James Joyce’s life in Trieste
At the end of October he was joined by his brother Stanislaus, who also began teaching at the Berlitz. In June 1906 Joyce moved to Rome, working as a clerk in the Nast-Kolb & Schumacher Bank until March of 1907 when he again returned to Trieste.
In April he lectured for the Università Popolare and in May he published Chamber Music. Also in May Joyce fell seriously ill with what has generally been termed ‘rheumatic fever’ and was incapacitated for several months.
On July 26, his daughter Lucia was born. During this period Joyce began rewriting Stephen Hero as the Portrait and attempted to publish Dubliners. He also began teaching Italo Svevo and in the Autumn of 1907 he left the Berlitz School and began teaching privately. In August 1908 Nora miscarried with a third child. In the fall of that year Joyce began taking singing lessons at the Conservatorio di Musica di Trieste with the Triestine maestro Romeo Bartoli and in July of 1909 he sang in the quintet from Wagner’s Der Meistersinger.
In the summer of 1909, Joyce went to Dublin to present Giorgio to his family. In October in returned to Dublin to supervise the opening of the Volta Cinema, returning to Trieste in January 1910. The next two years were fairly uneventful, with Joyce teaching privately and in an evening school and still trying to publish Dubliners. In February, 1912 he again lectured for the Università Popolare on Blake and Defoe. In April he went to Padua to take exams in order to teach in Italian schools; he would pass the exams brilliantly but his degree would not be recognised in Italy. In the Summer of 1912 he returned to Ireland, following Nora and Lucia to Galway.
In September, upon their return to Trieste, the Joyce family moved into via Bramante, 4. From November 1912 to February 1913, Joyce gave a series of lectures on Hamlet. In October, 1913 Joyce began teaching at the Scuola Superiore di Commercio Revoltella.
In December 1913 he was contacted by the American poet Ezra Pound who wished to publish some of his verse. In very short order, Joyce’s literary fortunes changed for the better: he finished the Portrait, which began appearing serially in The Egoist in 1914; Dubliners was finally published in May of that year; he wrote Exiles and began planning and writing Ulysses. However, with the outbreak of WWI, his situation once again became precarious: Stanislaus was interned in January, 1915, the Revoltella closed down in June, 1915 for lack of staff and students and the Joyces themselves had to leave Trieste for Zurich a few weeks later.
Joyce family returned to Trieste in October, 1919 and would remain until June 1920. During this period Joyce resumed teaching at the Revoltella and wrote the ‘Nausicaa’ and ‘Oxen of the Sun’ episodes of Ulysses and began ‘Circe’. But Joyce no longer felt at home in his adopted city and after meeting with Ezra Pound at Sirmione he decided to move to Paris. He would never return to Trieste, though he would continue to maintain contact with his Triestine friends and associates until the end of his life.
Detailed history
1904
October
20 – JJ arrives in Trieste; detained by police for several hours; told there is no place for him at the Berlitz School; tells Stanislaus that he has finished Chapter XII of Stephen Hero
21-29 – JJ looks for work, finds several pupils; in later letter tells Stanislaus that he had 4 addresses during this period
29 – Joyce and Nora leave for Pola on Graf Wurmbrand, are met by Artifoni
30 – Takes flat in via Giulia, 2, opposite Berlitz School which is situated next to the Porta Aurea, Clivo San Stefano 1, II P.
31 – ad in Giornaletto di Pola announcing JJ’s arrival; unveiling of statue of Sissi; JJ tells Stanislaus he has written part of a new short story ‘Christmas Eve’
November
5 – Innsbruck riots, violence against Italian students with 4 deaths
6 – demonstration in Pola for Innsbruck, anti-Austrian slogans, procession passes under Berlitz School
10 – JJ writes his father John Stanislaus, tells him Stanislaus could teach for the Berlitz
19 – JJ writes Stanislaus, says he receives £2 weekly for 16 hours teaching; tells him he has written 5 pages on ‘Esthetic Philosophy’; criticises George Moore’s Untilled Field which he is reading in the Tauchnitz edition
December
3 – Nora pregnant
12 – tells Stanislaus that he has finished Chapter XIII
15 – Tells Stanislaus that he is planning to translate ‘Mildred Lawson’, a story in George Moore’s Celibates, with Francini Bruni for a ‘big publisher in Florence’
17 – ‘After the Race’ published in The Irish Homestead
28 – tells Stanislaus he is working in Chapter XV and has begun translating ‘Mildred Lawson’; writes of Bioscope films he saw with Nora; plans to get glasses
1905
January
1 – D’Annunzio’s Città Morta at the Politeama Ciscutti in Pola
13 – JJ has moved to via Medolino, 7, I p.; is working on Chapter XVI;
17 – Italian sociologist Enrico Ferri at the Ciscutti
19 – sends Stanislaus story ‘Hallow Eve’ (later entitled ‘Clay’)
February
2 – on his birthday visits the island of Brioni with Nora and colleagues from Berlitz
7 – working on Chapter XVII; now wears pince-nez glasses
20 – working on Chapter XVIII;
27 – Giuseppe Bertelli, Berlitz assistant director, arrives in Pola, possibly to arrange for JJ’s transfer to Trieste
28 – tells Stanislaus to send letters to Trieste, via S. Nicolò 32; says he will leave Sunday (March 4)
March
1st week – JJ takes flat in Piazza Ponterosso, 3, III p.
