V.A.3
Complete Later Draft of the “Proteus” (3) Episode (1917)1
Material Description and Collation
The manuscript is a children’s arithmetic copybook in Joyce’s hand in black ink, with pencil additions and/or revisions on all pages except pp. [1v] and [9r]. It consists of 14 leaves (28 pages) of blue lined graph paper with double red vertical rules printed in both margins of each page, of which 19 pages (pp. [1r]–[10r]) are inscribed and the remaining 9 are blank.
As manufactured, the copybook was held together with 2 metal staples through the center vertical fold; they were removed for conservation purposes and the manuscript was disbound. It has a heavier stock faded, worn and stained red paper cover that had become detached from the notebook by 1962. The front cover recto has a printed label pasted on it with a decorative border that reads: “Modello C | Quaderno [emblem] Officiale | ARITMETICA | per tutte le Classi delle Scuole primarie e maggiori | [double rule] | [two dotted lines of blanks for pupil’s name, etc.] | Eredi fu D. Pellanda – Locarno”. It is similar in kind to NLI MS 36,639/03, the so-called “Subject Notebook.” The cover and each sheet were cleaned, de-acidified and individually encapsulated in April 1988.
Title
Joyce wrote the episode number “III” in the center of the front cover label in red crayon.2 He also headed p. [1r] with “III” in black ink.
Measurements
Each leaf measures 22.3 x 17.5 cm.
Pagination
Joyce foliated pp. [1r]–[9v] “1)”–”18)” in pencil in the left margins, usually in the bottom corner; the remaining pages are not numbered, though there is additional text on p. [10r].
Contents
The manuscript is the earliest extant complete draft of the “Proteus” episode of Ulysses . Joyce wrote this manuscript after having prepared a partial proto-draft of this episode composed of 17 discrete textual fragments of text that Joyce later integrated into this draft (NLI MS 36,639/07).
The text on each page of this manuscript is as follows:
| MS V.A.3 Pageh | Ulysses Text 1922 (1992) / 1986 |
|---|---|
| [1r]: “1” | 37.01–38.02 / 3.001–026 |
| [1v]: “2” | 38.03–38.19 / 3.027–044 |
| [2r]: “3” | 38.19–39.09 / 3.044–072 |
| [2v]: “4” | 39.10–40.06 / 3.073–107 |
| [3r]: “5” | 40.06–40.28 / 3.107–130 |
| [3v]: “6” | 40.28–41.12 / 3.130–153 |
| [4r]: “7” | 41.12–41.37 / 3.154–180 |
| [4v]: “8” | 41.37–42.32 / 3.180–213 |
| [5r]: “9” | 42.32–43.33 / 3.213–249 |
| [5v]: “10” | 43.33–44.19 / 3.249–274 |
| [6r]: “11” | 44.19–45.09 / 3.274–300 |
| [6v]: “12” | 45.09–46.01 / 3.300–331 |
| [7r]: “13” | 46.02–46.25 / 3.332–356 |
| [7v]: “14” | 46.25–47.19 / 3.356–389 |
| [8r]: “15” | 47.20–48.12 / 3.390–417 |
| [8v]: “16” | 48.12–49.10 / 3.417–454 |
| [9r]: “17” | 49.10–50.02 / 3.454–484 |
| [9v]: “18” | 50.05–50.23 / 3.487–505 |
| [10r]: unnumbered | 48.04–48.07 / 3.409–412 |
The text on this manuscript corresponds to the text on the earlier NLI manuscript and the later Rosenbach draft as follows:
| MS V.A.3 Page |
Corresponding Text on the Earlier NLI MS 36,639/07/A: Text Block | Corresponding Text on the Later Rosenbach “Proteus” Manuscript |
|---|---|---|
| [1r]: “1” | NA | p. “1” |
| [1v]: “2” | p. [3v]: 9 | pp. “1”–”2″ |
| [2r]: “3” | p. [2r]: 5 and p. [2v]: 7 | pp. “2”–”3″ |
| [2v]: “4” | p. [2v]: 7 (cont.) | pp. “3”–”4″ |
| [3r]: “5” | p. [2r]: 4 | pp. “4”–”5″ |
| [3v]: “6” | NA | pp. “5”–”6″ |
| [4r]: “7” | NA | pp. “6”–”7″ |
| [4v]: “8” | p. [5r]: 17 | pp. “7”–”8″ |
| [5r]: “9” | p. [3r]: 8 | pp. “8”–”9″ |
| [5v]: “10” | pp. [3r]–[3v]: 8 (cont.) and p. [1r]: 1 | pp. “9”–”10″ |
| [6r]: “11” | p. [1r]: 1 (cont.) and p. [1r]: 2 | pp. “10”–”11″ |
| [6v]: “12” | p. [4r]: 11 and p. [4v]: 15 | pp. “11”–”12″ |
| [7r]: “13” | pp. [1r] and [1v]: 3 | pp. “12”–”13″ |
| [7v]: “14” | p. [2r]: 3 and p. [2r]: 6 | pp. “13”–”15″ |
| [8r]: “15” | p. [4r]: 13, p. [4v]: 14 and p. [4v]: 16 | pp. “15”–”16″ |
| [8v]: “16” | pp. [4v]–[5r]: 16 (cont.) | pp. “16”–”18″ |
| [9r]: “17” | p. [3v]: 10 and p. [4r]: 12 | pp. “18”–”19″ |
| [9v]: “18” | p. [4r]: 10 (cont.) | pp. “19”–”20″ |
| [10r]: unnumbered | NA | p. “16” |
Dating
Joyce wrote this manuscript between October and December 1917 during his stay in Locarno, Switzerland.
Other Markings
During conservation, therefore after the manuscript’s publication in the JJA , the recto of each leaf was marked “V. A. 3.” in the bottom right corner in pencil, except for the 11th leaf, which is only marked “recto” in the bottom right corner of the recto on p. [11r] in pencil and p. [11v] is marked “verso” in the bottom left corner of the verso, also in pencil. The back cover verso is also marked “V. A. 3.” in the bottom right corner in pencil. Joyce crossed though additions in the margins of p. [4r] in red crayon and of p. [7r] in blue crayon.
Publication
This manuscript has been reproduced in black and white photo-facsimile on JJA 12.238–258. Robert Edward Hurley transcribed and analyzed this manuscript in “The ‘Proteus’ Episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses ” (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1963).
- La Hune, item 253; Slocum and Cahoon, item E.5.b.ii.
- The Roman numeral in crayon is not visible in the JJA reproduction (see JJA 12.238).