Education and Academic Career
Norris attended school at St. Andrew's College and The High School. He then entered Trinity College, the University of Dublin, to read for the degree of B.A. in English Literature and Language, where he was elected a Foundation Scholar in that subject before achieving a 1st Class Moderatorship and editing Icarus, the University literary magazine. He remained at Trinity as a lecturer and college tutor between 1968 and 1996. His love of Joyce is borne out in Dublin's annual Bloomsday celebrations. He defended Ulysses when Roddy Doyle said it was "overlong, overrated and unmoving", calling Doyle a "foolish" and "moderate talent". He is an Irish language speaker. He is also a Hebrew language speaker.
After contracting the waterborne variation of Hepatitis while visiting Central Europe in 1994, Norris received disability payments from a private income continuance insurer worth thousands of euro over 16 years. Trinity College paid for this, and not the State. Norris left his role as a lecturer after Trinity College authorities said the situation arising from his illness was "untenable", although he remained an elected senator. Norris was hospitalised and was seriously ill for a time as a result of the condition. He has rarely drunk alcohol since the diagnosis.
Read more about this topic: David Norris (politician)
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