Reading the 20th Century discussion

I will admit that I have never read James Joyce. However, should there be any fans, there is a documentary on about him next Monday 9pm BBC4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09mb966

Anjelica Huston on James Joyce: A Shout in the Street

I'm reading
Dubliners
Grace.
(the opening paragraph)

"Two gentlemen who were in the lavatory at the time tried to lift him up: but he was quite helpless. He lay curled up at the foot of the stairs down which he had fallen. They succeeded in turning him over. His hat had rolled a few yards away and his clothes were smeared with the filth and ooze of the floor on which he had lain, face downwards."

This book is hilarious.
The writing voice is so straight faced and proper. Very dry.