Madam – Your archive pages (June 29th 1963, reproduced in Weekend Review May 30th) carry Seamus Kelly's report on John F Kennedy's address to the Dáil in 1963. JFK was daring enough to refer to James Joyce in his speech and quote a description of the Atlantic as "a bowl of bitter tears". Joyce, however, made no reference to the Atlantic in Ulysses, nor did he use this phrase. The piece of sea in question is Dublin Bay, and the phrase used is "a bowl of bitter waters". Kennedy, or his speech-writer, probably guessed that none of his audience knew Ulysseswell enough to catch him out when he transformed Joyce from a proud and wilful exile to yet another sentimental Irishman grieving over the Diaspora. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It was with some amusement that I read the pages from June 29th, 1963 to see Mr Anthony Barry. TD quoted as saying “This country has got into a mess”. The more things change the more they stay the same. – Yours, etc,
