1n6xZiV

666 J A M E S [ 1932-1935 ]the retinue seemed to have failed him; for months he had done nothingwith his biography, and on October 27 Joyce, in irritation, withdrewauthorization for the book.*The tenor of Joyce's days remained melancholy, but occasionally hewas enlivened. During the autumn he awaited anxiously the result of thetrial of Ulysses for obscenity in the United States District Court in NewYork. The case was ably prepared and argued by Morris L. Ernst,t whowith his assistant Alexander Lindley collected letters and opinions fromhundreds of educators, writers, clergymen, businessmen, and librarians.Ernst's brief quoted Stuart Gilbert, Rebecca West, Shane Leslie, ArnoldBennett, Ernest Boyd, Gilbert Seldes, and Edmund Wilson. The argumentcontended that standards of obscenity change, and that Ulysses wasnot obscene by the standards of 1933. It was, instead, a classic, far toocomplicated to challenge the curiosity of the lascivious, and written onthe whole for 'edification and delight.' 80 The intelligent judge, John M.Woolsey, listened carefully to the arguments on November 25. He haddevoted most of the summer to reading the book. On December 6 heannounced his decision so eloquently and emphatically that Joyce at lastachieved his old ambition of obtaining a famous verdict. Woolsey's decisionsaid much more than it had to; it suggested that Joyce was seekingto represent the screen of consciousness, by means of a clear foregroundand a background visible but somewhat blurred and out of focus in varyingdegrees. The intention and method required frankness, and withoutit would have been dishonest. He nowhere found 'the leer of the sensualist,'but an 'honest,' 'sincere,' 'somewhat tragic but very powerfulwere shining' and breaking into the moving romance measure with the version: Odulcid dreamings languidous: Tabocco. [Finnegans Wake, 427][Joyce quotes a poem about himself by Adrienne Monnier] homme de colere, hommede peche, homme de patience.PEARSE: This allusion should be guarded as he sacrificed himself for his ideals but inclassroom he was a bore.SWIFT: There is in W i P Part I a ferocious travesty of his dull elucabration on thedeath of Mrs Esther Johnson which begins 'The just defunct Mrs Saunders who (theLoyd insure her!) I was shift and shuft to . . .' [Finnegans Wake, 413]Bloom's bath: does your reader realize what a unique event this was in the Dublin Iknew up to 1904.[of Juda de Vries] Wine women and song: It is perhaps impossible for you to giveyour reader a just idea of the state of enthusiasm which this trinity one at a timecaused him. 77* But he eventually gave it back. The delay was caused by Gorman's divorce and remarriage.t Bennett Cerf was so doubtful of success that he allocated a share of the royalties to Ernston a contingency basis instead of the usual legal fees. 79