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[ Aetat. 41-44 ] J O Y C E 561which were the last in Schmitz's life, the two men met frequently inParis. The relationship was friendly but always had an element of formality;sometimes Nora Joyce broke into it by saying of her husband, tothe astonishment of Schmitz, 'I've always told him he should give upwriting and take up singing. To think he was once on the same platformwith John McCormack!' 28Schmitz amused them all by findingin hiswarm reception by Paris writers* a new reason for smoking, like his heroZeno, 'la sua ultima sigaretta.'' tJoyce and Schmitz were drawn together again when Joyce wrote onFebruary 20, 1924, that he was making use of Signora Livia Schmitz'sname and hair for the heroine (Anna Livia Plurabelle) of his new book.'Ask her, however, not to take up arms, either of steel or fire,since theperson involved is the Pyrrha of Ireland (or rather of Dublin) whose hairis the river beside which (her name is Anna Liffey) the seventh city ofChristendom springs up, the other six being Basovizza, Clapham Junction,Rena Vecia, Limehouse, S. Odorico in the Vale of Tears and SanGiacomo in Monte di Pieta.'t 30Signora Schmitz was a little disturbed,notwithstanding; she had to be assured again that he was not denigratingher. Later Schmitz sent her portrait (with her hair let down) by Verudato Joyce as ceremonious thanks for 'the golden sunset' 31Joyce had givenhim. As Joyce remarked to an Italian journalist, 'They say I have immortalizedSvevo, but I've also immortalized the tresses of Signora Svevo.These were long and reddish-blond. My sister who used to see them letdown told me about them. The river at Dublin passes dye-houses and sohas reddish water. So I have playfully compared these two things in thebook I'm writing. A lady in it will have the tresses which are really SignoraSvevo's.' 32In March 1924, Ludmila Savitsky's translation of A Portrait of theArtist as a Young Man (Dedalus) was published. The book was receivedwith respect if not with enthusiasm by French reviewers. Joyce was nowmore concerned with the translation of Ulysses into French. At firsthehad thought, as he told Daniel Hummel, that the book could not betranslated into another language, but might be translated into anothermedium, that of the film. 33But the success of the translations read atLarbaud's seance persuaded him that the book should be put into French,and he was eager to have Larbaud undertake the task. Larbaud, havingjust finished The Way of All Flesh, thought it would be too much labor,* In 1927 there was a dinner for Schmitz which was attended by Isaak Babel, Jules Romains,Ivan Goll, Jean Paulhan, and Benjamin Cremieux, as -well as Joyce,t When on September 13, 1928, Schmitz was fatally injured in an automobile accident,his distressed Christian wife asked him if he would not like to see a priest. Schmitz,Jewish by birth and infidel by temperament, smiled gently and replied, 'It's too late,' andasked for a cigarette instead. 'There's no doubt that this one will be the last,' he said. 29t Harry Levin points out that Basovizza and S. Odorico are two villages near Trieste; S.Giacomo and Rena Vecia are two ancient quarters of that city; Clapham Junction andLimehouse are a suburb and a district in London; 'in the Vale of Tears' and 'in Montedi Pieta' (pawnshop) are Joyce's additions.