Reading up a little on Lucia. I've been wondering
about her dancing career and what to make of
the descriptions I've read most of which make her
sound like a unique dancer, but no one comes
right out and calls her good or bad. There's "vigne
sauvage" (wild vine) and "prétesse primitive"
(primitive something) so I imagine she was creative
and uninhibited. Hope to find out more when I
purchase the new book on Lucia (see sidebar).

I wonder which is worse: having a mentally ill child
or having a drug-abusing child, which makes him
act like he's mentally ill...

Here's a great site for learning more about Lucia
with a biographical timeline.

British Public Shuns James Joyce

The British public recently voted on the greatest works
ever written and apparently, James Joyce isn't up to
snuff.

According to the London Telegraph, "The list of favourite
titles includes works by Charles Dickens, George Orwell
and Charlotte and Emily Bronte, as well as contemporary
authors such as J. K. Rowling and Philip Pullman. Among
those omitted are literary greats including Thomas Hardy
and James Joyce, and foreign novelists such as Gustave
Flaubert and Victor Hugo, whose masterpieces were also
eligible for the list, having been translated into English."

You can read more about it here.

Davy Byrne's Irish Writing Award, was recently
announced. The competition is for is for stories
of up to 5,000 words and is being is being run
in association with the James Joyce Centre and
The Irish Times newspaper.Total prize money on
offer is €25,000, of which €20,000 will go to the
first prize winner.

"‘Davy Byrnes has always been proud of its
association with the most famous Irish novel of
the 20th century. The Davy Byrnes Irish Writing
Award is, for the centenary of Bloomsday, our way
of encouraging new Irish writing,’ said Redmond
Doran of Davy Byrnes."

Yanks need not apply.

You can find more information here.

James Joyce began attending Clongowes
at an extremely young age. It would be
unthinkable these days to send a child off
to boarding school at six years of age, or
as a young Joyce put it on his first day of
school when asked his age “half past six”.

He got advice from both parents upon leaving.
From his mother : Stay away from the rough
boys. From his father: Never peach (tattle) on
another boy. As the youngest boy at the school,
James Joyce was allowed to live in the infirmary
instead of the dormitory so that the nurse,
Nanny Galvin, could look after him.

There must have been a few months of crying
for his mother at night, but his adjustment
period was apparently over within the first six
months.