Madam, - In his interesting article on James Joyce, Martin Mansergh rightly says that Joyce owed "a great deal to the women in his life", and names Joyce's wife Nora and his publisher, Sylvia Beach. I would like to add the name of another woman, Harriet Shaw Weaver, an Englishwoman of Quaker background, who for years was Joyce's financial benefactress.
When my late wife, Patricia Hutchins, was researching her book James Joyce's World, I had the privilege of meeting Ms Weaver at our flat in London and hers in Oxford. She turned out to be a quite modest and unpretentious lady. When in London I suggested I would phone for a taxi to take her to the railway station she said she would sooner use public transport. I also remember she always referred to the great Dubliner as "Mr Joyce". - Yours, etc.,
ROBERT GREACEN
(Member of Aosdána),
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.