Tomorrow: A Day Away

I'm doing some research on the famous Woolsey
decision. Haven't finished so nothing big to report
today, but here's one thing I didn't know. The
decision was 5 to 4. Close call. I'm trying to dig up
the dissenting opinion. Hope to have more on this
tomorrow.

Also, I purchased a tape on eBay of a reading by
James Joyce. I've never heard his voice before.
I hope that comes tomorrow too.

Joyce as Troubadour

I’ve been struggling to come up with ways to make
enough money via some side project so that I can
quit my job and just work on my writing. I find
myself thinking a lot about James Joyce’s struggles
to survive. We’re both good at coming up with ideas,
but not so good at the follow through or making our
ideas pay.

One of his early ideas was to be a traveling minstrel,
sort of a 20th century O’Carolan. Here’s how he
explained it in a letter to Gogarty written June 3rd,
1904:

“My idea for July and August is this - to get
Dolmetsch to make me a lute and to coast the
south of England from Falmouth to Margate,
singing old English songs”

And he told Padraic Colum that the tour would be
“personally conducted, like the Emperor Nero’s
tour in Greece.”

The plan didn’t work out. Dolmetsch, who had
made a similar instrument for Yeats, was hesitant
to make another one. He told Joyce that making a
lute would be highly expensive and “I could hardly
say when it would be finished. The lute is moreover
extremely difficult to play and very troublesome to
keep in order.” He recommended Joyce use a spinet
or harpsichord. Joyce gave up on the idea instead.

Copyright fans will like this article wherein University
of Tulsa English professor Robert Spoo asserts that
Ulysses lacks copyright in the US and falls under
Public Domain.

“The argument by the Joyce estate and Random
House for 1934 as the commencement of a
Ulysses copyright in the United States has no
basis in law, Spoo says. He explains that U.S.
copyright law in force in 1922 required foreign-
produced works in English to satisfy stringent
provisions ?which unabashedly protected our
domestic printers and book manufacturers.
Under that law, Joyce would have had to deposit
a copy of the book at the copyright office within
two months of publication in France, and then,
within another four months, have the book printed
on American soil by a U.S. printer. Spoo says
Joyce did not meet these requirements, thus
relinquishing his novel to the public domain.”

Spoo’s article was published in the Yale Law
Journal, Vol. 108, No. 3. You can receive a copy of
the article by emailing robert.spoo@yale.edu.

Kickin' It with Joyce One Afternoon

If , by some universal tip o' the hat, I was
able to spend an afternoon with James Joyce
the first thing I would do is remind myself to
avoid the phrase "kickin' it".

Then I'd like to spend some time with him
sitting around the living room, listening to
cds.

I'd play some oldies (Gloomy Winter or
Brackagh Hill) and say, "Now this seems
like your kind of song. I'm surprised you
didn't use this in the Sirens episode".

And I'd play some new songs that I think he'd
like. And maybe I could get him to sing Ye
Banks and Braes for me. And then he'd ask
me to sing something. Gosh, what would
I choose.

Wouldn't that be a lovely afternoon...

When I go to Galway, one of my first stops will be
Kenny's Books. I also want to see the Nora Barnacle
House Museum though it may not be open when I go,
seeing that they are only open from Mid-May to
Mid-September.

The Museum website doesn't give much information
about the place, though they mention that Joyce met
Nora's mother there for the first time in 1909.

I like the St Brigid's Cross on the outside of the
stairway. I have one of the same over my doorway.

The Pig Iron Theater Company put on a play in
April of this year entitled James Joyce is Dead
and So is Paris: The Lucia Joyce Cabaret.

"JJIDASIP is a rock cabaret/theater spectacle
focusing on Lucia's memories of her father and
her early days on the streets of Paris with her
lover, Samuel Beckett."

It is, apparently, a musical based on Lucia's days
in an institution, where she has started up an
asylum cabaret. It sounds exceptionally
creative as described in the reviews.

Anyone seen it?

So here's what I think about the activities of the
Joyce Estate. First of all, Let me say that I can
understand Stephen James Joyce wanting to
protect what for many, are the sacred words of
James Joyce. Those words are precious to many,
life changing even.

But here's the thing: As much as I think Joyce
would shake his head or roll his eyes or groan in
disgust at some of the things people want to do
with his words, I believe that he would never, ever
want to censor anyone. And that's what the Joyce
estate is doing with its actions against theatre
companies and songwriters and others, who are
just trying to celebrate James Joyce in their own
way. How could he advocate censorship or heavy
rights restrictions after having suffered so aggre-
giously from censors for so many years. And more
from the nonsense over Dubliners than the famed
case of Ulysses. No. He wouldn't do it.
And Stephen James Joyce shouldn't do it either.

