“I have given only catchwords in my scheme but I think you will understand it all the same.” Joyce’s shorthand description of his structural scheme reflects his confidence in collaborative interpretation. · Letter to Carlo Linati, 1920 Communication Structure Writing
“A Classical style is the syllogism of art, the only legitimate process from one world to another.” Joyce presents classicism as a disciplined method of artistic transformation. · Essay on art and literature Art Structure Style
“At first I had not thought of the slaughter of the suitors as in Ulysses' character. Now I see it can be there too.” Joyce reflects on how Homeric structure unexpectedly revealed itself during composition. · Letter to Frank Budgen, 10 December 1920 Discovery Structure Writing
“Struggling with the aridities of Ithaca—an astronomico-physico-mechanico-geometrico-chemico sublimation of Bloom and Stephen.” An exuberant description of the intellectual machinery behind Ithaca. · Letter to Claud W. Sykes, 1921 Knowledge Structure Writing
“The Ithaca episode which precedes it I am now putting in order. It is in reality the end as Penelope has no beginning, middle, or end.” Joyce explains the unusual architecture of the closing episodes of Ulysses. · Letter to Harriet Shaw Weaver, 7 October 1921 Structure Time Writing
“I am writing Ithaca in the form of a mathematical catechism.” Joyce’s description captures his fascination with imposing rigorous systems on literary material. · Letter to Frank Budgen, 28 February 1921 Composition Structure Writing
“It is an epic of two races (Israelite—Irish) and at the same time the cycle of the human body as well as a little story of a day (life).” Joyce gives an unusually direct account of the multiple structures operating within Ulysses. · Letter to Carlo Linati, 1920 Humanity Literature Structure
