THE dispute over a new edition of James Joyce's Ulysses intensified yesterday when the author's grandson strongly, criticised the "Reader's Edition of the novel.
In a letter to the Times Literary Supplement, Mr Stephen James Joyce said: "To have had the audacity to put the name James Joyce on this outrageous misrepresentation of Ulysses, my grandfather's unique masterpiece, is demeaning to his creative, imaginative genius.
"If this book is to continue to be sold, the name James Joyce must be eliminated, stricken from the dust jacket, over and inside title pages of this edition. The estate will spare no effort to achieve this aim."
The Joyce estate had issued a writ against Picador, the British publishers of the edition, claiming infringement of copyright. A court hearing scheduled for June 16th failed to take place, and a deadline for further action expired at the beginning of this week. The publishers argue Joyce was out of copyright in the period in which work on the edition started.
Mr Joyce objects to changes in the text, referred to by the editor of the edition as a "clarification". "We are in no sense trying to censor `scholars' from expounding their theories but rather to protect a major work of art," writes Mr Joyce. "It is our duty to protect readers from this type of charade." Mr Joyce concludes his letter with the question: "Is this not the rape of Ulysses?"
Mr Danis Rose, the Dublin based editor of the edition, said yesterday: "Mr Joyce's letter is incorrect, outrageous, hysterical and abusive. It is what one has come to expect from Stephen Joyce. He's manifestly seeking to impose his view of what Ulysses is on the world."
Mr Rose argues that he has done nothing other than make a great work of literature more accessible. "It is as if I had committed a sin," he said. "I have made a version of Ulysses that is maximally transparent to the reader in the hope that Ulysses will be read as a novel.
Mr Joyce further claims that his earlier silence on the edition was because he was unable to secure a copy until the publishers were ordered by the court to hand one over.
Ms Tanya Stobbs, senior editor at Picador, said that if Mr Joyce had visited a bookshop he would have been able to buy a prepublication copy of the book. "We will continue to publish and have every confidence in the edition", she added.