October 10, 2007

"the troublesome word..."

Grant Richards writes to Joyce with his problems about The Dubliners manuscript. Damn.

The correspondence between Richards and Joyce is contentious. Joyce had signed a contract with Richards - but, as the letter above indicates, things went south pretty quick - and Joyce ended up refusing to make the changes suggested. You can see why Joyce would, too. He would not delete a "troublesome word" just to satisfy the prudes of Dublin. Upsetting the prudes of Dublin - shoving their faces up against the lookingglass as it were - was his whole point. (Quote about that from him here) Once Ezra Pound got on Joyce's side as a powerful ally - Richards eventually did publish The Dubliners, in 1914.

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