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JAMES JOYCE NEVER showed any intention of returning to Ireland and there would likely be resistance to any request to have his remains repatriated, the director of the Joyce Foundation in Switzerland has warned.
On Monday, councillors on Dublin City Council backed a motion to write to the government and ask that the remains of the Irish writer, which are buried with his wife, Nora Barnacle, and his son and his wife, in Fluntern cemetery in Zurich, be repatriated to Dublin.
Labour councillor Dermot Lacey, who proposed the motion, said it would be “honouring someone’s last wishes” while others such as Independent Senator David Norris, who previously made a similar attempt, questioned whether it would be appropriate at this stage.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, the director of the Joyce Foundation in Zurich, Fritz Senn said there would be “resistance” in Switzerland to such a request, as the Irish government failed to send a delegation to Joyce’s funeral in 1941, and the grave has become a major tourist attraction.
“I think there would certainly be some resistance because, after all, Joyce is one of the major tourist attractions that people come to see. Many people go to his grave so there would be an issue.
The problem hasn’t come up yet but I think there would be resistance, after all, Zurich would claim him as one of their own. Joyce never accepted Irish citizenship and he died as a British citizen.
“One argument that even Joyce’s grandson would say is that when Joyce died there wasn’t even a representative of Ireland at his funeral. The most important thing is you would need the consent of his grandson, Stephen Joyce, and if I had to bet on it, I bet he would vote against it.”
James Joyce first left Ireland in 1904 and went on to live in a number of European cities including Trieste in Italy, and later Zurich in Switzerland, where he died in 1941.
Joyce took issue with the Catholic Church which had a lot of control in Ireland at the turn of the 20th century, with his novel Ulysses later effectively banned over what was perceived as explicit scenes in the text.
Much of his acclaimed works, including Ulysses and Portrait of An Artist as a Young Man, were set in Dublin but were penned while he was living abroad in places like Zurich and Paris.
“He didn’t go back for most of his life so I think it would be with difficulty now. It would be difficult to prove it was his will.
“The other thing is, there are four people buried there – Joyce and Nora, Joyce’s son George, who as far as I know was only in Ireland once at a symposium. His wife is from Germany and has no relation to Ireland at all. So it’s not simply Joyce, it’s his family, and it’s more complex.”
Dublin councillors on the South East Area Committee passed the motion unanimously in a bid to have it brought before the monthly council meeting.
The motion calls on the council’s chief executive to write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and other ministers with an interest in this area, to request the remains bereturned ahead of the centenary celebrations of the publication of Ulysses in 2022.
Asked if this was something the Department of Foreign Affairs would give consideration to, a spokesperson said they were aware of the motion before the council but said it would not comment further on the matter.
A spokesperson for Culture Minister Josepha Madigan also said it would be inappropriate to comment on the issue until an application was submitted, adding that it was a matter for the Joyce family.
“The Minister appreciates the literary achievement and enduring international reputation of James Joyce,” she said.
“The suggested repatriation of the remains of James Joyce would be a matter in the first instance for family members and/or the trustees of the Joyce estate.”
“Without having received an application from those it would not be appropriate for the Minister to express a view on the matter,” she added.
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So people are going to be wondering where their going to sleep tonight & this is what their cc are concerned about! Leave him be!
@Colette Kearns: I completely agree, Collette. If he were floating in space, there might be an argument to bring him back! But this comes across as posturing. If this worries anyone, count yourself very lucky to not have any real worries!
@Colette Kearns: I think Joyce was supposed to have told Ireland to F itself but Dev had that effect as he soaked everything in the oil of the Catholic Church then. You know how selfish politicians are, stupid and blind to the sufferings of real people…
@Colette Kearns: not one single councellor, from any party, spoke against it. Posturing is right.
@Colette Kearns: leave those bones alone, leave those bones alone. All meet outside GPO Saturday at 12 .
@TamuMassif2019: The only Ireland Joyce ever knew was an Ireland under British rule. He never knew or lived in the Free State.
@TamuMassif2019: just as they are now!
@Teresa Ryan: and your point is?
@TamuMassif2019: Ireland told Joyce to f himself too. Works both ways
@Gus Sheridan: It’s written in black and white.
