University of Virginia Library

24.

Some time ago you told me, in answer to an enquiry of mine, enough of your circumstances to make it perfectly clear to me, even if you had not gone on to say so, that the success of your literary work was a matter of very great importance to you — "My prospects are the chance of getting money enough from my book or books to enable me to resume my interrupted life". That fact has been in my mind in the re-reading — the very careful re-reading — of "Dubliners", and while I cannot say it has been the dominant factor, it has been a factor in making me decide that we cannot publish the book. You have certainly gone a good way to meet our objections to it — objections based on other people's prejudices and not on our own, as I have tried to make clear to you — but it still remains of a kind that would not, I think, be successful, that would prejudice the majority of its readers against its publisher, and would stand in the way

of your gaining success with any future work. If you had put the same matter, if you had treated life equally frankly, in a long novel, our objections would not be so potent. A long novel might succeed where a collection of short stories of equal merit would not. You are working, you told me, at a long novel. Whether you will be prepared, after the trouble there has been over this book, to offer it to us, I don't know. I think you will be wise if you decide to do so, since we at least know what you are capable of; and moreover we would give you a decision within a fortnight of the arrival of the manuscript. The artist is allowed greater latitude in a novel, why it is difficult to say; and assuming that the novel is a success, it could be followed by "Dubliners", perhaps under those circumstances without any alterations other than those you have already made. In other words: a man who has made a success is permitted greater liberty by the critics and by the public.

I would urge you, therefore, to put "Dubliners" on one side; to complete your novel; and to allow the appearance of "Dubliners" to rest largely on the success of the first book. It is possible, of course, that you might find some other publisher less timid than this house: for instance, Mr. John Long might publish "Dubliners". Still, even so I think you would be wiser to hold it back.

It is idle at this time of day and in view of what I have said for me to reiterate my own admiration for your book, but I can assure you that that admiration is both great and sincere; and I am convinced that if, for the present at least, you will be guided by certain practical considerations, your work should meet with considerable success. And whether you see fit to offer us your novel or not, you can depend on my doing everything in my power to be of assistance to that end. Believe me, dear Mr. Joyce, Very faithfully yours,
P.S. I am keeping the manuscript here until I hear from you.