Sunday, December 25, 2011

Gabriel Conroy


Thinking about James Joyce this Christmas, less than a month before his "Ulysses" enters the public domain.

Thinking, too, about Gabriel Conroy, the protagonist of Joyce's story, "The Dead," widely considered the best short story in the English language.

Conroy is modeled on JJ, and something many don't know about Joyce, was that he was a tenor, and an accomplished pianist who often liked to entertain his guests by playing piano on Christmas day.

Here's hoping this will be the year that I'm finally able to bring the story of Sylvia Beach's struggle to publish "Ulysses," and her turbulent relationship with the Irish writer to the big screen.