Okay - Joyce and dogs. He didn’t like them. He was
afraid of them. He was bitten or nipped by one on
his chin when he was young. Here’s what Stannie
had to say about it:

“My brothers fear of dogs and his preference for
cats dates from the time when he was badly bitten
by an excited Irish Terrier, for which he and I were
throwing stones into the sea on the beach near the
sea-bathing establishment which is, or was, in the
middle of the Esplanade.”
(My Brother’s Keeper, pg. 4)

This is as good a place as any to mention that I am
the proud owner of an Irish terrier. Stannie doesn’t
mention what sort of Irish terrier bit James but I’m
pretty sure it was not the same kind of terrier I own
which is a Glen of Imaal Terrier. Glens hail from County
Wicklow. Farm dogs. I’d guess it was a Kerry Blue
that bit Joyce. I can definitely see a Kerry Blue getting
over excited while chasing rocks in the sea.

So my dog, my Glen of Imaal Terrier was born on June
16, 2002. His name is Nosey Flynn. You can see a photo
at the bottom of the sidebar.

A path on Howth Head and a view of the ocean. Wish I was there.

(Found this photo on Wunderground , the weather service)

James Joyce and I have a few things in common,
including the number of residences we have lived
in. The first time I read Ellman’s biography of
Joyce and learned how many houses he had lived
in I was amazed. Here’s a run down of his first 22
years:

1882 - Born at 41 Brighton Square West
1884 - 23 Castlewood Avenue
1887 - 1 Martello Terrace, Bray
1891 - Moved back to Dublin, address unknown
1892 - 23 Carysfort Avenue
1893 - “lodgings” address unknown
1893 - 14 Fitzgibbon Street
1894 - Millbourne Lane, outside Dublin
1894 - 17 North Richmond Street
1897 - 29 Windsor Avenue
1899 - Convent Avenue
1899 - 13 Richmond Avenue
1900 - 8 Royal Terrace
1901 - 32 Glengariff Parade
1902 - 7 Peters Terrace
1904 - Joyce takes a room at 60 Shelburne
Road
1904 - Lives with James & Gretta Cousins in
Ballsbridge
1904 - Back to Shelburne Road
1904 - Sept 9, Martello Tower, Sandycove
1904 - Sept 20, Moved in with Uncle William Murray
1904 - October 9, to Paris with Nora

Whew! 19 places in 22 years (not counting wherever
he stayed on his first trip to Paris).

Just home from a busy day and have to
leave for a meeting at the radio station
in 30 minutes, so here's something to
ponder until I can elaborate:

Joyce was afraid of two things: dogs
and lightening.

Every year on March 17th many of my good friends
get together for a party to which I am not invited.
It’s an annual St. Paddy’s Day dinner and reading
and it is unfortunately, prejudicially, ridiculously, for
men only.

So after a few years of such rubbish a few women
began to get together for our own version of the
same thing. A small dinner, then we each have to read
something. I came to the event unprepared. Luckily
our hostess had a copy of Ulysses on her shelf. So I
read one of my favorite passages from Ulysses, one
that I though especially appropriate to the group
gathered there:

“Ugly and futile: lean neck and thick hair and a stain
of ink, a snail’s bed. Yet someone had loved him, borne
him up in her arms and in her heart. But for her the
race of the world would have trampled him underfoot,
a squashed boneless snail. She had loved his weak
watery blood drained from her own. Was that then
real? The only true thing in life? ....” (23)

I recently found an article in the Guardian about Elisabeth
Costello. The article covered an upcoming ceremony to honor her
and ran a short excerpt from the book "Elizabeth Costello"
by JM Coetzee, to be published by Secker & Warburg
in September .

Elisabeth Costello was born in Australia in 1928. She
has written nine novels, two books of poems and a book
on birdlife. The article mentions that "Costello made her
name with her fourth novel, The House on Eccles Street
(1969), whose main character is Marion Bloom, wife of
Leopold Bloom, principal character of another novel,
Ulysses (1922), by James Joyce".

The book sounds fascinating. It is not listed on Amazon,
Bookfinder or Powells. Not in Google. I'm awfully inter-
ested in reading it though. Anybody out there know
where I could get a copy?

I viewed the trailer for the movie Bl , . m yesterday.
(Can’t help but cringe at that title. “Bloom” would
have been flawless. The comma/period seem both
presumptuous and distracting from the matter at
hand).

A long but worthwhile download can be found here.
This short preview seemed visually beautiful, dress
and scenery looked just right, as did the cast members
shown except for Stephen Rea who is near perfect
as Bloom (only near perfect because I suppose I should
see the whole movie before proclaiming absolute
perfection).

So what’s next? The website gives no date for release
in the US, or anywhere for that matter. No mention of
anything of that nature.