15 – has finished Chapter XVIII
April
4 – describes Greek mass he had seen previous Sunday; working on Chapter XX and XXI; tells Stanislaus to address next letter to the Berlitz as he will be leaving flat on Sunday (April 8) (letter seems to be written over several days); complains of his health
May
1 – JJ takes flat in via S. Nicolò 30, II p, next door to Berlitz School
2 – asks Grant Richards to return manuscript of ‘Chamber Music’
2-3 – working on Chapter XXII; complains that he had trouble finding rooms because of Nora’s pregnant state (see letter of July 12); has entered puzzle contest; is writing summary of English literature for Berlitz textbook for Japanese; justifies his not marrying Nora and says he does not want to ‘superimpose on my child the very troublesome burden of belief which my mother and father superimposed on me’; according to Ellmann has finished ‘A painful Case’
27 – tells Stanislaus he will send 50 copies of The Holy Office which he has had reprinted in Trieste; intends to take singing lessons
June
7 – JJ tells Stanislaus he has sent copies of The Holy Office; is working on Chapter XXIV
11 – is studying Danish and taking singing lessons from Sinico (prob. Francesco)
July
12 – sends Stanislaus ‘The Boarding House’ and has written ‘Counterparts’; thinks of writing a book after ‘Dubliners’ to be called ‘Provincials’; says John Lane has refused ‘Chamber Music’ and that they had been evicted 3 times due to Nora’s condition; complains about the rudeness of the Triestines and Nora’s poor health and ‘melancholy’; suggests that he and Stanislaus take a cottage outside of Dublin or that Stanislaus come to Trieste
15 – says he will send ‘Counterparts’ to Stanislaus; has offered Chamber Music to Heineman
19 – Heineman rejects Chamber Music
27 – Giorgio born at 9pm, delivered by Dr. Gilberto Senigaglia
August
17 – JJ sends Grant Richards second copy of Chamber Music
18 – sends Stanislaus ‘A painful Case’
September
1 – sends Stanislaus ‘Ivy day in the committee room’; says child is still nameless
18 – son still unnamed; ‘paternity a legal fiction’, sends Stanislaus ‘An encounter’
21 – Grant Richards asks JJ to pay for publishing Chamber Music
23 – offers Dubliners to Heineman
c. 24 – says he will send Stanislaus ‘A Mother’
30 – tells Stanislaus there is a position vacant at the Berlitz and that he could take a room with their landlady; sends ‘A Mother’
October
3 – Arthur Symons tells JJ to send Dubliners to Constable
c. 12 – gives instructions to Stanislaus for trip to Trieste
15 – complains of ‘gastrical disarrangement’; sends Chamber Music to Constable, offers Dubliners to Grant Richards
16 – further instructions to Stanislaus; is copying out ‘Araby’ ; has sent The Holy Office to Symons; mentions Count Sordina; has finally named son ‘Georgie’, Nora nursing him; ‘thanks be to Jaysus no gospeller has put his dirty face within the bawl of an ass of him yet’
18 – Grant Richards agrees to read Dubliners
c. 18 – Has begun ‘Grace’, the ‘last’ story; has sent Chamber Music to Constable
27 – tells Stanislaus to pick up extra money from Berlitz in Berlin
c. 29 – letter from Cosgrave with some stanzas of Gogarty’s ‘Sinbad’ and the ‘Song of the Cheerful Jaysus’; mentions that Stanislaus has wired of his safe arrival in Trieste.
December
3- sends Dubliners to Grant Richards
4 – tells Aunt Josephine that there may be some ‘alteration’ in his ‘relations’ with Nora (poss. related to his purported affair with Annie Schleimer)
5 – Mahler conducts his 5th Symphony at the Verdi Theatre
1906
January
27 – JJ tells Grant Richards he has finished another story, ‘Two Gallants’
February
17 – Grant Richards accepts Dubliners
22 – sends Grant Richards ‘Two Gallants’
23 – Grant Richards sends JJ a contract for Dubliners
24 – Moves into flat with Francini Bruni in via Giovanni Boccaccio 1, II p., near the train station
28 – discusses publication of Dubliners with Grant Richards and encloses description of collection by Stanislaus; says he is earning £80 annually and teaching a baroness (Caterina Ralli)
March
6 – Grant Richards suggests he write an autobiographical novel
13 – tells Grant Richards he has written 914 pages of an autobiographical novel, or one half of the projected book, but is incapable of finishing it at present
April
22 – has finished ‘A Little Cloud’
23 – Grant Richards asks for changes in ‘Two Gallants’, ‘Counterparts’ and ‘Grace’
26 – JJ refuses to make any changes
May
5 – JJ provides detailed reply to Grant Richards, cites Guglielmo Ferrero and mentions ‘ragging cases’; ‘I have written it… in a style of scrupulous meanness and with the conviction that he is a very bold man who dares to alter in the presentment, still more to deform, whatever he has seen and heard’
20 – JJ offers to omit 5 stories, but wants to keep ‘Two Gallants’ and ‘An Encounter’
June
6 – reply from Aunt Josephine to Stanislaus’ letter in which he had described JJ’s drinking, problems with Nora and change of directorship at the Berlitz
10 – JJ to Grant Richards, refusing to change his position, says he will be going to Rome at the end of July (hired by Nast-Kolb and Schumacher Bank)
14 – letter from Gogarty, from New York; suggests JJ move to America, that they meet in Italy
July
9 – JJ sends Grant Richards manuscript of Dubliners with corrections; says he will be leaving Trieste on July 28;
28 – registers Giorgio’s birth, Berlitz co-directors Joseph Guyè and Paolo Sholz witnesses; he and Nora claim married status
c. 30 – Joyces leave Trieste for Fiume, thence by overnight boat to Ancona
31 – JJ arrives in Rome
August
6 – in letter from Rome, JJ gives Stanislaus instructions on paying bills owed to the baker, tailors, doctors, Francini Bruni and Moise Canarutto, the landlord in via S. Nicolò 30
19 – ‘I am troubled every night by horrible and terrifying dreams: death, corpses, assassinations in which I take an unpleasantly prominent part’
October
2 – Symons writes JJ telling him to publish Dubliners on Grant Richard’s conditions and that he will recommend Chamber Music to Elkin Mathews
4– JJ on Gogarty and ‘sexual excess’/venereal disease
13 – JJ asks Grant Richards to return his poems, makes final concessions on Dubliners and tells him that he is not ‘in a fit state of mind’ to finish his novel at the present time
18 – Grant Richards refuses to publish Dubliners even with changes
November
6 – JJ complains of constipation; ‘the Church is still, as it was in the time of Adrian IV, the enemy of Ireland’
13 – JJ on ‘venereal excess’: ‘I presume there are very few mortals in Europe who are not in danger of waking some morning and finding themselves syphilitic’
20 – JJ offers Dubliners to John Long; sees procession and service at St. Peter’s
December
7 – sends Dubliners to John Long
1907
January
10 – Nora pregnant.
