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[ Aetat. 20-21 j J O Y C E 119But for the moment he was not indifferent to Magee's good opinion;employing what was by now a favorite device, he accosted him on thestreet one night, gave his name, and immediately launched into a strange,sententious discussion of intellectual questions. Among other things, hespoke of the disciplined indifference of the artist, and to illustrate pointedto a lamppost and stated emphatically, 'If I knew I were to drop deadbefore I reached that lamppost, it would mean no more to me than itwill mean to walk past it.'* 34Magee was half impressed, half put off bythis odd young man; he could not keep from acknowledging some weeksafterwards to Gogarty, 'There is something sublime in Joyce's standingalone.' 36Joyce offered no such encomium.Before he left Dublin, on January 17, 1903, Joyce heard from his37father that a man named O'Hara, on the Irish Times, might be able toarrange for a French correspondent to the newspaper. Joyce imaginativelytransformed such remote possibilities into certainties, and departed withthe conviction that the Irish Times would soon be providing him with aregular income. Arrived in London, he nevertheless pursued some suggestionsof Yeats. He went to C. Lewis Hind, the editor of the Academy,and was given a book to review to see if he would suit. He wrote anunfavorable notice, which he brought to Hind.'This will not do, Mr. Joyce,' said Hind.'Sorry,' said Joyce and started to leave the room, characteristically notcondescending to argue the point.'Oh, come, Mr. Joyce,' said Hind, 'I am only anxious to help you.Why don't you meet my wishes?''I thought,' replied Joyce, 'that I was to convey to your readers what Iconsidered to be the esthetic value of the book you gave me.''Precisely. That is what I want.''Well!' Joyce went on. 'I don't think it has any value whatsoever, estheticor otherwise, and I have tried to convey that to your readers.'Hind was annoyed and said, 'Oh well, Mr. Joyce, if that is your attitude,I can't help you. I have only to lift the window and put my headout, and I can get a hundred critics to review it.''Review what, your head?' asked Joyce, ending the interview. 38(Yeatsscolded him for this callow behavior later, and Joyce took his rebuke'unexpectedly well,' probably feeling he had acted foolishly.) He wouldperhaps have been less bold if he had not felt fortified by his Irish Timesexpectations, and also by the chance of another position with a new magazinecalled Men and Women, which was to begin in March. Yeats introducedhim to the prospective editor, D. N. Dunlop, who asked himfor an immediate contribution and promised to pay him two guineas perthousand words if all went well. But payment could not begin until*To someone else's question, 'What do you think about life?' Joyce replied, 'I don't thinkabout it.' 35