Dark Angels Note 176

Dearest Friends

Welcome back to our Friday Note – our weekly collection of writerly thoughts. 

Observing

Today in 1922, James Joyce’s Ulysses was published.

Before then, episodes from the book had been published in American magazine The Little Review – until four issues were seized and the editor convicted of obscenity charges.

But it was Parisien bookshop owner Sylvia Beach that published the first edition of the book in its entirety with an initial print run of 1000 copies. She noted at the time, “Ulysses is going to make my place famous.”

The publishing rights to the book were then snapped up in 1933 by Random House, which took Ulysses back to America and saw Joyce pocket a $45,000 advance (which he failed to mention to Sylvia Beach). 

Listening

Shakespeare and Company was “like the Central Perk of the Left Bank” in 1920s Paris. A who’s who of aspiring writers sprawled on comfy chairs and taking coffee in the kitchenette.

Listen to the story of how Sylvia Beach came to meet James Joyce and subsequently publish Ulysses here, on the Lost Ladies of Lit podcast. 

Writing

The book is famous for the stream of consciousness technique that Joyce employs.

Tune in to your own inner monologue. Pay attention as you go about your day. Then try documenting a spate in a short uncensored stream.

Photo by Celine Ylmz on Unsplash