15 – receives contract from Elkin Mathews.
29 – riot at Synge’s Playboy of the Western World in Dublin; JJ comments 2 days later.
February
6 – Letter to Stanislaus: ‘‘Ulysses never got any forrader than the title’; mentions other stories he would like to write, including The Dead”.
9 – JJ writes father asking about his financial situation; letter has apparently not survived.
14 – JJ gives notice at bank, wants to return to Trieste if Artifoni will have him.
17 – JJ attends procession in honour of Giordano Bruno.
19 – thinks of going to Marseilles.
20 – ‘my mouth is full of decayed teeth and my soul of decayed ambitions’.
21 – John Long rejects Dubliners.
March
1 – sends corrected proofs of Chamber Music to Elkin Mathews.
7 – returns to Trieste.
8 – stays in Stanislaus’s flat in v. S. Nicolò, 32, Stanislaus moves out temporarily to via Beccherie, the ‘whore’s quarter’.
15 – JJ finds room in via Nuova 45, rehired by Artifoni for 15 crowns for 6 hrs of lessons weekly.
21 – JJ engaged to give 3 lectures on ‘The Celtic Revival’ for the Università Popolare.
22 – JJ’s article ‘Il Fenianismo: L’ultimo Feniano’ appears in Il Piccolo della Sera (article suggested by JJ’s pupil, Roberto Prezioso).
28 – page proofs of Chamber Music arrive via Rome; JJ corrects them and returns them to Elkin Mathews.
April
Early – JJ decides to publish Chamber Music, persuaded by Stanislaus after long discussion in Piazza delle Poste.
4 – Mahler conducts Beethoven and his own 1st Symphony.
24 – self-pitying letter from father.
27 – gives lecture ‘Ireland Island of Saints & Sages’, for the Università Popolare in the conference hall of the Chamber of Commerce (3 lectures reduced to 1 by JJ); 139 people in attendance.
May
Early – Chamber Music published (July 24, 1908 – 127 of 502 copies sold; 1913 – still less than 200)
Offers to report Dublin Exposition for Corriere della Sera in order to visit Father
11 – conversation on realism and Ibsen (see Ellmann)
13 – JJ begins to suffer from iritis; goes to Dr. Oscar Oblath several times in following days and has them pencilled with silver nitrate
19 – JJ’s article ‘Home Rule maggiorenne’ appears in Il Piccolo della Sera; JJ very ill, according to Stanislaus walks around like someone who has been ‘crippled by one of the great diseases’
21 – Joyce bedridden with what is diagnosed by Dr. Senigaglia as ‘rheumatic fever’
June
1 – Thomas Kettle reviews Chamber Music in Freeman’s Journal
13 – JJ goes outside for first time after 3 weeks in bed; his right arm is disabled and he begins ‘electric cure’ at the Poliambulanza, most probably with Dr. Alessandro Marina
July
Early – writes to South African Colonisation Society
7 – JJ is still suffering from neuralgia and has difficulty walking
20 – JJ gives permission to Geoffrey Palmer to set a number of poems in Chamber Music
25 – Stanislaus and JJ admit Nora to the maternity ward in the Ospedale Maggiore
26 – Lucia born in the Ospedale Maggiore
Summer – JJ begins teaching Svevo, and shortly after his wife Livia
August
5 – Nora leaves Ospedale Maggiore with Lucia, receives 20 crowns in charity
18-19 – Joyces, Stanislaus included, move to via S. Caterina 1
September
8 – informs Stanislaus that he will rewrite Stephen Hero after ‘The Dead’ (intends to omit 1st chap., write 5 long chapters)
15 – JJ goes to Synagogue in the Old Ghetto
16 – JJ’s article ‘Irlanda alla sbarra’ appears in Il Piccolo della Sera; has only 2-3 lessons a week
20 – completes ‘The Dead’, reads it to Svevo and Livia, Livia very moved, goes into garden and picks rose for JJ; Artifoni leaves school to teachers Joseph Guye and Paolo Scholz
30 – Guye and Scholz take over school; JJ’s debt, accumulated during his illness, is transferred to them.
October
28 – letter from Gogarty in Vienna
November
Elkin Mathews rejects Dubliners
10 – JJ intends to expand Ulysses story into a ‘Dublin Peer Gynt’
17 – Artifoni suggests JJ go to Pola
23 – JJ reads Mrs. Warren’s Profession by George Bernard Shaw; letter from Gogarty
29 – JJ finishes revising first chapter of Stephen Hero
7 – JJ praises D’Annunzio as the ‘only writer in Europe who can write a novel’
December
5 – Gogarty writes JJ from Vienna, invites him to Athens
6 – JJ complains of heart ‘pains’
8 – JJ plans to send Giorgio to Dublin in summer; says he has recovered from the ‘rheumatism’
12 – letter from Gogarty
14 – JJ writes Gogarty
17 – Stanislaus’ birthday
20 – letter from Gogarty
22 – Stanislaus reads some of 2nd chapter
JJ sees Zaconni in Turgenev’s Il pane altrui
1908
January
19 – JJ & Stanislaus attend lecture on Anatole France.
Last letter from Gogarty.
22 – photos taken of Nora and Giorgio.
February
5 – JJ: ‘why write when no one will publish what I write’,
Alston Rivers rejects Dubliners.
Hone asks to see manuscript for Maunsel and Co.
10 – JJ sees Salvini in Hamlet,
21 – J condemns Bourget’s attempt at psychology, praises D’Annunzio’s,
23 – Stanislaus accompanies JJ towards Servola (Svevo?),
24 – JJ goes to see Senigaglia ‘on Nora’s account’,
27 – Methuen agrees to read Dubliners,
28 – JJ sees Eleonora Duse in Ibsen’s Rosmersholm.
March
1-2 – the Joyces and friends watch Carnevale procession from flat (via S. Caterina, 1).
2 – JJ: ‘Ibsen has persisted in writing what was essentially the same drama over and over again’.
