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632 J A M E S I 1929-1932 Jsubject sometimes co-operative, at other times oddly reticent; Joyce furnishedGorman with much information about some incidents, about otherssuggested he go to ask people in other cities, a procedure which Gorman,pressed for money, was not able to follow. Gorman had difficultyalso with some of Joyce's friends such as Ezra Pound, who refused to bebothered with the past, or with others who planned their own volumesof reminiscence. Even those who were disposed to co-operate, such asHarriet Weaver and Sylvia Beach, were not so immediately available forcandid discussion as Gorman would have liked. 97Joyce had let it beunderstood that the biography was to be an authorized one, but therewere moments when he lost interest; so he said to Byrne, who protestedthe choice of Gorman as biographer, i don't care what they write.' 98 Onthe other hand, he prodded Stanislaus to send Gorman copies of hisletters, and Stanislaus did so, reluctantly and slowly. The original planhad been for Gorman to finish his book in about a year, but to Joyce'sirritation it was not ready then or for many years thereafter.*In the month just before Gorman began work, and during the days oftheir early consultations in December 1930, Joyce, with his secondarypassion for extending other languages as he had extended English, washard at the French translation of Anna Livia Plurabelle. It had beenbegun by Samuel Beckett and a young French friend, Alfred Peron, whohad spent a year at Trinity College in Dublin. The original plan was forBeckett to continue as the principal translator, but after submitting aversion of the opening pages he had to return to Ireland. 100His work wasthereupon revised by Paul Leon, Eugene Jolas, and Ivan Goll, underJoyce's supervision. 'There is nothing that cannot be translated,' saidJoyce. 101It was decided that the French version must be revamped again,and at the -end of November Philippe Soupault was enlisted to meet withJoyce and Leon every Thursday at 2:30 in Leon's flaton the rue CasimirPerier. They sat for three hours at a round table, which Leon threatenedto sell if Joyce would inscribe his name upon it; 102and while Joycesmoked in an armchair Leon read the English text, Soupault read theFrench, and Joyce or one of the others would break into the antiphonyto ask that a phrase be reconsidered. Joyce then explained the ambiguitieshe had intended, and he or one of his collaborators dug up an equivalent.Joyce's great emphasis was upon the flowof the line, and he some-* Joyce was always friendly with the Gormans, and on one occasion, when Mrs. (Jean)Gorman complained to him that John Holms, who came often with Peggy Guggenheimto see them, never wanted to leave, he wrote a poem:To Mrs. Herbert Gorman who complains that her visitors kept late hours:Go ca'canny with the cognac and of the wine fight shyKeep a watch upon the hourglass but leave the beaker dryGuest friendliness to callers is your surest thief of timeThey're so much at Holms when with you, they can't dream ofGuggenheim."