Community of Joyce scholars grapples with accusations of misogyny and harassment claims

The international community of James Joyce scholars is small, tight-knit and collegial.

Several times a year, academics gather for summer schools and symposiums in the cities the celebrated author called home, including Zurich, Trieste and, of course, Dublin.

This group of scholars, which numbers roughly 1,000 academics, present papers and hold forums examining the minutiae of Joyce’s works from every possible angle. The discussions often continue in the pub afterwards and last late into the night.

This informality allows the free exchange of ideas, without the occasional stuffiness of academia. It is sometimes also, according to many members of the community, the scene of misogyny, inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment.

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Most of the 16 academics who spoke to The Irish Times stressed the number of people in Joyce studies who engage in such behaviour is small. However, they appear to act with impunity, interviewees said, and are invited back to events year after year.

[ Joyce scholar asked to leave Glasgow academic conference over inappropriate behaviour ]

On several occasions, female Joyce scholars have outlined incidents where they have been made to feel unsafe, objectified or made to feel uncomfortable by the comments and actions of male colleagues.

To counter this, an unofficial group of mostly female Joyce academics – known as the “whisper network” – emerged that allowed them to share stories and warn each other about potentially problematic people.

“I tell my students before they go to conferences who to avoid,” Katherine Ebury, a senior lecturer in modern literature at the University of Sheffield, told The Irish Times.

Jonathan Goldman, the president of the New York-based James Joyce Society, recalled warning a student about attending certain events at a Joyce event because of who was attending them.

“It’s a terrible feeling to have to give a young scholar warnings about certain activities because of who is leading them,” he said.

What is it about Joyce studies that seems to attract such men? Do scholarly communities around, say, Samuel Beckett or William Butler Yeats have similar problems?

“It is definitely an issue throughout academia, but I do suspect that there are certain characteristics or traits within the Joyce world that exacerbate it,” said Sam Slote, an English professor in English at Trinity College and one of Ireland’s foremost Joyce scholars.

Other academics were unambiguous about what they believe these traits to be. “Joyce was a pervert,” said one scholar who has been targeted with abuse. His writings attract a certain type of people who find it “titillating” to have debates about, for example, Molly Bloom’s breasts, she said.

Rightly or wrongly, much of Joyce’s work has a “smutty” reputation, which may serve to attract “creeps”, said Casey Lawrence, a Canadian Joyce scholar.

“On three separate occasions, in different contexts, I have heard groups of women in Joyce studies referred to as a harem.”

By comparison, Beckett studies is a much more “welcoming and inclusive” place, says Vicki Mahaffey, a retired University of Pennsylvania professor.

“I can’t imagine this kind of behaviour taking place there.”

The problem is made worse by the structural issues which impact much of academia. Pay is poor and opportunities for promotion few and far between, meaning there can be a significant power imbalance between senior academics and those starting out.

These power imbalances are a common dynamic in academic communities, says John Brannigan, head of the school of English at UCD. “But that’s not an excuse for any of the behaviour we have heard about here.”

Matters came to a head around 2018, when in the wake of the “Me Too movement” – the public and social media campaign that raised awareness about sexual abuse – a group of academics organised the writing of an open letter, which was signed by 129 Joyceans and published in the Modernist Review.

The letter spoke of inappropriate or criminal behaviour at Joyce events, including “misogyny, voyeurism, abuse of power, harassment, assault, rape”.

“When complaints are bravely made, we rarely see action being taken,” it said.

Some reforms were introduced. The various Joyce international organisations published codes of conduct and introduced stronger grievance procedures.

But the problems persisted until June 2023 when Laura Gibbs, a promising young scholar, announced that she was leaving the world of Joyce studies immediately after completing her doctorate. The field had become “uninhabitable” for her “due to the inherent abuses of power which permeate the conference spaces and summer schools,” she said.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Gibbs said her breaking point was the 2022 Dublin Joyce Symposium, “when I spent most of my time telling younger scholars to watch out for people”.

Her announcement sparked another flurry of activity, leading to the James Joyce Society hosting a round-table discussion.

“I am reminded here of someone who said that they didn’t report an incident because it would be career suicide and that speaking out against people in positions of power can get you de facto banned from events,” Lawrence told the workshop, according to a transcript of her remarks seen by The Irish Times.

Afterwards, more safeguards were introduced, including the appointment of safety officers at Joyce events to handle complaints. It wasn’t long before these systems were put to the test.

Last week, at the 29th International James Joyce Symposium in Glasgow, a complaint was made against Fritz Senn, one of the world’s foremost Joyce experts, that he had sexually harassed a young woman during the event.

The complainant alleged he had made inappropriate comments or compliments towards the woman, had given her unwanted gifts and had taken her photograph repeatedly without consent.

The committee of safety officers set up for the event upheld the complaint and asked Senn to leave.

Asked to comment on the complaint against him, Senn – a 2023 recipient of a distinguished service award from President Michael D Higgins recognising services to the Irish abroad – said that to chronicle Joyce events, he usually takes photos of participants.

“I also took photos of the volunteer, without her explicit consent, not being aware at the time that the volunteer might perceive my behaviour as inappropriate,” he said in response to queries from The Irish Times.

“If they were unsettled or offended by my actions, I sincerely regret this.”

Asked in advance of the conference what safeguards had been put in place, Dr Matthew Creasy, organiser of the Glasgow event, said they were taking “robust measures” to ensure the safety of attendees, including the creation of a dedicated safety team and the appointment of an independent ombudsman.

“If there are any complaints, appropriate measures will be taken. It is our hope that the conference will be a joyous occasion to celebrate and explore the life and works of one of Ireland’s greatest writers,” Dr Creasy said in reply to queries.

Following the conference, the organiser confirmed – without naming Senn – that the safety committee had received and upheld “a complaint of sexual harassment” and that “a delegate” had been asked to leave the venue.

The community will now be watching to see if Senn is welcomed back to future events, including the 17th James Joyce Italian Foundation Conference in Rome in January, which lists him as a keynote speaker.