3 – finishes 2nd Chapter of Portrait.
6 – rereads Synge’s Riders to the Sea, begins translating it with Vidacovich.
9 – Marinetti reads at the Filarmonica-Dramatica.
21 – JJ rereads Yeat’s Tables of the Law.
25 – Nora’s birthday.
28 – JJ buys Maclagen’s book on rheumatism.
April
7 – Stanislaus reads 3rd chapter of Portrait.
17-19 – JJ attends Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday services at S. Antonio; ms. returned from Methuen.
24 – Stanislaus & JJ go to Greek Church of S. Nicolò.
29 – JJ considers Italian teaching position, but first needs to be published in Italy.
May
18 – JJ’s eyes bloodshot.
19 – JJ shivering, headache.
20 – JJ goes to dentist.
22 – JJ bathes eyes in acqua di piombo, loses sight for a day.
23 – Oblath tells JJ his eyes are still suffering the effects of rheumatism.
27 – eyes bad, can’t teach.
29 – JJ has leeches applied to one eye.
31 – JJ feverish.
June
8 – eyes better.
14 – JJ goes to Monfalcone to see about hot sea baths.
16 – ms. of Dubliners returned from Constable.
Finds flat in 8 via Scussa, needs 600 crowns.
19 – Giorgio treated for his eyes.
20 – Nora says children inherited eye problems from JJ
21 – JJ goes to Carmen.
23 – Nora tells JJ that Giorgio’s eye problems are due to his having gone with ‘filthy women’.
28 – JJ considers becoming agent for Irish tweeds.
29 – JJ goes to Grado, and then to Venice lagoon.
July
3 – Nora still ill.
4 – John Stanislaus’ birthday, aged 59.
5 – JJ sees Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci; JJ thinks of having voice trained
6 – English Mediterranean squadron arrives in Trieste, 5 ships, JJ comes home drunk at 6am.
7-8 – JJ ill.
10 – JJ drunk again.
11 – JJ and Giorgio go aboard English ship.
12 – JJ sees football match between English and Triestines.
13 – English squadron leaves.
14 – Charles Joyce, JJ’s brother writes saying he has got girl pregnant; JJ tells Stannie that Nora is pregnant again.
18 – JJ considers applying for 3 year scholarship at Royal University, London; has had 7 teeth ‘set right’ in the last month.
19 – ms. of Dubliners returned from Arnolds; severe thunderstorm, according to Stanislaus one of the reasons JJ wants to leave Trieste.
20 – postcard from Charley announcing marriage.
21 – Nora is prescribed a medicine containing arsenic, most prob. a restorative
24 – JJ buys Tommaseo’s dictionary of Italian synonyms.
25 – JJ goes to Dr. Oblath, prescribed eyewash; he is unwell, exhausted, groping
26 – Lucia’s birthday, no cards.
27 – JJ sends ms. to Everetts; 2 letters from Charley.
28 – JJ goes to Oblath, diagnosed with iritis.
29 – Stanislaus reads to JJ.
August
1 – Stanislaus says JJ’s illness previous year cost him 250 crowns, which was the origin of the debt with the Berlitz School.
2 – Nora vomits meal from Hacker’s Coop, says it is due to arsenical medicine.
4 – Nora has miscarriage at 3 months.
5 – JJ ill; burial of foetus at Santa Anna Catholic cemetery.
6 – JJ ill, rag over eyes.
7 – ceiling falls in.
9 – pro-Slav demonstration.
10 – JJ’s eyes better but still suffers from ‘rheumatic lancinations’; Stanislaus attracted to Nora, describes his feelings in his Diary.
13 – JJ considers sending a very debilitated Nora to Parenzo, a town on the Istrian coast.
15 – Stanislaus has sexual fantasies about Nora.
16 – 3000 Milan workman arrive in Trieste.
23 – Nora wants to return from Parenzo.
25 – Stanislaus writes down long flagellation fantasy concerning Nora.
28 – JJ sees Donizetti’s L’elisir dell’amore.
September
1 – Jj receives free tickets for Montebello racecourse from Count Sordina.
3 – Nora unwell, JJ at races.
5 – JJ & Nora see Il Trovatore.
6 – Stanislaus & JJ argue about money.
8 – JJ & Giorgio see Verdi’s Il Trovatore; death of Felice Venezian, leader of the Triestine Irredentists; one week of public mourning declared.
9 – Stanislaus argues with Nora; JJ sees Puccini’s La Boheme.
10 – Stanislaus resolves to move out on Oct. 1.
11 – JJ’s eyes bad again.
12 – Stanislaus writes long critical assessment of JJ; ms. Dubliners returned from Everetts.
14 – funeral of F. Venezian.
17 – JJ sees Bellini’s I Puritani; JJ tries to persuade Stanislaus to remain.
22 – JJ and Nora go to I Puritani.
23 – JJ shows Attilio Tamaro critiques of his participation in the Feis Ceoil singing contest in Ireland; JJ excuses lessons due to eyes; JJ announces he wants to begin voice lessons.
24 – eyes worse.
25 – eyes bad; Oblath at house, applies 2 leeches to eye with loss of blood, bandages JJ’s head.
28 – eyes better.
30 – JJ sees Bellini’s Norma.
October
1 – Stanislaus pays for room in via Nuova, 27; JJ & Nora go to La Boheme.
3 – JJ goes to La Boheme.
4 – Stanislaus on lotions and medicines JJ is always buying for his rheumatism; JJ goes to Norma.
6 – JJ & Nora go to La Boheme for 4th time.
8 – JJ and Nora celebrate their ‘wedding’ anniversary by going to see La Boheme
10 – JJ sees Catalan’s La Wally with Ersilde Cervi Caroli, considers it too advanced for his tastes.
11 – JJ sees La Wally.
12 – JJ needs 13 crowns to register at the Conservatorio di musica di Trieste.
13 – JJ sees La Forza del Destino.
14 – La Boheme.
16 – first lesson at the Conservatory with the maestro Romeo Bartoli who compliments JJ on his voice; La Wally.
18 – JJ sees matinée performance of La Boheme.
19 – JJ begins looking for piano.
