A GRANDSON of James Joyce did not want Irish Joycean scholar Danis Rose involved in a project to publish works on the Joyce notebooks, the High Court was told yesterday.
One of the editors of the volumes on the notebooks told the court that Stephen James Joyce had discussed who should be involved in the editorial team and had said he did not want Mr Rose.
Paris-based professor Daniel Ferrar said he was initially sorry that Mr Rose could not be part of the editorial team because of his immense knowledge of the Joyce notebooks. However, he later knew he could not work with Mr Rose, he added.
Prof Ferrar was giving evidence on the fourth day of Mr Rose’s action for alleged breach of copyright.
Mr Rose, Strawberry Beds, Dublin, has brought the proceedings against Belgian book publishers Brepols; literary scholar Vincent Deane of Anna Villa, Ranelagh, and Joyce expert and professor, Geert Lernout of the University of Antwerp.
He has alleged breach of copyright in relation to his commentary on the James Joyce notebooks in connection with Joyce’s work, Finnegans Wake. The dispute relates to material published in four volumes entitled James Joyce, the Finnegans Wake Notebooks at Buffalo, in 2001.
The case centres on the alleged copyright of Mr Rose’s analysis of the Joyce notebooks. Fifty of the notebooks are held in the University of New York, Buffalo.
Mr Rose claims he gave copies of the commentary to Mr Deane for the purpose of eventual publication and he was to be one of the publication’s editors with full attribution. The claims are denied by the defendants.
Yesterday, Prof Ferrar who, along with Mr Deane and Prof Lernout, was an editor of the volumes, told the court that Stephen James Joyce had originally withheld his permission for the publication but in early 1998, he phoned the witness and said it was time to go ahead with the project.
Prof Ferrar said it was “a great advance” for the Joyce estate to agree to anything. When he discussed who should be involved with Stephen James Joyce, Mr Joyce said he did not want Mr Rose, he said.
Prof Ferrar said they wanted in the publication to recreate Joyce’s creative process.
Mr Deane had sent work to him and his group in Paris and they carried out further research and also travelled to Buffalo to view the original notebooks. Mr Rose was acknowledged as a source in a volume introduction, he added.
The hearing before Ms Justice Mary Laffoy continues next week.