Some background: The Joyce Estate has
prohibited or blocked various forms of artistic
Joyce worship. They are tight with the purse
string of literary rights. Here's a few examples:

Here’s an article in the Observer about the
estate's attempt to thwart a musical version
of Molly's soliloquy at the Edinburgh festival
in 2000. The Joyce Estate said, `We have read
your submission carefully and have come to the
conclusion that you propose to treat the Molly
Bloom Monologue as if it were a circus act or a
jazz element in a jam session. This was clearly
not the intention of the author. Therefore we
must refuse you permission.'

Here’s a website with several interview
excerpts with Kate Bush. The much admired
musician set a portion of Molly’s soliloquy to
music but the Joyce Estate would not give her
permission to use the words so she could not
record it.

The Joyce Estate came out strongly against the
movie Nora and Stephen James Joyce accused
film-maker Pat Murphy of permanently damaging
the reputation of his grandparents.
More here.

The most negative article I found about the Joyce
Estate is here. It tells of several restrictive
actions of the Joyce estate, including those
towards a man who wanted to translate Finnegans
Wake into Turkish:

"We read with dismay" Sweeney (Lawyer of SJJ)
wrote Erkmen, "that you are `planning to translate
Finnegan's Wake'.(sic) I know that you will be aware
that it impossible (sic) to translate Finnegan's Wake.
(sic) With the best will, the most heroic effort and
the highest ability you might produce a personal inter-
pretation in Turkish of Mr. Joyce's final masterpiece.
To suggest/promise more...would be misleading,
some might say dishonest. “

For a couple of nights now I've been going back
and forth on the issue of the Joyce Literary estate
being stingy with rights. Damn the Libra part of
me, which keeps seeing both sides of the issue.
But I think I've finally come down from my
teeter-totter on the right side and I'll tell you
all about it later today, though I'm swamped and
I really want to spend some time on this.

I've got the radio show this morning, and it's
payday so I'm headed for the grocery store
to but all the things we've done without the past
few days. Then a Board report to prepare and
a meeting to go to........ Mamma told me there'd
be days like these.

Mondo Sismondo makes some great points on Gary
Hart's Joyce comment in her post on Aug 20th and
gives Hart a warning he should take VERY SERIOUSLY!

Leo Tolstoy was born on this date in 1828. Tolstoy
was one of Joyce's favorite writers and of Tolstoy,
he said:


"...the best authors of any period have always
been the prophets: the Tolstoys, the Dostoevskis,
the Ibsens--those who brought something new into
literature."

"Tolstoy is a magnificent writer. He is never dull,
never stupid, never tired, never pedantic, never
theatrical! He is head and shoulders over the others."

"Tolstoy is a great writer. Think of the story of the
rich man's devotion to his poor manservant --- Master
and Man. After Flaubert the best work in novel form
has been done by Tolstoy, Jacobsen and D'Annunzio."

Makes you want to reread Anna Karenina doesn’t it!
These quotes are thanks to the James Joyce Portal
where you can find more on Joyce's literary tastes.

I've been looking into James Joyce's descendants
today. Joyce's son Giorgio had one son with his
first wife Helen, Stephen James Joyce. You probably
knew that. Here's what I haven't been able to
figure out. Did Stephen James Joyce have any off-
spring? From all my digging I haven't found a thing.

SJJ did marry (Solange Raytchine) but perhaps they
didn't have any children which would mean Joyce will
soon have no direct descendants. (SJJ is about
80 years old). Joyce does have descendants through
his siblings, one of whom is Ken Monaghan, the son
of Joyce's sister May and Executive Director of the
James Joyce Center in Dublin.
(Wouldn't that be a nice job!)

In my genealogical searching I've found quite a bit
on Stephen James Joyce's reign as the executor of
Joyce's literary estate. I'll save that story for
tomorrow. I'm off to add more song links to my
music page.

The James Joyce Bridge was opened this year on
June 16th. Official press release is here.

Excerpt:

Dublin City Council determined that the new bridge
be named James Joyce Bridge. James Joyce is
considered to be one of the most influential writers
of the 20th century. One of his best known short
stories is "The Dead" from "Dubliners". The setting
for the gathering described in the story is 15 Ushers
Island, which is directly opposite the bridge. Opening
of the bridge on Bloomsday was considered particu-
larly appropriate for this fine bridge.

I'm having a lovely day. 84 degrees with a gentle
wind. And I found Rejoyce by Anthony Burgess
at the thrift store for a measley ten cents. That's
right. You heard me. Ten centaroos. Nothing feels
better than finding a book you've been wanting for
awhile at a thrift store. A present from the universe.

Joyce the Sponger

James Joyce has been called literature's greatest
sponger. He was known for his ability to borrow money
with no intention of ever paying it back. He borrowed
from everyone: friends, enemies, students, supporters,
family (on the rare occasion that they had any money).

