Much has been written about the relationship between James Joyce and Nora Barnacle. Many considered her to beneath her husband in terms of intellect and intelligence. But, Nora Barnacle was not the illiterate dullard that many Joyce scholars have described. She could more than hold her own against her often difficult husband; a collection of letters between the two shows a vibrant and intelligent woman.
First Meeting Between James Joyce and Nora Barnacle
Nora Barnacle and James Joyce first met on the street in Dublin on June 10, 1904. It is believed that he had seen her around; she worked at a hotel which Joyce and his friends frequented. The first date between the two is believed to have taken place on June 16 of that year. June 16 is now celebrated as Bloomsday Day since Joyce’s novel Ulysses takes place on that day. Joyce would neither confirm nor deny that fact. Supposedly, on their first date, Nora showed her husband her knowledge of how to sexually please a man.
Nora Barnacle was working at Finn’s Hotel as a chamber maid, waitress and barmaid when she became involved with James Joyce. The hotel provided her with room and board.
Joyce and Barnacle Leaving Ireland
The two saw each other more and more frequently that summer and on October 8, 1904 the two ran away together. Joyce had secured a job in Zurich with Berlitz and talked Nora into going with him. By November of that year, she was pregnant with their first child. Giorgio Joyce was born on July 27, 1905; his sister Lucia was born on July 26, 1906.
During their lives together, the Joyces moved around a lot. First Zurich, then Trieste, then Rome, then Paris, then England for a while and finally back to Trieste. During that time, the couple mostly lived in dire poverty and were supported by Joyce’s brother Stansilaus and several patrons.
The couple separated for a while in 1909 when Joyce suddenly became suspicious of Nora’s sex life before the two reunited. He remembered how knowledgeable she was about sex and had doubts she had been a virgin when they first made love. But, eventually, Joyce decided he could not live without her. However, he did continue to have affairs with other women.
Marriage
James Joyce and Nora Barnacle were finally married on July 4, 1931 in London; Joyce continued to have brief affairs afterwards. Lucia Joyce, who was 25 at the time, was both devastated and embarrassed when she learned that her parents had never been married.
Death of James Joyce
James Joyce died of complications from a perforated ulcer on January 13, 1941. Nora Barnacle died on April 10, 1951.
Children
Lucia Joyce, who had become a dancer, began to have several mental issues a year before her parents were married and she was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia. She was confined to a series of mental institutions; she died at St. Andrew’s hospital in England in 1982. Giorgio Joyce became a musician and an alcoholic; he died in 1976. He had married Helen Fleischmann (who also was eventually diagnosed as a schizophrenic) and had a son, Stephen.
James Joyce and Nora Barnacle: A Not Perfect Relationship
While the Joyces did not have a perfect relationship, they seem to have truly loved and respected one another. Joyce certainly could not have written the great literature that he wrote without the support and love of Nora Barnacle. And Joyce, in return, gave Nora the kind of life that she would never have imagined growing up in Ireland.
Source used:
Maddox, Brenda. Nora: a biography of Nora Joyce. London, Minerva, 1989.
Susan Keeping - Susan has been writing online for over 10 years and is currently developing a website for women.
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