21 – JJ rents piano for 15 crowns.
24 – JJ asked by pupil to sing in concert in January.
November
15 – JJ sees La Favorita.
December
15 – JJ goes to theatre to see muscial comedies Al telefono and Sullivan.
17 – Stanislaus’ birthday; JJ wants to send money to father.
20 – Stanislaus & JJ see Wagner‘s Die Meistersinger.
1909
February
Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler at the Fenice.
8 – letter from Svevo with his comments on first 3 chapters of Portrait.
Spring
Completes translation of Synge’s Riders to the Sea with Vidacovich.
March
24 – JJ’s article ‘Oscar Wilde: il poeta di ‘Salomè’ appears in Il Piccolo della Sera for premiere of Strauss’ Salomè with Gemma Bellincioni.
April
Sends Dubliners to Maunsel; according to Ellmann begins to accumulate material for Ulysses.
21 – Fratelli Treves refuses JJ’s offer to translate Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
25 – moves to via Scussa, 8.
May
Reads translation of Riders to the Sea to Alfredo Sainati of the Italian Grand Guignol Theatre Company.
June
19 – permission granted for translation of Wilde’s The Soul of Man Under Socialism.
July
3 – JJ sings in the quintet from Wagner’s Die Meistersinger in the year-end concert of the Conservatorio di Musica di Trieste, concert reviewed in Il Piccolo and L’Indipendente.
26 – leaves Trieste with Giorgio for Ireland.
29 – arrives in Ireland with Giorgio.
August
6 – JJ accuses Nora of having betrayed him with Vincent Cosgrave.
7– second letter from JJ to Nora: ‘is Georgie my son?’.
8 – JJ visits Byrne at 7 Eccles St., who reassures him regarding Nora.
10 – JJ considers applying for position as Intermediate Board examiner and for professorship in Italian at the National University; asks Stanislaus to obtain recommendations in Trieste.
16 – JJ seeks rights to Synge’s Riders to the Sea; learns that there will be no professorship of Italian, only lectureship for evening school.
19 – JJ signs contract with Maunsel for Dubliners; seeks reconciliation with Nora; wants to write article on Shaw’s The Shewing-up of Bianco Posnet.
20 – Caruso sings in Dublin, JJ unable to interview him.
25 – The Abbey Theatre produces The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet; JJ sends article to Stanislaus.
26 – JJ goes to Galway, visits Nora’s relations.
28 – JJ returns to Dublin.
September
2 – JJ to Nora: ‘I am in a wretched state of confusion and weakness on account of doing what I told you’.
5 – JJ’s article ‘La Battaglia fra Bernard Shaw e la censura’ appears in Il Piccolo della Sera; ‘JJ to Nora: ‘O that I could nestle in your womb like a child born of your flesh and blood, be fed by your blood, sleep in the warm secret gloom of your body’.
7 – Thomas Kettle marries Mary Sheehy (Emma Clery in Stephen Hero); JJ to Nora: ‘A brief madness or heaven. I know I lose my reason for the time it lasts. At first how cold you were, Nora, do you remember?’.
9 – leaves Dublin with Eva, JJ’s sister and Giorgio.
13 – Returns to Trieste with Eva.
October
16 – signs contract for Volta Cinema with Vidacovich, Machnich, Caris and Rebez; sees Madame Butterfly with Nora.
18 – leaves Trieste for Dublin.
21 – arrives in Dublin.
28 – JJ: ‘I am rather bad with sciatica along the leg’.
November
1 – JJ to Nora: ‘It is very good of you to enquire about that damned dirty affair of mine’.
3 – JJ plans to send Ignazio Steiner samples of Irish tweeds.
17 – JJ mentions Amalia Popper as pupil; says he wrote 10 page letter to Sordina on coursing.
18 – JJ responds to Nora’s threat to leave him:‘I have utterly degraded myself in your sight’, etc.
27 – JJ goes to Belfast.
December
2 – first of so-called ‘dirty letters’; exchange probably begun by Nora in a letter on Dec. 1 (no longer extant) in which she wrote that she was ‘longing to be fucked’ by JJ.
3 – JJ: ‘and now night, secret sinful night has come down again on the world … Even if I learn that you too have sinned…’
7 – provocative letter from Nora.
9 – JJ to Nora: ‘the two parts of your body which do dirty things are the loveliest to me’.
ca. 13 – JJ to Nora: ‘… go to others? You can give me all and more than they can’ (beginning of letter seems to have been deliberately cut).
20 – Volta Cinema opens in Dublin.
22 – JJ sends Nora bound copy of Chamber Music as Christmas present.
23 – JJ to Nora: ‘Why is it I am destined to look so many times in my life with eyes of longing on Trieste’; JJ to Stanislaus: ‘Rheumatism seems to be better but I am awfully played out’.
24 – JJ to Nora: ‘Why is it that I cannot impress you with my magnificent poses as I do other people?’
1910
January
2 – JJ leaves for Trieste with his sister Eileen; he is suffering from severe iritis (in later letter he claims he travelled with bandages on his eyes and was laid up for 2 months upon his return to Trieste).
10 – ‘serata futurista’ at the Rossetti Theatre with Marinetti and others
end – Stanislaus moves out of flat in via Scussa.
February
Premiere of D’Annunzio’s Fedra.
12 – Zannoni attempts to repossess JJ’s piano on which he has already paid 300 crowns.
May
16 – JJ presents Vidacovich with signed copy of Chamber Music.
30 – death of John Murray, JJ’s maternal uncle.
June
Early – JJ corrects proofs for Dubliners (Maunsel & Co.).
14 – Volta sold with loss of £600; JJ believes himself cheated out of 1000 crowns.
15 – Letter from Svevo in London, commiserating with JJ for Volta setback.
July
Argues with Stanislaus.
August
JJ takes flat in via Barriera Vecchia, 32, III p.
October
JJ begins to teach night classes for the Società degli impiegati civili, via Bacchi 4 (position probably obtained thanks to Artifoni).
December
22 – JJ’s article ‘La cometa dell’Home Rule’ appears in Il Piccolo della Sera.
