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Jan. 31st, 2015
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Jan. 31st, 2015 10:54 pmBits and pieces from The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle over James Joyce's Ulysses
1. Turns out that James Joyce's iritis was caused by Syphilis. He'd contracted in his early 20s prior to meeting Nora Barnacle (pronounced Bearnacle). He most likely gave it to her as well, but not a severe case. His was severe - and caused the oral problems, boils, abcesses in his mouth, and the iritis and glaucoma. The treatment in the 1920s-1940 was a combination of poisonous drugs, including a version of arsenic that had the side-effect of blindness. Joyce refused to take it - even though it was the most effective. Unfortunately, he died one year before pencillin was invented or provided as a cure. (Pencillin was on the market in 1942. Joyce died in 1941 or thereabouts.)
He was horrified and ashamed of this ailment. And felt it was a result of his inquities. Both Ulysses and in particular Finnegan's Wake were heavily effected by it.
There's a chapter in Ulysses where a man is attempting to urinate with syphillis or the clap.
I did not know Joyce's ailments were caused by syphillis - but it makes a lot of sense. Sort of one of those a-hah moments.
2. Samuel and Mark Roth were pirating copies of Ulysses and Lady Chatterly's Lover in the US. They were imprisoned not for piracy but for obscenity. Both books were banned in the US at the time. This was the late 1920s or thereabouts. I felt sorry for Sam Roth. He adored books. He loved Ulysses and Joyce's writing. He was a FAN. And wrote fan letters to the writer that were subsequently ignored. In college he would climb into his girlfriend's bedroom and read to her from his favorite books. But alas - he didn't have enough money, so she married someone else. He desperately wanted to be a part of the publishing world, part of the books he loved. He submitted poetry to Hogarth's Press but was rejected (Virigina Woolfe) and to the Little Review. He attempted to create a huge literary magazine with essays, short stories, novels, and poetry - but was shot down, and when he tried to excerpt Ulysses (also with lots of cuts, mainly because he didn't want to go to prison), he got shut down. So he did it anyway - and Sylvia Beach sent out a petition to every writer in Europe to sign - and made it public, publicly ostrazing Roth and shutting down his magazine permanently.
After he got out of prison, Roth decided to steal Ulysses and republish it - in part out of a desire for revenge against Beach and against those who rejected him. He was clever about it. And wouldn't have gotten caught if it weren't for the obscenity ban.
1. Turns out that James Joyce's iritis was caused by Syphilis. He'd contracted in his early 20s prior to meeting Nora Barnacle (pronounced Bearnacle). He most likely gave it to her as well, but not a severe case. His was severe - and caused the oral problems, boils, abcesses in his mouth, and the iritis and glaucoma. The treatment in the 1920s-1940 was a combination of poisonous drugs, including a version of arsenic that had the side-effect of blindness. Joyce refused to take it - even though it was the most effective. Unfortunately, he died one year before pencillin was invented or provided as a cure. (Pencillin was on the market in 1942. Joyce died in 1941 or thereabouts.)
He was horrified and ashamed of this ailment. And felt it was a result of his inquities. Both Ulysses and in particular Finnegan's Wake were heavily effected by it.
There's a chapter in Ulysses where a man is attempting to urinate with syphillis or the clap.
I did not know Joyce's ailments were caused by syphillis - but it makes a lot of sense. Sort of one of those a-hah moments.
2. Samuel and Mark Roth were pirating copies of Ulysses and Lady Chatterly's Lover in the US. They were imprisoned not for piracy but for obscenity. Both books were banned in the US at the time. This was the late 1920s or thereabouts. I felt sorry for Sam Roth. He adored books. He loved Ulysses and Joyce's writing. He was a FAN. And wrote fan letters to the writer that were subsequently ignored. In college he would climb into his girlfriend's bedroom and read to her from his favorite books. But alas - he didn't have enough money, so she married someone else. He desperately wanted to be a part of the publishing world, part of the books he loved. He submitted poetry to Hogarth's Press but was rejected (Virigina Woolfe) and to the Little Review. He attempted to create a huge literary magazine with essays, short stories, novels, and poetry - but was shot down, and when he tried to excerpt Ulysses (also with lots of cuts, mainly because he didn't want to go to prison), he got shut down. So he did it anyway - and Sylvia Beach sent out a petition to every writer in Europe to sign - and made it public, publicly ostrazing Roth and shutting down his magazine permanently.
After he got out of prison, Roth decided to steal Ulysses and republish it - in part out of a desire for revenge against Beach and against those who rejected him. He was clever about it. And wouldn't have gotten caught if it weren't for the obscenity ban.