Finding Miss Weaver: James Joyce and the Patron of Ulysses
Channel: British Library
Date: 2022-04-10

Harriet Shaw Weaver (1876–1961) was a noted feminist and littérateur who became associated with Joyce in 1914 when she serialised his work in The Egoist magazine. Independently wealthy, within a few years she began giving Joyce significant financial support in order to complete Ulysses. She also typed and checked manuscripts, undertook to become his publisher in England, and gave other practical assistance, particularly in respect of his health and the support of his family.

Without Weaver’s support, Ulysses might never have seen the light of day. Weaver’s papers are held at the British Library, and are one of the world’s most important Joyce archives. The materials document the emotionally and financially complicated relationship behind Ulysses. This talk by Dr Clare Hutton looks at some of the key objects in the archive and sheds new light on Weaver and the making of Ulysses.

A small display devoted to Joyce and Ulysses in its centenary year may be seen in the British Library Treasures Gallery from 1 February to May 2022.

Dr Clare Hutton is Reader in English and Digital Humanities at Loughborough University, and the curator of Women and the Making of Joyce’s Ulysses, a centenary exhibition at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Serial Encounters: Ulysses and the Little Review (OUP, 2019) and editor of The Irish Book in English, 1891-2000 (OUP, 2011).