LETTERS OF JAMES JOYCE, VOLUMES II AND III. Edited by Richard Ellmann. 1,056 pages. Viking. $25 for the pair.
It is doubtful that a man can be known from his letters alone, but in the case of James Joyce, the letters become stage lights that illuminate the variegated disguises, postures, attitudes and importunities that he showed to the world.
In his 58 years, Joyce lived at more than 200 residences scattered across the face of Europe—fleabags and fine hotels, hospitals and clinics, pensions and borrowed apartments, students' rooms and Martello towers. In these settings, Joyce wrote his books, from the epiphanies represented by...
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