1911
January
10 – JJ completes 1910 census form: the Joyces live in a flat with 4 rooms, a study and a room for a live-in maid, Maria Kirn, and pay 1120 crowns rent annually; JJ declares himself to be married to Nora, ‘without religion’ and gives the language of usage (‘umgangsprach’) of the children as Italian; Eileen is not listed as living in the flat, poss. living with Stanislaus.
12 – JJ claims he is about to leave Trieste, poss. related to dispute with Stanislaus which involves a Miss O’Brien and Francini Bruni (‘the Christographer of the via dell’Olmo’).
22 – JJ learns that the publication of Dubliners is again postponed ‘sine die’.
February
Throws manuscript of Portrait‘ into fire; ms. saved by Eileen.
June
Late – Mabel Joyce dies of typhoid, age 17; JJ and Stanislaus send money and pay for wreath.
July
Eva returns to Dublin.
Late – JJ sends copy of Ivy day in the Committee Room to George V.
August
11 – Buckingham Palace returns JJ’s letter and enclosures without comment.
17 – writes open letter to Irish Press on Dubliners.
mid – Giorgio and Eileen go for holiday on Maria Kirn’s family’s farm.
30 – JJ writes Maria Kirn, reproving her for not returning sooner with Giorgio
Eileen leaves to work for Seravallo family in San Daniele.
September
2 – JJ’s letter published in Sinn Fein.
16 – Giorgio enters the via Parini School; attends same school for 4 years, is registered as ‘senza confessione’.
November
JJ applies to Istituto Tecnico di Como.
December
23 – sends Geoffrey Palmer postcard with photo of Antonio Smareglia, Triestine composer and JJ’s neighbour.
1912
February
24 – JJ receives notice to leave flat in Barriera Vecchia, 32 (see letter of Aug. 7, 1912).
27-28 – JJ gives 2 lectures on Defoe/Blake for the Università Popolare at the school in via Giotto.
April
24-26 – JJ in Padua, Albergo Toretta, to take exams in order to teach in Italian public schools; writes on Dickens/Renaissance.
30 – further oral and written exams in Padua.
May
16 –JJ’s article L’ombra di Parnell appears in Il Piccolo della Sera.
Italian Minister of Education informs JJ that his Irish degree needs to be confirmed.
30 – JJ writes Eileen proposing she take a position as ‘governess’ for Letizia Schmitz, Svevo’s daughter.
Summer
JJ begins teaching Emma Cuzzi in group with Maria Luzzatto and Olivia Hannappel.
July
5 – Nora and Lucia leave Trieste for Ireland; JJ tells Svevo that ‘it’s wonderful to be alone without women’.
8 – Nora and Lucia arrive in Ireland.
10 – JJ writes Nora: ‘I can neither sleep nor think … I thought I would die in sleep. I wakened Georgie 3 times for fear of being alone’.
11 – Nora writes JJ from Galway.
12 – JJ follows Nora to Dublin.
14-15 – JJ arrives in London with Giorgio; has tea with Yeats, who has sent new version of Countess Cathleen to Vidacovich.
17 – JJ joins Nora in Galway.
26 – JJ sends Svevo postcard of Galway fisherman with ironic dedication: ‘Portrait of the artist as an old man’.
27 – JJ threatened with eviction on Aug. 24.
August
1st week – attempts to interview Marconi at Clifden; Stanislaus informs JJ that his examination results have been annulled because the Italian authorities do not recognise his degree; JJ visits Michael Bodkin’s grave near Galway.
7 – in letter, JJ mentions Sordina and Bartoli, and Blackwood Price’s concern with hoof and mouth disease.
11 – JJ’s article La città delle tribù; Ricordi italiani in un porto irlandese appears in Il Piccolo della Sera.
17 – JJ leaves Galway for Dublin.
ca. 20 – JJ sees Roberts in Dublin about Dubliners.
21 – Lidwell says that it will be difficult to proceed against Dubliners; JJ writes Roberts, agrees to omit ‘An Encounter’ and sets other conditions.
22 – JJ to Nora: ‘Roberts spoke to me today of my novel, and asked me to finish it … If only my book is published then I will plunge into my novel and finish it’; he has taken flat at 21 Richmond Place, Dublin.
23 – Roberts refuses to publish Dubliners due to risk of libel; JJ tries to convince him without success; JJ would continue to argue with Roberts until the proofs were destroyed on Sept. 11.
late – JJ decides to buy proofs from Roberts and print them himself under the name of Liffey Press.
September
First days – John Stanislaus Joyce moves in with Jim and Nora.
First week – Stanislaus finds JJ new flat in Trieste in via Bramante, 4, II p.
5 – JJ’s article ‘Il miraggio del pescatore di Aran: La valvola del’Inghilterra nel caso di guerra appears in Il Piccolo della Sera.
10 – JJ publishes sub-editorial on foot and mouth disease in Freeman’s Journal
11 – proofs of Dubliners destroyed; JJ manages to save one set of proofs which would be used for printing Dubliners in 1914; JJ considers publishing in Ford Maddox Ford’s English Review.
13 – JJ in London; writes broadside ‘Gas from a Burner’ in train station waiting room in Flushing, Holland.
15 – JJ arrives in Trieste, prints ‘Gas from a Burner’.
ca. 16 – JJ moves to via Bramante, 4.
October
7 – JJ acknowledges receipt of 24 copies of Chamber Music from Elkin Mathews
16 – JJ presents inscribed copy of Chamber Music to the British General Consul in Trieste, J. Bowring Spence.
November
9 – JJ makes official request to Police in Trieste for the Hamlet lectures, which he describes as ‘a verbal commentary and critical and etymological analysis of Shakespeare’s play’. The lectures were given Monday evenings in the Social Hall of the Minerva Society, via Carducci 28. Ten lectures were planned: Nov. 11, 18, 25; Dec. 2, 9, 16; (1913) Jan. 13, 20, 27; Feb. 3.
11 – gives first of Hamlet lectures.
Winter
JJ begins teaching Dario de Tuoni.
December
16 – JJ writes to Yeats about Vidacovich’s translation of Countess Cathleen
25 – JJ writes Yeats asking him to intercede with Martin Secker, to whom he has sent proofs of Dubliners.
