Wednesday, February 25, 2004
The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective)
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published by Jonathanames.com
In this edition of The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) you will find out the answer to this question:
Did James Joyes have a scatological perversion?
And in the days to come, I will be posting the solutions to these dastardly mysteries:
Were Jack Kerouac and Gore Vidal lovers?
What was Hemingway talking about when he told Fitzgerald, “It is also a question of angle"?
Why did Vladimir Nabokov think that Henry James was for “non-smokers"?
Who was James talking about when he wrote, “I will nurse you through your dark passage"?
Plus, Mr. S. Michael Mannix presents his all new theory on Henry James’s injury.
And I am currently working overtime to crack these cases:
Why was Jerzy Kosinski fascinated with transsexuals?
How can we account for Tennesse Williams’ obsession with sex by the docks?
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The Case of the Dirty Coffee Table
Question: Since you invited write-in requests, I have one. It's regarding James and Nora Joyce's sexual fetishes. I'd always heard that the Joyce would have his wife sit on a glass table and defecate while he laid flat on his back underneath the glass, watching and masturbating. (I think I heard this in my college cafeteria from someone who, at the time, was in a Joyce seminar and fancied himself a scholar -- a dubious source.) The closest reference I ever found to that was in Joyce's private letters to his wife while they were separated -- he was in Switzerland at the time, I think, and she was in Ireland. They had promised to exchange dirty letters and hers evidently told of farting which got Joyce off. It was a good epistolary romance but there was nothing on glass tables and poo. Do you know anything about this? –Nikki
Answer: Yes. This was something that did happen (or something like it) at least once. According to the website http://arlindo-correia.com/joyce.html, Joyce wrote to Nora on December 2, 1909:
"I have taught you almost to swoon at the hearing of my voice singing or murmuring to your soul the passion and sorrow and mystery of life and at the same time have taught you to make filthy signs to me with your lips and tongue, to provoke me by obscene touches and noises, and even to do in my presence the most shameful and filthy act of the body. You remember the day you pulled up your clothes and let me lie under you looking up at you while you did it? Then you were ashamed even to meet my eyes."
I showed this to someone, who then questioned whether having a bowel movement was indeed the “most shameful and filthy act of the body". “Of course it is," I said.
(Here is a link to the ‘Savage Love’ column of July 9, 2003, in which more of Joyce’s filthy letters are referenced: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0328/savage.php )
________________________________________________________________________
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published by Jonathanames.com
In this edition of The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) you will find out the answer to this question:
Did James Joyes have a scatological perversion?
And in the days to come, I will be posting the solutions to these dastardly mysteries:
Were Jack Kerouac and Gore Vidal lovers?
What was Hemingway talking about when he told Fitzgerald, “It is also a question of angle"?
Why did Vladimir Nabokov think that Henry James was for “non-smokers"?
Who was James talking about when he wrote, “I will nurse you through your dark passage"?
Plus, Mr. S. Michael Mannix presents his all new theory on Henry James’s injury.
And I am currently working overtime to crack these cases:
Why was Jerzy Kosinski fascinated with transsexuals?
How can we account for Tennesse Williams’ obsession with sex by the docks?
________________________________________________________________________
The Case of the Dirty Coffee Table
Question: Since you invited write-in requests, I have one. It's regarding James and Nora Joyce's sexual fetishes. I'd always heard that the Joyce would have his wife sit on a glass table and defecate while he laid flat on his back underneath the glass, watching and masturbating. (I think I heard this in my college cafeteria from someone who, at the time, was in a Joyce seminar and fancied himself a scholar -- a dubious source.) The closest reference I ever found to that was in Joyce's private letters to his wife while they were separated -- he was in Switzerland at the time, I think, and she was in Ireland. They had promised to exchange dirty letters and hers evidently told of farting which got Joyce off. It was a good epistolary romance but there was nothing on glass tables and poo. Do you know anything about this? –Nikki
Answer: Yes. This was something that did happen (or something like it) at least once. According to the website http://arlindo-correia.com/joyce.html, Joyce wrote to Nora on December 2, 1909:
"I have taught you almost to swoon at the hearing of my voice singing or murmuring to your soul the passion and sorrow and mystery of life and at the same time have taught you to make filthy signs to me with your lips and tongue, to provoke me by obscene touches and noises, and even to do in my presence the most shameful and filthy act of the body. You remember the day you pulled up your clothes and let me lie under you looking up at you while you did it? Then you were ashamed even to meet my eyes."
I showed this to someone, who then questioned whether having a bowel movement was indeed the “most shameful and filthy act of the body". “Of course it is," I said.
(Here is a link to the ‘Savage Love’ column of July 9, 2003, in which more of Joyce’s filthy letters are referenced: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0328/savage.php )
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