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VII.A.2.a.i.

*VII.A.2.a.i [VII.A.1.]: Criticism: Later Holograph Faircopy Draft of the First Part of the "Daniele Defoe" Lecture (1912)1

Material Description and Collation

The manuscript consists of 17 sheets of unruled paper, in Joyce’s hand in black ink on all the rectos; the versos are blank.

Title

Joyce headed p. [1] "Daniele Defoea) | (I)", with the notation "a)" added on 10 December 1928 (see Other Markings).

Pagination

Joyce numbered the sheets "1)"–"17)" in the lower left margin in lead pencil.

Measurements

The manuscript measures approximately 21.0 x 17.0 cm.

Contents

The manuscript is the first part of the lecture in Italian on Daniel Defoe that, together with Joyce’s lecture on Blake, was part of the series announced as "Verismo ed idealismo nella letteratura inglese (Daniele De Foe–William Blake)" (that is, "Realism and Idealism in English Literature") and presented at the Università Popolare, Trieste. The first lecture on Defoe took place on 9 February 1912 (see John McCourt, The Years of Bloom [Dublin: Lilliput Press, 2000], pp. 178–179). This may be the faircopy from which Joyce presented the lecture.

Other Markings

The manuscript is signed "James Joyce" in ink at the bottom of p. [17], presumably when Joyce copied it here. He also wrote the following note vertically in the left margin on p. [1] (probably after Stanislaus Joyce returned the manuscript from Trieste and before Joyce gave it to Sylvia Beach): "a) Lecture delivered before the Università del | Popolo, Trieste, in ^<1912 (?)> 1913^. | J.J. Paris | 10.IV.28". Presumably, unsure when he had delivered the lecture, Joyce wrote "1912 (?)", crossed it out and then wrote "1913". (He similarly signed Buffalo MS II.A, on the rear cover verso).

Dating

Joyce wrote this manuscript in February 1912.

Publication

This manuscript has been reproduced in black and white photo-facsimile on JJA 2.174–190 and was edited and translated by Joseph Prescott in Daniel Defoe (Buffalo Studies, vol. 1, no. 1 [State University of New York at Buffalo: Buffalo, December 1964]), pp. 5–14, and the translation was also published in OCPW, pp. [163]–168.The Defoe lecture was not included in The Critical Writings of James Joyce "because of a prior arrangement by the James Joyce Estate" (p. 214).

Notes

This manuscript is probably the copy of the text from which Joyce read the lecture at the Università Popolare, Trieste (see JJA 3.xxix).

This draft is continued in MS VII.A.1.b. The manuscript was held together by a brass-fastener in the upper left corner; it was detached in 2009 for conservation purposes, though it is still extant and is stored with the manuscript. The sheets were folded once vertically. There are some water stains on pp. [12r], [13r] and [17v]. There is an ink stain on p. [8v].

  1. See [Sylvia Beach], Catalogue of a collection containing manuscripts & rare editions of James Joyce, a few manuscripts of Walt Whitman and two drawings by William Blake, belonging to Miss Sylvia Beach and offered for sale at her shop, Shakespeare and Company, 12, rue de l’Odéan, 12 Paris-VIe (Paris: Shakespeare & Company [1935]), item 14, p. 7; Slocum and Cahoon, E.11.b.x.