1913
February
Performances of Rigoletto and Nabucco, with chorus conducted by Romeo Bartoli
10 – last of Hamlet lectures; probably 11 lectures total.
11 – review of Hamlet lectures in Il Piccolo, probably written by Roberto Prezioso.
26 – JJ again offers Dubliners to Elkin Mathews.
Spring
Family portraits arrive, displayed in flat.
June
30 –JJ offers Defoe lectures to Il Marzocco.
July
2 – appointed teacher at the Scuola Superiore di Commercio Revoltella, via Carducci, 12.
Autumn
Opera season commemorates 50th anniversary of the death of Giuseppe Verdi; productions include: I Due Foscari, La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto and Aida.
September
9 – JJ sends Stanislaus ‘Watching the Needleboats at San Sabba’, written earlier that year.
16 – Lucia enters the public school in via Parini; attends for 2 years, also ‘senza confessione’.
October
6 – JJ begins teaching at the Revoltella.
12 – statue of Verdi unveiled in Piazza S. Giovanni.
Winter
Opera season includes Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Trieste premiere of Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West.
November
12 – JJ’s notes on Prezioso for Exiles (incident in which Joyce publicly upbraided Prezioso probably occurred between Sept.-Nov. 1913).
December
mid. : 1st letter from Ezra Pound, asking JJ’s permission to include one of his poems in an anthology; the encounter would Pound would mark a turning-point in JJ’s literary career.
1914
January
JJ begins working part-time for Gioacchino Veneziani’s (Svevo’s father in law) ship-varnish company for 100 crowns monthly.
15 – Ezra Pound publishes ‘A curious history’ in The Egoist, I, 2, JJ’s account of the vicissitudes of Dubliners; Portrait begins to appear serially in the same review
19 – Pound writes JJ, telling him Portrait) is ‘damn fine stuff’ and that he will try to publish some of the stories from Dubliners.
20 – Premiere of Wagner’s Parsifal, JJ goes 3-4 times.
24 – JJ says an Italian translation of ‘Ivy Day in the Committee Room’ would appear in Nuova Antologia (it did not appear).
February
27 – Grant Richards agrees to publish Dubliners with revised contract.
March
13 – Shooting incident at the Revoltella involving Slav and Italian students.
20 – JJ signs contract with Grant Richards for Dubliners; 1,250 copies.
25 – JJ sends Angelo Fortunato Formìggini the 9 articles written for Il Piccolo della Sera for possible publication; JJ’s proposed title for the collection is: ‘Ireland at the Bar’.
April
c. 1 – Ezra Pound receives Chapter II of Portrait.
May
Eileen announces her engagement to Frantisek Schaurek, a Czech bank clerk who took lessons from JJ; John Stanislaus writes JJ asking for information on ‘this gentleman’.
June
15 – Dubliners published.
19 – JJ has photo taken for Grant Richards.
26 – Svevo thanks JJ for copy of Dubliners, suggests he write on Trieste.
28 – Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in Sarejevo; the bodies pass through Trieste on their way to burial in Vienna.
July
15 – Ezra Pound’s article ‘’Dubliners’ and Mr. James Joyce’ appears in The Egoist, I, 14.
16 – Ezra Pound receives Chapter III of Portrait and thanks JJ for sending him article on the Vorticists ‘I Vorticisti sorpassano in audacia i Futuristi’, published in Il Piccolo della Sera.
28 – Austria declares war on Serbia; in following days Germany, Russia, France and Great Britain enter the war.
Autumn
JJ works on 2nd and 3rd acts of Exiles.
September
17 – JJ suspended from teaching at the Revoltella.
December
10 – JJ writes to Lieutenancy regarding his position at the Revoltella and asking to have his documents returned.
16 – Ministry writes to Lieutenancy requesting more information about Joyce
28 – official order for Stanislaus’ internment.
30 – Giorgio suspended from the school in via Parini pursuant to circular by city authorities (poss. related to Joyce’s status as enemy subject), readmitted Feb. 9, 1915. He would remain in school until June 23, just before the Joyce’s departure from Trieste. Lucia was apparently not suspended and would leave school on June 14, 1915.
1915
January
Month – curfew for English citizens, not allowed to circulate after 8pm without permission; Francini Bruni and family leave for Italy (other sources date his departure in May, 1915).
8 – Chief Education Inspector Eugenio Gelcich recommends renewing JJ’s contract at the Revoltella.
9 – Stanislaus and 4 other English citizens living in Trieste escorted by police to Vienna; from Vienna to Waidhofen, and then to internment in Austrian prison camp in Schloss Kirchberg, and subsequently in the Schloss Grossau bei Raabs where he would spend the rest of the War.
end – JJ takes out loan for 600 crowns from Il Consorzio Industriale di Mutui Prestiti; loan is co-signed by Vidacovich and guaranteed by Artifoni. The loan would not be paid off until March 1918 (probably by Vidacovich) with additional 138.85 crowns in interest.
February
27 – new restrictions for English citizens in Trieste: 1) cannot leave city without special permit; 2) must sign register every Monday at Police Headquarters; 3) cannot leave their homes between 8pm – 6am; 4) cannot frequent public places, bars, restaurants, etc.
March
4 – 18 students organise protest on JJ’s behalf at the Revoltella.
13 – JJ informed that he can begin teaching again at the Revoltella.
c. 29 – Ezra Pound gives final chapter of Portrait to Grant Richards; sends JJ draft agreement for Pinker to become his agent.
April
1 – JJ tells Pinker he has written Exiles.
12 – Eileen [J&T 05]marries Frantisek Schaurek, JJ best man. Immediately after wedding the couple go to Prague where Frantisek has been called up for military service.
23 – bread riots in Trieste in the areas of San Giacomo and Barriera Vecchia.
May
Month – with Italy’s entry into war imminent, many of JJ’s friends and students leave Trieste (Cuzzi, Prezioso, etc.); H. L. Mencken publishes ‘The Boarding House’ and ‘A Little Cloud’ in the Smart Set.
6 – exams announced for the Revoltella.
23 – Italy enters war; violent anti-Italian demonstrations in Trieste with many pro-Italian institutions and cafes ransacked and vandalised and the offices of Il Piccolo burnt.
June
16 – The Revoltella closes down due to lack of students and staff; JJ attempts unsuccessfully to collect his pay for July. JJ writes Stanislaus (in German) that ‘I have written the first episode of my new novel Ulysses’.
20-27 – with the help of Count Sordina and Baron Ralli, Joyce obtains permission from the Austrian authorities to leave Trieste; Ralli loans him 300 crowns, Svevo 250.
27 – the Joyce family leaves Trieste for Zurich.
July
From mid-July to end of August Leopoldo Popper and his family stay at the Pension Tiefenau in Zurich (Popper had left Trieste for Vienna on June 26)
30 – JJ in letter to Llewelyn Roberts of the Royal Literary Fund, mentions debts of 300 crowns with Ambrogio Ralli and 250 crowns with Gioacchino Veneziani (presumably Svevo)
September
1 – last instalment of Portrait appears in The Egoist.
December
7 – JJ writes Emma Cuzzi thanking her for the print of the Dedalus and Icarus bas relief she had sent him from Rome.
1916 – 1919
1916
April
22 – Police in Graz inform Trieste police that James Joyce, living in Seefeldstr. 54, Zurich, is corresponding with various Triestines, including Mario Tripcovich, Silvia Mordo, A. Morterra, Franz Schaurek in Prague and Francesca Lorenzetto, a former student who has taken his flat in via Bramante. He is said to be of ‘dubious political reputation’ but without ever having caused particular problems.
May
JJ appears in Trieste police files (‘Kouvertaddresse’) as ‘suspect person’ of Czech nationality, living in Kreutzstr. 19, Zurich; apparently related to his acting as intermediary for correspondence.
1917
August
12 – publication of Diego Angeli’s article on Portrait: ‘Un romanzo di gesuiti’, in Il Marzocco, XXII, n. 32.
1918
January
Elkin Mathews publishes 2nd edition of Chamber Music.
July
6 – Publication of Silvio Benco’s article on Joyce: ‘Un illustre scrittore inglese a Trieste’, in Benco’s Triestine arts journal Umana.
November
4 – Armistice between Austria and Italy; Italian troops enter and occupy Trieste.
6 – Emma and Giuseppe Cuzzi among the first of Joyce’s acquaintances to return to Trieste.
1919
January
7 – The British Ambassador to Switzerland, Renell Rodd, acting under orders from the British Secretary of State, requests the Italian authorities to permit British subjects to return to Italy.
February
21 – The Revoltella requests the Italian authorities to permit Joyce to return to Trieste in order to resume his teaching position; however, on instructions from Rome the Italian consulate in Zurich was blocking the return of British subjects to Italy and it would take many months for this request to be processed and approved.
March
Verbannte, the German translation of Exiles published at JJ’s expense by Rascher & Co., Zurich.
May
25 – Stanislaus writes JJ: ‘do you think you can give me a rest’
July
4 (?) – Telegram from Italian Consulate in Zurich requesting passport for JJ’s return to Trieste if the Italian authorities in Trieste (Governatorato) give their nulla osta.
August
13 – Italian Consulate in Zurich repeats request for passport for Joyce.
October
mid – JJ returns to Trieste, moves in with Eileen and Frantisek Schaurek, their two children, Stanislaus, a cook and babysitter in via Sanità, 2, III p. near the waterfront and Piazza Grande.
1920-1955
1920
February
JJ finishes ‘Nausicaa’
April
3 – 1st part of Carlo Linati’s translation of Exiles appears in Il Convegno
1.
15 – translation of ‘A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at Midnight’ published in Poesia I.1.
May
4 – 2nd part of Carlo Linati’s translation of Exiles appears in Il Convegno.
18 –JJ tells Budgen that ‘Oxen of the Sun’ is finished.
June
5 – 3rd part of Carlo Linati’s translation of Exiles appears in Il Convegno.
July
21 – end of exams at the Revoltella
The Joyce family leaves Trieste for Paris. Joyce would never return to Trieste.
1921
January
5 – JJ writes to Svevo in Triestine dialect, requesting notes for Ulysses he left in Trieste.
1922
February
16 – Baron Ambrogio Ralli orders subscription copy (150 francs) of first edition of Ulysses; copies also apparently sent to Silvio Benco and Carlo Linati for review
22 – Francini Bruni gives his lecture on Joyce: ‘Joyce intimo spogliato in piazza’; the pamphlet of the same title published shortly thereafter.
April
1 – Silvio Benco’s review of Ulysses published in Benco’s newspaper La Nazione.
1924
July
Carlo Linati’s translation of Araby appears in Il Convegno, V, n. 6-7.
1926
November
Carlo Linati’s translation of brief passages from Ulysses published in Il Convegno VII, n. 11-12.
1927
March
8 – Svevo gives his lecture on Joyce for Il Convegno, Milan
1928
September
13 – Italo Svevo injured fatally in automobile accident.
1931
September
Alberto Rossi’s translation of part of first episode of Ulysses published in Il Convegno XII, n. 9-10.
1932
January
Natoli Glauco’s Italian versions of poems from Chamber Music published in Circoli, II, n. 1.
1937
January
Publication of Svevo’s conference on Joyce in Il Convegno XVIII, n. 3-4.
February
17 –JJ writes to Carlo Linati, asking him to obtain autographed copy of Il Fuoco from D’Annunzio.
1940
February
15 – Ettore Settani’s translation of Anna Livia Plurabelle published in Prospettive, IV, 2.
December
15 – Another portion of E. Settani’s translation of Anna Livia Plurabelle published in Prospettive, IV, n. 11-12.
1941
January
13 – James Joyce dies after operation for perforated ulcer in Zurich.
July
First part of Stanislaus’ memoir of JJ, Ricordi di Joyce appears in Letteratura, V, n. 3.
October
Second part of Stanislaus’ Ricordi di Joyce appears in Letteratura, V, n. 4
1955
June
16 – Stanislaus dies in Trieste.