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What are we discussing? I haven't received a message in days. What about Joyce's justifiable egomania? Brian You're right, Brian, it has been quiet. In the flow of e-mail static (there are at least two lists that I have to cancel) I tend to miss what is going on on the lists like this one that I value. Hmmm. Egomania, justifiable or not, has a nasty sound. I don't consider it necessary for a great artist to be a great person. In music there are several composers whose works I enjoy very much that I wouldn't like to meet. It's harder in literature to be a jerk and get by with it. After all what the writer writes tips you off fairly clearly. On that level what one perceives of Joyce is wit and polish and perhaps more ingenuity than was good for him but can be a source of delight for the ideal reader. On a personal level, he was cold and exploitive. It becomes hard to determine if he was an egomaniac or was simply less guarded than most of us in our efforts to get our way. A recent writer (Can't remember who) listed all his faults and ended with: 'and yet despite all these faults he was devotedly liked by all who knew him.' Bob Williams No, neither do I. What I am interested in is his JUSTIFIABLE egomania--his belief in his own genius was absolute, he believed he was worth a lifetime of study, and he has received it. That last part is what gets me. Would he see how many journals and university courses and websites are now devoted to him and be surprised? He wouldn't. How many people have felt that way about themselves, that they were great artists, nearly immortal--as Shakespeare said of his own sonnets--and been right? My question is, did Joyce ever suffer from self-doubt? Or is total self-confidence a pre-condition of genius? Brian I doubt if Joyce ever had any doubts. When he offered to turn the writing of Finnegans Wake over to James Stephens, he could hardly have been serious. Some writers about this offer have suggested that Joyce was hoping to provoke a chorus of emphatic No-O-No's from his readers and followers. I find it hard to believe that Joyce did not have full confidence in himself and in his staying power with posterity. He even had the confidence that Finnegans Wake itself would have its day. No question that the amount of critical study is enormous. If quality were a popularity poll, one need only look at the number of the lists and websites devoted to him. There is no comparison with any other author of the last 300 years. Bob Williams
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