A newly discovered manuscript of the "Circe" episode of James Joyce's Ulysses is to be auctioned at Christie's, New York, on December 14th.
This is by far the most important Joyce manuscript to come on the market for many years. It carries an estimated sale price of $600,000 to $1 million.
The manuscript is an early, previously unknown draft of "Circe", the longest and probably the most important of the book's 18 episodes.
It consists of 27 large sheets, densely written, some with additions on the back. It is a working draft, not a fair copy: all the pages are filled with corrections, deletions and additions on the margins in Joyce's characteristic small, close, angular hand.
Most paragraphs have been crossed through with blue crayon by Joyce, probably to show that they had been transcribed into another, later draft.
"Circe", the 15th episode of the book, deals with the experiences of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus in "Nighttown" (an alternative title for the episode), the brothel quarter of Dublin in 1904. It is a sustained phantasmagoria, a witches' sabbath, in which the underlying fantasies and fears of the principal characters are acted out in semi-dramatic, almost cinematic form.
The realistic events of the preceding day recur distorted in a dream-like, expressionistic way by their incorporation into Bloom's and Stephen's private worlds. It is probably Joyce's most astonishing achievement in the entire book.
The manuscript is accompanied by the original postmarked envelope, addressed from Paris in Joyce's hand, in which it was sent to the American book collector and lawyer, John Quinn. Quinn is well known as the original owner of what is now called the Rosenbach manuscript (part of which is at present on display at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin), a fair copy of the whole of Ulysses at an intermediate stage of its development. Until now, it was not known that he had also received this early draft of "Circe" in the course of his dealings with Joyce.
As is frequently the case in these matters, the present owner of the manuscript wishes to remain anonymous. It was not included in the sale of Quinn's collection that took place in New York in 1923, being regarded as something of a "leftover", and instead has only made its way to the auction room today.
Christie's manuscripts specialist, Mr Chris Coover, declared: "This is the most important document I have ever worked with." It is hoped to arrange for some of it, at least, to be shown in Dublin prior to the sale on December 14th. It would be nice, indeed, if the manuscript were to find a permanent home here.
The announcement of this sale is a significant event in the world of Joyce scholarship. It will certainly give pause to those who have long argued that there are no important Joyce manuscripts still awaiting discovery which would alter our view of the text of Ulysses. It is likely to affect an edition such as that of Hans Walter Gabler, which had been presented at the time (though not by him) as definitive - and, indeed, all editions of the work. At the very least, it will provide new and valuable insights into Joyce's methods and intentions and creative decisions in the writing of this crucial episode of his novel.