall even suggested Samuel Beckett for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Beckett won the prize in 1969.

Early Life and a Special Book

William Tindall was born in Vermont in 1903. He studied at Columbia University for both his first degree and his advanced degree.

In 1925, between his studies, he traveled to Europe. While in Paris, he bought a copy of Joyce's famous book, Ulysses. At that time, this book was not allowed in America.

He bought the book by chance on June 16, which is known as Bloomsday. This is the special day when all the events in the book Ulysses take place. To bring the book back to the US, he had it rebound to look like a regular French novel. This helped him get it past customs officials.

Teaching About Ulysses

Buying Ulysses started Professor Tindall's journey to study and promote Joyce's works in America. He even began teaching Ulysses before the book was officially allowed in the United States.

Because of this, students in his first Ulysses class had to read a special copy. This copy was kept safe in the university library by the dean.

Finally, in 1933, a court in New York City decided that Ulysses was not offensive. This meant it could be published and sold in America. In January 1934, Ulysses became legally available in the US. No one had to rely on the library's special copy anymore.

A Long Teaching Career

Professor Tindall taught at Columbia University from 1931 to 1971. For 40 years, he taught some of the most popular literature classes there. His classes helped students understand difficult books.

Reading Difficult Books Together

He came up with a special way to read Joyce's most challenging novel, Finnegans Wake. He worked with a small group of graduate students. Each person added their own knowledge to help understand the book.

He called this method "Reading by Committee." He said that the group brought "a variety of languages and learning." He believed they could understand the book better together than he could alone.

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