IV.A.2: Pomes Penyeach

Holograph Fragment of “A Memory of the Players at Midnight” (probably 1917–1918)

Material Description and Collation

The manuscript is a loose sheet of yellow unruled onionskin paper in Joyce’s hand in black ink and lead pencil on the recto only; the verso is blank.

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Measurements

The sheet measures 26.8 x 21.3 cm.

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Contents

The manuscript contains 4 lines in black ink from the second stanza of the poem “A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at Midnight” (ll 8–11), which Joyce first published in Pomes Penyeach (Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1927; see Slocum and Cahoon A24), p. [18]. There are also 6 lines of brief notes in lead pencil that have not been identified. The final line differs from the published version.

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Dating

Joyce probably wrote this manuscript in 1917–1918 in Zurich, before Buffalo MS IV.A.2.

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Publication

This manuscript has been reproduced in black and white photo-facsimile on JJA 1.194 and “A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at Midnight” was subsequently published in PSW, p. 61.

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Notes

There is a perforation in the upper left corner and the page has been folded in half horizontally and vertically.