Through the testimonies of those who knew him, the author of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake appears as a simple person and close to people, which his work considered difficult and complex does not suggest.
Sylvia BEACH, who runs the Shakespeare and Co bookshop in Paris, remembers her first meeting with writer James Joyce, whose novel "Ulysses" she later published: he was a simple man, easy at first.
Sylvia Beach, who runs the Shakespeare and Co bookstore, recounts the difficulties encountered in publishing James Joyce’s "Ulysses" manuscript: the writer’s sight problems made it very difficult for her to correct the manuscript, not to mention the loss of certain pages, destroyed by the US ambassador who found them too offensive.
The essayist and literary critic Marcel BRION, who knew James Joyce, speaks of the great culture of the writer. But this did not prevent him from enjoying the conversations with the Irish in the pubs and especially to listen to the people and then transcribe in his books these conversations.
Nicole VEDRES, a journalist and columnist on the show, recounts her memories of James Joyce: his looks, his bad eyesight. In particular, it recalls its atypical ability to pronounce words backwards, which may reflect a desire for contradiction.. Jean PARIS, author of a book on James Joyce confirms: "all his work is a kind of introduction of music in literature".