Re: humani nil a me alienum puto

I'm pretty sure the lewd letters are in a more recent edition of
Ellman's _Letters of James Joyce_, published there against the will,
naturally, of Joyce's living family -- who ultimately couldn't do
anything to stop publication.

After reading one or two of them I found myself thinking, "Do I really
need to hear all this?" I felt something like hearing someone rise from
the dinner table and announce that they have to take a three pound
shit. It's just information I'd just as soon Not be given. The letters
ultimately didn't really tell me anything about Joyce or Nora or, more
importantly, Joyce's fiction.

Yes, he enjoyed a good old Catholic guilt attitude toward sex. And the
surprise is? I've no doubt Nora enjoyed reading them, but they just
didn't do it for me. If she liked them, of course, they served their
purpose and that's all that matters.

Naturally, the entire Joyce/Nora movie revolved around those letters :).

Jim

Scottie Bowman wrote:

> '.... And yes, by the way, some of the letters between
> James and Nora are perfectly lewd and lovely ....'
> (As in: 'Why darling, how perfectly lewdly! ....')
>
> Now that, thanks to Diego, all our most squeamish fears
> about Joyce's letters have been fulfilled, I'd love to know
> how many truly, honestly, genuinely, crossmyheart&hopetodie
> - not just thinkI'dbettershowhowunshockableandliberatedIam -
> share John's enthusiasm.
>
> Scottie B.

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Received on Sun Aug 24 15:07:36 2003