A portrait of the artist as a… British man? Diplomatic struggle simmers over French plaque suggesting Irish writer James Joyce was from the UK
- Ironically, the Irish Cultural Center in Paris is just 300 meters from the address
He is probably Ireland's most famous cultural export, but a plaque outside a house where James Joyce lived in Paris has been stirring up stings for years by describing him as a British writer.
Now the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned that the Irish embassy in Paris has contacted authorities there with a view to having the text on the plaque changed.
Although Joyce lived at many addresses in Dublin, Paris, Trieste, Zurich and beyond, the apartment at 71 Rue du Cardinal Lemoine, in the city's Latin Quarter, is considered particularly important because it was here that he painted much of his masterpiece wrote. , Ulysses.
The plaque reads: 'James Joyce, British writer of Irish descent, welcomed by Valery Larbaud (famous French writer), completed his novel 'Ulysses' here, an important work of twentieth century literature.'
Ironically, the Irish Cultural Center in Paris is just 300 meters from the address.
He is probably Ireland's most famous cultural export, but a plaque outside a house where James Joyce lived in Paris has been stirring up stings for years by describing him as a British writer.
Now the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned that the Irish embassy in Paris has contacted authorities there with a view to having the text on the plaque changed
The new cultural officer at the Irish Embassy in Paris, Hugh Farrell, vowed to take action over the plaque this weekend.
He told the MoS: “We are of course aware of the plaque and the inaccurate description of Joyce's nationality.
'The embassy has informally raised the issue of correction of the plaque with the competent authorities, the Mairie (town hall) of the 5th arrondissement, and intends to take further steps in this regard.'
The MoS understands that the description of Joyce as a British writer was made at the request of his grandson and literary executor, Stephen Joyce, who died in 2020.
A spokeswoman for the James Joyce Foundation in Zurich, Switzerland, also said this week that the inscription on the plaque at the apartment is “simply wrong.”
The spokeswoman told the MoS: 'He would never have described himself as a British writer.'
The apartment is the only one of Joyce's 18 addresses in Paris with a plaque in his honor.
French writer and poet Valery Larbaud, who was independently wealthy, lent the Paris apartment to Joyce, his wife Nora, and their two teenage children, Giorgio and Lucia, from June to September 1921, as Joyce neared the end of writing Ulysses.
In a letter to a friend that year, Joyce wrote: “Valery Larbaud, the French novelist and translator of Samuel Butler, who is enthusiastic about Ulysses, has given us a charming furnished apartment to use during the summer.”
Joyce found the apartment spacious and well appointed, and he was also impressed that there was a 'maid'.
The plaque in Rue du Cardinal Lemoine states that Joyce completed Ulysses in the apartment, but in fact he continued writing the book after leaving the premises on October 4, when the family returned to a hotel on nearby Rue de l'Emoine. University.