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Who really said it

History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake

Written by James Joyce 1882–1941 · Irish novelist
Verified Free to reuse

James Joyce wrote this in episode 2, “Nestor,” of Ulysses (1922). Stephen Dedalus says it to Mr. Deasy; “Stephen said” is the narrator’s attribution, not part of Stephen’s spoken sentence.

Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake” James Joyce, Ulysses (1922), episode 2, “Nestor”; Stephen Dedalus speaking to Mr. Deasy. “Stephen said” is the narrative attribution.

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Provenance

The source

Novel
Ulysses, 1922
Location
Episode 2: Nestor
Speaker
Stephen Dedalus, addressing Mr. Deasy

History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.

Actual Ulysses text

How we verified this

Public domain

The checked wording is from Joyce’s 1922 English novel and is in the United States public domain. Modern editorial additions are not included in that claim.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Context

Why it mattered

Stephen’s remark interrupts Mr. Deasy’s confident account of history, guilt and national identity. Deasy replies that history moves toward a divine goal, so the exchange places the nightmare image against an explicitly opposed interpretation within the novel.

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Time Doubt Wisdom

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Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Actual Ulysses textwww.gutenberg.org

Exact sentence appears in Stephen’s conversation with Mr. Deasy; surrounding dialogue identifies their opposed accounts of history.
Wikiquote: Ulyssesen.wikiquote.org

Locates the line in chapter/episode 2, Nestor.
Gutenberg edition metadatawww.gutenberg.org

Catalog identifies Joyce as author and Ulysses as title; its automatic summary is not used as factual authority.
James Joyce biographyen.wikipedia.org

Biographical reference identifies his life dates, Dublin setting and major works.

The author

About James Joyce

James Joyce

1882–1941 · Irish novelist

James Joyce transformed the representation of speech and thought in modern fiction. His works include Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, repeatedly returning to Dublin even while he lived abroad.

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Cite this

The primary source (Chicago)

Joyce, James. Ulysses. 1922, episode 2, “Nestor.”

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/history-stephen-said-is-a-nightmare-from-which-i-am-trying/

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