17 October 2019 - Plan to exhume James Joyce’s remains fires international ‘battle of the bones’
Bid to repatriate James Joyce's remains ahead of Ulysses centenary
Sian Cain (The Guardian, 15/10/2019)
A plan to repatriate the remains of James Joyce and his wife Nora Barnacle and finally observe their last wishes, has been proposed by Dublin city councillors more than 70 years after the author’s death.
Born in the Dublin suburb of Rathgar in 1882, Joyce spent decades living away from Ireland due to his growing animosity towards Irish society and his need to find work. He died in Zurich in January 1941 at the age of 58, after undergoing surgery on a perforated ulcer. He is buried in Fluntern cemetery in Zurich, alongside his wife Nora, who died 10 years later. In 1966, they were moved from an ordinary grave to a more prominent one, where their son Giorgio was later buried with them in 1976.
'James Joyce did not wish to go back to Ireland': Head of Joyce Foundation says there would be 'resistance' to repatriation
Conor McCrave (The Journal, 16/10/2019)
James Joyce never showed any intention of returning to Ireland and there would likely be resistance to any request to have his remains repatriated, the director of the Joyce Foundation in Switzerland has warned.
On Monday, councillors on Dublin City Council backed a motion to write to the government and ask that the remains of the Irish writer, which are buried with his wife, Nora Barnacle, and his son and his wife, in Fluntern cemetery in Zurich, be repatriated to Dublin.
Why Irish Politicians Are Seeking to Unearth James Joyce
Arden Dier (Newser, 16/10/2019)
James Joyce could be in for an international move some 70 years after his death. Officials in Ireland hope to dig up the country's "premier writer" in order to repatriate his remains and those of his wife, kept at a Swiss cemetery, before the 100th anniversary of Joyce's masterpiece Ulysses in 2022, reports the Guardian. Dublin City Council backed the move Monday after councillors Dermot Lacey and Paddy McCartan made the case that it was the final wish of the couple to be buried in the homeland Joyce departed in 1904 at age 22, per the Irish Times. "Exile was a key element in his writing but for it to follow him into eternity? I don't think that was part of the plan," says McCartan, who will now petition the Irish government to get on board. He may also need to convince Joyce's grandson and quite a few others.
Dublin councillors are fighting to have James Joyce's remains brought back to Ireland
Rachael O'Connor (The Irish Post, 15/10/2019)
A meeting of Dublin councillors in a South East Area committee took an interesting turn this week when two members, Dermot Lacey and Paddy McCartan, put forward a motion to have writer James Joyce's remains exhumed from Switzerland and returned to his home country of Ireland.
According to The Irish Times, the councillors argued that it had been the wish of the late great author, and that of his wife Nora Barnacle, that they be buried in Dublin.
“It would appear he wanted to be buried here, and it would be nice to do it on the centenary of the publication of one of the most important books of modern literature," Councillor Lacey said.