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  • Letters
  • Fritz Senn (bio)

Sir:

I write regarding manuscripts now housed in the collection of the Zurich James Joyce Foundation. In 2006, Hans E. Jahnke, the son of Giorgio Joyce’s second wife Asta Jahnke-Osterwalder, made a donation of his Joyce documents to the Foundation. For the purposes of research and private study, a core of this bequest, comprising work notes and letters, is now available online at the NLI website: <http://www.nli.ie> or <http://www.joycefoundation.ch>. Frequent topics in the ninety letters by Joyce to his family (mostly from the 1930s) are everyday matters with a focus on money, Lucia’s health, Giorgio’s voice, and offers for “Work in Progress,” as well discussions of the so-called Frankfurter Zeitung affair. Forty-two items relate to Joyce’s last work Finnegans Wake (for the most part to FW II.2., II.3., and III.3), while another twenty documents are drafts, fair copies, and typescripts of poems. The majority of the work-related documents also date from the 1930s, with the materials for Finnegans Wake no doubt constituting the most exciting part, as these originate from different stages of writing: from the early post-notebook stage to late additions in 1938.

One letter that Joyce wrote to his grandson from Copenhagen on 5 September 1936 is not part of the Foundation’s online material because the Ithys Press Dublin claimed copyright for it on the basis of their publishing it under the title The Cats of Copenhagen in 2012. As we understand it, copyright can be acquired on a first publication, provided the acquisition was “lawful.” The Zurich Foundation is in no position to determine whether a publication that was done without the owner’s permission can be called lawful. [End Page 913]

Fritz Senn
Zurich James Joyce Foundation
Fritz Senn

FRITZ SENN has been connected with the JJQ since its inception in 1963 and has been a frequent contributor.

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