Stanislaus Joyce
JOYCE 'S
DUBLIN '
Perhaps it is because my brother's own method in elaborating
his vast themes was so meticulous and intimately revelatory, and also
because he modeled many of his characters on real people, disappointing
the ingrained preference of the common reader for lay figures-perhaps
it is for these reasons that many cultivators of the Joyce legend go
hunting around so eagerly for scraps of information about him, gleaned
for the most part from people who knew little about the man and still
less about his work. When I open a book about him I fully expect to
find reproductions, with explanatory notes, of some of his unpaid bills, or
1.
At the beginning of September, 19'50, Mr. David Marcus, one of the editors
of
Irish Writing,
sent me an advance copy of
James Joyce's Dublin
by Patricia
Hutchins for review. I sent in the review which appears above, and on October
10 Mr. Marcus wrote:
We have read your article with the greatest interest and appreciation and
have considered it from every angle. As it stands we cannot, greatly to our
regret, publish it. There are, as you probably expected, many things in it which
would be a risk for us. But we know that it is our duty to take risks and so we
would; but one sentence alone makes it impossible for us to go ahead. That sen–
tence comes at the very end of the fifth page, and reads thus: "Through the
spy-hole of the confessional, it (the Catholic Church) comes-like the totalitarian
systems, which, in fact, are modeled on it, and like them in the name of an in–
human ideology-between parents and children, between lover and sweetheart,
between man and wife, between friend and friend, with this only difference that
totalitarian systems, being new, deem it wiser to exert their influence on the
young."
We do hope, you will understand that we have no objection, nor can
have any, to your right to express your opinion; that is not in question. Our
fear in publishing such an expression would be that it would alienate such a
large section of our readers as to cause a complete fall in circulation and so,
perhaps, terminate our existence. I think you will understand that such a thing
could easily happen here.... On the other hand we are fully aware of the
importance of your article and are most anxious, just as you will be, to give as
wide an airing to the correct version of certain things and opinions connected
with your brother as has been given to the incorrect versions. It is because of
this anxiety, and our feeling that, as far as possible, we should print what our
contributors write, that we would be willing to publish the best of your article
as you wrote it, and we would humbly ask if you would be willing to forego
the sentence referred to.
I refused to omit the reference to the Catholic Church, and on October 24
Mr. Marcus sent the article back with a letter expressing his regret at being
unable to publish it.
