The Book, Cat, & Cat Book Lovers Almanac

of historical trivia regarding books, cats, and other animals. Actually this blog has evolved so that it is described better as a blog about cats in history and culture. And we take as a theme the advice of Aldous Huxley: If you want to be a writer, get some cats. Don't forget to see the archived articles linked at the bottom of the page.

January 13, 2012

January 13, 1941

Of course, being a genius, and given to deliberately providing fodder for the scholarly industry, James Joyce (February 2, 1882 to  January 13, 1941) was compatible, comcatible I suppose is a better word, with the feline species. They inhabit his literature also:

In the 4th chapter (Calypso) of Ulysses,(1922) Leopold Bloom feeds a cat. And in Finnegans Wake,(1939) line 116.2 (Tindall's numbering) mentions "Esra, the cat". This is from a Joycean parody of "As I was going to St. Ives." The reference is to Ezra Pound, a famous cat lover.

Perhaps I should have described Joyce as compatcatible. Perhaps William Tindall's A reader's guide to James Joyce (1995) will have an opinion on that sometime.

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