Michael L. Groden *75

Michael died March 25, 2021, of cancer in Toronto, Canada.

He was born May 30, 1947, in Buffalo, N.Y. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Dartmouth and a Ph.D. in English from Princeton in 1975. His graduate adviser was A. Walton Litz ’51, under whom he focused on the writings of James Joyce. Studying Joyce’s manuscripts, Michael made several significant discoveries that led to his dissertation and his book, Ulysses in Progress. The book reoriented the general approach to Joyce’s most famous work in the direction of its textual development. 

Garland Publishing issued all of Joyce’s surviving manuscript materials as The James Joyce Archive, and Michael became general editor.

He spent his entire career on the faculty of the University of Western Ontario.

In 2002 at the National Library of Ireland, Michael expertly explained the importance of the large collection of Ulysses manuscripts that the library had acquired from the family of Paul Léon, Joyce’s close friend and adviser.

Michael was awarded an honorary doctorate by the National University of Ireland in 2004, the centenary of the year in which Ulysses is set. 

Michael is survived by his wife, Molly Peacock; and his siblings, Joel and Marcia. 

Graduate alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA.