Four page letter from James to Lady Gregory dated 22.11.1902
This is one of the most extraordinary letters ever written in Dublin. Angry, boastful,
prophetic and full of self-pity, it captures the frustration of a young genius in a small
town, as 20-year-old James Joyce tells Lady Gregory of his plans to go – “alone and
friendless” – to Paris. “I do not know what will happen to me in Paris but my case can
hardly be worse there than it is here.”
“To be quite frank,” he writes, “I am without means to pay my medical fees and
they refuse to get me any grinding or tuitions or examining – allegeging inability
– although they have done and are doing so for men who were stuck in the exams I
passed.... I want to achieve myself – little or great as I may be – for I know that there
is no heresy or no philosophy which is so abhorrent to my church as a human being.”
The letter contains a plea for help (“I am writing to you to know can you help me in
any way”) and a litany of self-assurances that speak to Joyce’s genius but also to the
insecurity that often dogs young men: “I am not despondent however for I know that
even if I fail to make my way such failure proves very little. I shall try myself against
the powers of the world.”
The original of this letter was missing for many years. The Letters of James Joyce
(Volume 1) notes, “a typewritten copy made by Lady Gregory was found amongst the
papers of the late W.B. Yeats.” The letter is on loan from a private collection.
