1914–1941

Throughout his life James Joyce circulated newspaper clippings, book notices, and journal articles to friends and potential critics. They were a subtle solicitation for a review, a translation, or an essay about him and his work. Joyce's transition from struggling author to monumental literary figure happened, in part, because of his keen talent for tapping into an expansive print culture. It also helped that he was surrounded by a coterie of eager friends and acquaintances willing to promote him. Strains of this careful supervision of his public persona became noticeable during the Trieste decade when he was still struggling to get published. In one of his more amusing bids for recognition, he ordered Stanislaus to insert a paragraph in Il Piccolo della Sera announcing the opening of the Volta cinema that he arranged back in Dublin: “Go at once to Prezioso, show them [clippings from Dublin newspapers] and get a par: I nostri Triestini in Irlanda or like that. A little allusion to me and a little to the enterprise of the proprietors Edison and Americano (without giving their names) in opening here” (LII, 277). Complete with a byline, a title, a story, and a modest “little allusion,” this blurb contains everything you could ask for in a newspaper article. For whatever reason, it never appeared.

Working as an occasional journalist himself, Joyce knew how to maneuver a “par” when necessary.