While I share Joyce's usual financial status (broke), I
cringe from borrowing money and usually resort to
selling books or other desperate measures. (this is
probably as good a place as any to mention that a
five dollar donation would allow me to get my last
$18.00 out of my Paypal account)

There were times when Joyce would have to use each
days earnings from teaching to pay for that night's
lodging. Nora and Georgio would sit in the park all day
until Joyce had the money in hand from that day's
student to pay the landlord for another night. Then
they'd all go to the room until the next morning when
the whole rigamarole would start up again.

When he had to go to the hospital, in severe pain with
the perforated duodenal ulcer which was to kill him, he hesitated over the necessary operation and
asked his son, "How will we pay for it?". Joyce was
rarely without money troubles .

Page 53 of Ellman’s biography of James Joyce
contains the following sentence: “Joyce sang
all in a sweet but rather weak tenor voice”. It
is not a quote from someone else, but Ellman’s
own words and I take issue with them.

Joyce was a fine singer. He did not have the
range of John McCormack, but that’s no justifica-
tion for calling his voice weak. Joyce won a bronze
medal at the 1904 Feis Ceol, a competition which
brought together tenors (and other singers) from
all over Ireland. The judge had planned on giving
Joyce the gold medal, but could not because Joyce
refused to participate in the sight singing portion
of the competition.

He was offered a scholarship with the greatly
respected voice teacher Benedetto Palmieri, who
offered to train Joyce for three years in exchange
for ten percent of his concert earnings. In a country
that produces talented tenors by the score, an offer
like that, in addition to Joyce’s Feis medal, indicate
that his voice stood out among others. There were -
and are - many weak tenors. James Joyce wasn’t
one of them.

Well I missed my post yesterday, damn
it. 17 year old son troubles. Which got
me thinking about Papa Joyce. I think
Nora handled most of the parenting duties
but Joyce was extremely attached to his
children. He was proud of Georgio’s
tenor voice. He thought Lucia had
inherited his genius, but that it had
gone awry for some reason with Lucia.
Here’s a letter he sent to her while she was
in the Nyon sanatorium. Later that year, after
setting fire to her room, she was transferred
to an asylum in Zurich and then to Karl Jung’s
clinic.

Dear Lucia: Mamma has dispatched to you
today some articles of clothing. As soon as
the list of what you want comes we will send
off the things immediately...

Mamma is chattering on the telephone with
the lady above who dances the one-step so
well and fished my note of a thousand lire
out of the lift. The subject of the conversation
between them is the lady on the fifth floor who
breeds dogs. These 'friends of man' hinder the
lady on the fourth floor from meditating like the
Buddha. Now they have finished with dogs and
are speaking of me.

I see great progress in your last letter but at the
same time there is a sad note which we do not
like. Why do you always sit at the window? No
doubt it makes a pretty picture but a girl walking
in the fields also makes a pretty picture. Write to
us oftener. And let's forget money troubles and
black thoughts. Ti abbraccio...

— James Joyce (1879-1940),
Letter to Lucia Joyce, 15 June 1934
(42, rue Galilée, Paris)

More on Lucia including pics here.

Here’s an interesting item from the May 2003
edition of the James Joyce Newestlatter:


A signed first edition of Ulysses sold for a record
$460,500 at Christie’s in New York in October
2002.

You too can receive the James Joyce Newestlatter
by becoming a member of the International James
Joyce Foundation. More info here.

More on James Joyce's literary habits. I found this
informative page on the James Joyce Portal. To see
how this thread began, go to the post for Aug. 17 .

Joyce liked these writers greatly:
Shakespeare, Aristotle, Dante, Homer, Ibsen,
Flaubert, Ben Jonson, Defoe, Chaucer, Yeats,
Wordsworth, Tolstoy, Jacobsen, D Annunzio,
Chekhov, Plutarch, Stendhal, Donne, Hans
Hans Christian Anderson, Hemingway.

He had mixed feelings about these authors:
Whitman, Maupassant, Kipling, Dostoevski, Eliot,
Shelley, Gide, London, Harte.

He disliked these writers:
Wagner, Synge, Hardy, Turgeniev, Balzac,
Thackeray, Thoreau, Browning, Tennyson, Goethe.

A Joycean day . Today I purchased the last
set of bricks for my labyrinth. Drove home with
300 pounds of bricks in the back of my Jeep.
Saturday I purchased 420 pounds of bricks and
100 pounds of sand. Friday I purchased 384
pounds of bricks and my first 100 pounds of sand.
What was the total number of bricks Kelly bought
for her labyrinth? 184 . Who knew bricks were so
heavy?

I’ve been attracted to labyrinths for a long time,
before I knew of their relation to Joyce. They
always seemed so much kinder than mazes. So
we’re building one in my backyard. I’ll post a photo
when I’m finished.

The other Joycean part of my day was when I did
the dishes. I put my daughter’s discman into my
itchy wool purse and put it over my shoulder. While
washing, I listened to the first in a series of lectures
by Joseph Campbell called “Wings of Art”. All about
James Joyce.... The first 45 minutes were spectacular.