James Joyce, as a young man, was an enormous fan of Henrik Ibsen – who, as everyone agrees, was doing something very radical and very new with his plays. Here’s an excerpt from Richard Ellmann’s biography in regards to Joyce and Ibsen:<\/p>\n
To read Ibsen in the original, Joyce began to study Dano-Norwegian. He quoted Ibsen’s lyric from Brand<\/i>, “Agnes, my lovely butterfly”, to his friends in that language. When they praised Ibsen’s better-known works, he dismissed those by saying, “A postcard written by Ibsen will be regarded as important, and so will A Doll’s House<\/i>.” When they evinced an interest in Ibsen’s thought, he responded by discoursing instead on the technique, especially of lesser known plays like Love’s Comedy<\/i>. Yet the theme of that play, the artist’s compulsion to renounce love and marriage for the sake of life on the mountain peaks, must have also been congenial. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When Joyce was 18 years old, in 1900, he wrote a review of Ibsen in a small literary magazine called The Fortnightly Review <\/i>– and somehow – Ibsen got a copy of it. Ibsen did not know English, so he painstakingly spelled out for himself what Joyce had written, so that he could get a feel for it.<\/p>\n
And then – and this was one of those moments which changes a person’s life forever – Ibsen wrote a note to the editor of The Fortnightly Review<\/i>. In his own language. The unexpected note was then passed on to the teenage prodigy, Jim Joyce.<\/p>\n
Ibsen’s note read:<\/p>\n
Jeg har ogso laest — eller stavet mig igennem en anmeldelse af Mr. James Joyce i ‘Fortnightly Review’ som er meget velvillig og som jeg vel skulde have lyst til at takke forfatteren for dersom jeg blot var sproget maegtig.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Joyce translated it as:<\/p>\n
I have read or rather spelt out, a review by Mr. James Joyce in the Fortnightly Review which is very benevolent and for which I should greatly like to thank the author if only I had sufficient knowledge of the language.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Richard Ellmann, in his biography of Joyce, describes the impact as: “…He had entered the world of literature under the best auspices in that world.”<\/p>\n
Joyce wrote a short note back to Ibsen, his idol:<\/p>\n
Dear Sir<\/p>\n
I wish to thank you for your kindness in writing to me. I am a young Irishman, eighteen years old, and the words of Ibsen I shall keep in my heart all my life.<\/p>\n
Faithfully yours,
\nJas. A. Joyce<\/p><\/blockquote>\nRichard Ellmann writes:<\/p>\n
Before Ibsen’s letter Joyce was an Irishman; after it he was a European.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
James Joyce, as a young man, was an enormous fan of Henrik Ibsen – who, as everyone agrees, was doing something very radical and very new with his plays. Here’s an excerpt from Richard Ellmann’s biography in regards to Joyce … Continue reading