Oh my god . Just let the man Rest In Peace .? Nobody went to his funeral fro Ireland. Why now ? Jesus I rest my case . Poxy politics again
@Joan Kelly: Even for some, money can be made from the dead…
@Joan Kelly: Councillors just want him back so they can make his grave into a tourist attraction
@Stephen Curry: and draw attention to themselves which is more important to them than a pile of bones.
Councillors have better things to be doing than tabling motions like this one.
@Barra O Brien: It is the familiarity of being wasters that makes them blind to this…
Oh for God Sake. Who comes up with that stuff? I could point out numerous things councils should concern themselves with. It’s a bit late to make to him now, isn’t it. No interest in him while he was alive, now they wanna do one better and break up his family. Utter farce. Leave the dead alone.
I don’t believe either James Joyce or Oscar Wilde ever wanted to return to Ireland dead or alive, so their wishes should be respected and they should stay in Zürich and Paris.
@Charles Williams: But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown unless their money to be made out of them?
Dermot Lacey and co are looking for financial gain for Dublin, nothing more or nothing less , forget the past and all that goes with it.
Let him rest in peace where he chose to be.
Leave him there. Do what you are paid for not more vanity project s
Let him rest in peace!
Use the money to set up a Joyce Fund for the poor of Dublin.
He’d like that, his beloved Dubliners
It seems obvious he didn’t want anything to do with Ireland, so let him be! He wasn’t even Irish, right? Let the other country, this that cared about him and provided nourishing opportunities, that didn’t ban his books, to keep him after his death.
I bet the idea for the move is dictated by money – so now Ireland could have a famous touristic attraction…
@Aga Grandowicz: Joyce was never banned in Ireland. And he was Irish, whether he liked it or not. Still think his remains should stay in Zurich.
@O Swetenham: he was Irish, pf course. However he certainly WAS banned. I should know because I bought a copy of Ulysses that I still have, when it became possible in the 1960′s.
@Brendan Greene: there is a difference with being physically banned and his books being banned. Joyce was not banned in Ireland
The Swiss have won the lads are done
Why should I come back to Eire
Your sentiments are good
But what if I could
But I can’t
Because I’m in Heaven.
I honestly have to wonder what idiot thought this one up! The man is buried with his family, like do they want to just bring him back or the whole family? Imagine separating him from his family! As we say in Ireland “ He would turn in his grave”
What a waste of time and effort, leave his body with his family and let them rest in peace. It is not like they are stolen relics belonging to another state.
Ridiculous bloody idea
For reasons purely puerile, it appears that commenting in the Journal at certain hours is now too often the metaphoric equivalent of pi$$ing in the wind. I seem to continually offend some neo-liberal stalwart who hates night shift as much as he/she does me. This (semi)-automatically results in summary deletion of potent anti FFG/Status Quo Commentary. So, for the third and definitely the last time I will comment on this topic, Joyce saw FFG for what it was in the 1930′s and since it hasn’t improved any since then, let him repose where he lies. Delete this and I will delete your bookmarks, cookies and your memory by return. Yours Sinn Feinly.
Is it not also the case that they named all the recently build ships for the Navy after Irish writers, all of which had died and were buried outside Ireland, and only one was ever returned to Ireland as was his wish?
It is part of a greater narrative to side-step Ireland’s historical tensions by ignoring them, unfortunately unless we accept, embrace and understand our history we will never learn from it and are destined to repeat it.
I pray you ‘‘tis Mick and the pink shirts the nation and the new dail term needs
The Swiss have won the lads are done
Why should I come back to Eire
Your sentiments are good
But what if I could
But I can’t
Because I’m in Heaven.
Another great scheme from the mealymen.
They should send a member of government to lay a reath on at Patrick’s Day if they love him so much and leave him there if he didn’t want to be buried in Ireland what’s the fuss about
Fritz Senn is right that it’s up to Stephen Joyce; but if money can be made then I believe that he’d say Yes I will Yes
Bloody politicians trying to make capital with this. Leave the man alone you chancers!
Leave the man alone, it’s fairly obvious he would never have wanted to return here while he was alive, why would he want to do it when he’s dead? As some sort of tourist attraction??? , show some respect, leave him alone.
Bring him back and give him a game on the Irish football team, he’d have to be better than some of the clowns we saw last night!!
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