James Joyce and Heraldry demonstrates that heraldry is an essential key to the symbols of Joyce's major works. It is a clear, witty introduction to heraldry and the use of heraldic imagery by Western writers, including Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Jonson, and Sterne.

Michael O'Shea shifts the focus from the aural imagery of Joyce to reveal the visual impact deriving from Joyce's use of the symbols and language of heraldry. He cites biographical and textual evidence of Joyce's deep interest in coats of arms, crests, and other heraldic emblems; and demonstrates that Joyce used these visual symbols as well as "the curious jargons of heraldry" in his writings. O'Shea succeeds in compiling an indispensable reference work that sheds new light on Joyce's major texts, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake. His commentary is thoroughly illustrated and includes a glossary of heraldic terms keyed to Joyce's usage of them.