We Should All Be So Unlucky – Pula: James Joyce As An Angry Author (Traveling The Croatian Coastline #25)

I once saw an interview with the historian/novelist Shelby Foote where he said that to be a writer, one must be angry. I would add that such anger is highly individual and uniquely personal. Foote’s point was that on some level all writers are motivated by anger. It is an interesting theory and one that communicates some of its power to those who challenge the idea. Has anyone ever written anything of value without it being infused by some great internal or external conflict? Perhaps pounding out your inner turmoil onto a piece of paper or digital document might go some way in alleviating anger. This is the literary equivalent of venting.

Perhaps underlying anger explains the many fractured lives of literary geniuses. The great Irish writer James Joyce’s life was often in turmoil. He was at odds with the Catholic church which dominated Ireland at the time. It will surprise no one that Joyce’s literary skill was not sufficiently appreciated during his lifetime. For that matter, it is still not appreciated today. Joyce had himself partly to blame. His works are difficult to understand, his use of language so quixotically singular that no one has been able to mimic Joyce’s style with quite the same success.

Barely Disguised Disdain–?A Portrait of Frustration

James Joyce did not exactly endear himself to others. He left Ireland to live abroad after offending the Catholic Church. He first went to Switzerland where he had been promised a job teaching at a Berlitz language school. When this fell through, Joyce went to Trieste where he hoped to find work with another Berlitz school. This also fell through. The third time was the charm for Joyce as he finally obtained employment as an English instructor at a Berlitz school in Pula (then known as Pola). The city was a military town, dominated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s main naval base. The city was not what Joyce imagined when he signed up to work for Berlitz. It had neither the natural beauty of Switzerland nor the cosmopolitan air of Trieste. Joyce must have felt his exile most acutely while in the city, as his attitude reflects that of a deeply unhappy man.

Joyce’s opinion of Pula was razor sharp, brutally cynical and fuelled by contempt. The Austro-Hungarian port city was a provincial outpost. His attitude towards Pula likely reflected how he felt about his job with Berlitz. Joyce though he was underpaid for his work. This forced him to supplement his income by teaching. At the same time, he was struggling to make a career out of writing. Joyce took out his frustrations on Pula, barely disguising his disdain for the city where he lived with his girlfriend (soon to be wife) Nora Barnacle from October 1904 to March 1905. In a letter to his aunt written on New Year’s Eve in 1904, Joyce called Pula “a naval Siberia – 37 men o’war in the harbor, swarming with faded uniforms. Istria is a long boring place wedged into the Adriatic peopled by ignorant Slavs who wear little red caps and colossal breeches” This passage shows just how miserable Joyce was during his time in Pula.

Unplanned & Mercifully Short – A Writer’s Struggle

I cannot think of many places less suited to Joyce in the early 20th?century than Pula. A man of supreme intellect, it is difficult to imagine him enjoying his time in what amounted to an overgrown military post filled with soldiers. Joyce had more than the usual civilian contacts with soldiers through his teaching job. His classrooms were filled with Austro-Hungarian Naval Officers struggling to learn English. Joyce was not the usual English instructor. He would often spend class time engaging his pupils in conversation about a wide range of subjects that interested him. It is even plausible that Joyce taught Miklos Horthy, a naval officer at the time who would become Hungary’s de facto dictator from 1920 – 1944. What Horthy or any of the other officers thought of Joyce’s teaching methods we will probably never know.

Besides teaching, Joyce spent a great deal of his time in Pula writing. Ironically, his most famous work, Ulysses, is thought to have been conceived during his time in Pula. He also wrote several chapters of his novel Stephen Hero which he would eventually abandon. Perhaps Joyce’s literary output was productive because of his unhappiness with the situation. Low pay and living in a cultural backwater were not what he had in mind after leaving Ireland. Joyce’s stay in Pula was unplanned and mercifully short. Despite the brevity of his time spent living in the city and low opinion of it, modern Pula has embraced the Irishman, if for no other reason than to boost tourism. The building in which Joyce taught English still exists today. A commemorative plaque is attached to its exterior, duly informing passersby that this was where one of the geniuses of the English language taught. The building is also home to Boutique Hostel Joyce, a transparently commercial attempt to capitalize on Joyce’s time in the city. Considering the writer’s attitude towards Pula, it is hard not to wonder whether he would have appreciated such honorific efforts.

Creative Instincts – Fueled By The Fire

One of Joyce’s favorite pursuits in Pula was spending his time with Nora at the Café Miramar. Coffeehouse culture was alive and well throughout Austria-Hungary and this was Joyce’s first sampling of it. To this end, the city has enshrined him in its fabric with a memorable monument. Close to the Arch of the Sergii, a statue of Joyce can be found. He sits outside at the Café Uliks (Ulysses). Near the statue is a commemorative plaque honoring Joyce’s time in Pula. Each day during my visit to the city, patrons of the cafe would be sitting at the table with Joyce. Those looking for other remnants of Joyce’s six month sojourn in Pula will not find much. He lived with Nora at Via Giulia 2, not far from the school where he taught. No personal effects of Joyce are to be found at any of his brief haunts. Nonetheless, Joyce’s time in the city was productive from a literary standpoint. Whether Joyce was an angry man while in Pula is open to interpretation, but unhappiness seemed to fuel his creative instincts. We should all be so unlucky.