A JOYCEAN scholar described as having made “an enormous contribution” to cracking the literary code to Finnegans Wake has brought a High Court action over alleged breach of copyright concerning his work.
Danis Rose has sued two other Joycean scholars and a Belgian publisher over alleged use of his commentary on the notebooks of James Joyce in connection with Joyce’s novel, Finnegans Wake.
The case concerns the alleged copyright of Mr Rose’s analysis of the Joyce notebooks which, the court heard, was begun in the 1970s and was his life’s work.
The dispute arises from a commentary published in 2001 in four volumes entitled James Joyce, the Finnegan’s Wake Notebooks at Buffalo.
It is claimed Mr Rose was to have been fully attributed in the publication but “was dumped” by Vincent Deane and Geert Lernout when it became clear the Joyce estate would try to veto the publication if Mr Rose was involved.
Mr Rose, of Strawberry Beds, Dublin, has brought the proceedings against Belgian book publisher Brepols; Mr Deane, a literary scholar and academic publisher, Anna Villa, Ranelagh, Dublin; and Prof Lernout, a Joyce expert, of the University of Antwerp. The defendants have denied the claims.
Ms Justice Mary Laffoy was told yesterday that Danis Rose is a nom de plume for Denis O’Hanlon.
Outlining the case, Dr Michael Forde SC, with Daniel Simms, said James Joyce kept notebooks, about 50 of which are extant, in which he would regularly enter words or groups of words as well as unusual and foreign language words. Many of the notebooks were held at the State University of New York, Buffalo.
In the mid-1970s, Mr Rose had discovered a rationale or logic for all the notebook entries and how they were connected with the book Finnegans Wake, he said.
In the commentary books in question, on one side of a page was a colour photocopy of each individual page of the Joyce notebooks. On the opposite page, Mr Rose’s analysis was set out. Mr Rose was claiming copyright over that written commentary, all his own work, contending it was being reproduced and sold without his consent. It is claimed Mr Rose agreed with Mr Deane and Mr Lernout to collaborate in getting a fully annotated edition of the Joyce notebooks published.
Counsel said Mr Rose’s case was that 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.
In 1999, the Joyce estate intervened and vetoed any further involvement of Mr Rose in the project, Dr Forde said.
“At no stage did he consent to his work being published without it at minimum being fully attributed to him,” counsel said.
In evidence, journalist and author Bruce Arnold said Mr Rose had begun to unravel how Finnegans Wake took shape. The Joyce notebooks were like code books that had to be cracked, and Mr Rose’s work was of enormous value, he said.