[ad_1]
James Joyce began and ended his exile from Eire in Zurich. It’s the place he fled to from Dublin in 1904, discovered refuge in the course of the first World Struggle and died in 1941. In between he lived in Trieste, Rome and Paris, however Zurich has a particular place in his legacy — as a result of Zurich is the place he primarily wrote Ulysses.
Sitting in Zurich’s Café Odeon on a sunny summer time lunchtime, 100 years after its publication, I ponder how a lot of town made it into the ebook.
Are there shades of the Odeon within the descriptions of the Ormond Resort bar, Barney Kiernan’s or Burke’s the place Leopold Bloom stopped off on his well-known stroll round Dublin on June sixteenth, 1904, the day James Joyce first walked out with Nora Barnacle from Galway?
Lower than 4 months later, James and Nora have been in Zurich, typically known as town of their “honeymoon”, although how a lot of a honeymoon it was for Nora, left alone whereas James was off discovering out his job supply on the Berlitz faculty was a hoax, is debatable — they usually weren’t even married anyway.
They left for Trieste however returned to Zurich in 1915, when the Odeon was simply 4 years previous and a gathering place for exiles, artists and avant-garde intellectuals like Lenin, Einstein and the newly shaped Dadaists.
![](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/meE7uGnZCQt00qmG2wxuji1oVLY=/1440x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7ZZ3R4PR4JFGHICPBQL4ATI62I.jpg)
One in all Joyce’s favorite cafes within the metropolis, immediately the Odeon is a brilliant venue for a well-heeled crowd with its marble topped tables, pink banquettes and Artwork Nouveau vibe.
After a lunch of salad, beef stew and potatoes (€25 for 2 programs), I stroll up in the direction of the lake, passing the fashionable Kronenhalle, one other Joycean favorite the place Coco Chanel, Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso additionally held court docket. At present in addition to bar and restaurant (the place you’ll pay €20 euro for a cocktail and double that for a foremost course), it’s a cultural centre and basis, set as much as assist arts initiatives and fund artistic tasks.
Zurich’s previous city is laid out alongside the River Limmat which flows from Lake Zurich and at Bellevue (“lovely sight”) I cross the Quaibrucke — Quay Bridge — which separates them. The streets by the lake are buzzing within the sunshine with canine walkers and vacationers, folks eating on the cafe terraces and picnicking on benches on the water’s edge. Screened behind bushes, town visitors rushes previous, under the balconies of the fortunate individuals who reside within the coronary heart of town with a lake outdoors their entrance door.
I flip again north alongside the Limmat with its swimmers and sunbathers and surprise if it reminded Joyce of the Liffey. There mightn’t be too many swimming within the Liffey lately however swimming in Zurich’s crystal-clear waters is huge with the locals.
I move the river’s Frauenbad (”ladies’s baths”), historically reserved for ladies, with its covered-in part for privateness and, additional down, the Fraumünster (“ladies’s church”), with Marc Chagall stained-glass home windows, constructed on the positioning of a ninth century ladies’s abbey.
In January 1941, Joyce had his final night time out within the Kronenhalle. He went to hospital in extreme ache the following morning …
Ducking in behind the ninth century St Peter’s church, with its distinctive tower and the most important clock face in Europe, I sit beneath the shady lime bushes on Lindenhof and watch a chess recreation performed on a large board with life-size items. Excessive above town with gorgeous river views, this space has variously been residence to the Celts, Romans and Ottonians and housed temples, castles and palaces.
From right here I can see the College district the place the Joyces lived at 38 Universitätsstrasse in 1918, when James’s fame was starting to unfold. The tram stops proper outdoors, a small plaque marks the constructing. That yr, the primary episodes of Ulysses have been printed in American avant-garde journal The Little Evaluation — “essentially the most lovely factor we’ll ever must publish”, stated founder Margaret Anderson.
Again on the river, the solar is sinking decrease and wine bottles are being uncorked on benches and restaurant terraces. I make my option to the Resort Storchen and my fashionable room overlooking the Limmat, swans bobbing outdoors the window. The Storchen is a lodge so fancy it has its personal river boat which ferries company to sister lodge The Alex on the western shores of Lake Zurich.
A member of the unique Most well-liked Resorts and Resorts group, its riverside terrace is a scenic spot for a glass of the native glowing wine, whereas an upstairs cigar bar, all leather-based padded seats and darkish wooden, allows you to smoke inside looking on the river. (Rooms from £380, preferredhotels.com).
![](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/R60st5i8l-HUAu1NDmBGisCM2fk=/1440x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/ELSAHWTCHBEDXIJ6OUBT7FS64Y.jpg)
I’ve dinner within the lodge’s Michelin-starred La Rôtisserie on the primary flooring terrace, a luxurious feast that features scallops, oysters and ravioli, a number of amuse bouches, varied foams and infused delectations, with views of the dual towered Grossmünster church on the river financial institution, the snow-capped Alps within the distance.
James and Nora would have liked it. Not like typical Trieste, in Zurich wives often accompanied their husbands to theatres and eating places and James and Nora loved common nights out. Keen on a drop, it wasn’t unusual for him to be carried residence.
The following morning I’m again on the terrace, the place I’m supplied eggs from the lodge hens (they reside on a farm close to the lake) and occasional so nice it nearly makes me weep. The sky is a bit cloudier immediately as I head north to Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich’s fashionable procuring avenue the place Nora purchased her finery once they have been lastly within the cash. Joyce stated it was so clear that you could possibly eat minestrone off it with out utilizing a spoon. (He was additionally recognized to bounce on it after a number of jars.)
Close by on Pelikanstrasse, the James Joyce pub is decked out within the former Victorian inside of Jury’s Vintage Bar on Dame St (the barmaid will get a point out in Ulysses), shipped over from Dublin in 1978. It was the assembly place of the seventh Worldwide James Joyce Symposium a yr later and in 1985 the Zurich James Joyce Basis was arrange across the nook on Augustinergasse.
![](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/ALh9SePfqN5DoWa6opdsY0gPZso=/1440x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/SNPLRJSDTZMDRSNHBBEMDTZ3RA.jpg)
I stroll previous the Nationwide Museum to Platzspitz park the place the Limmat and Sihl rivers meet, a spot Joyce liked to go to and the place his favorite picture was taken, standing dealing with the river. Fleeing Nazi-occupied France for Zurich in 1940, he took his little grandson Stephen to see it as quickly as they arrived, regardless of the very fact it was December, snowing and he was fighting agonising abdomen cramps. At present the names of the river are inscribed on the wall as Ljmmat and Sjhl — the “j” changing “i” in his honour.
In January 1941, Joyce had his final night time out within the Kronenhalle. He went to hospital in extreme ache the following morning and died three days later — the cramps recognized as “nervous power”, a perforated ulcer.
It’s actually clouding over as I take the tram from the prepare station to the tip of the road, a journey up steep hills previous leafy streets of indifferent mansions, the place the residents both have superb leg muscular tissues or automobiles. The final cease is the zoo and it’s raining heavy as I get out, umbrella raised, to go to Joyce’s grave within the Fluntern Cemetery subsequent door, surrounded by bushes and flowers. He was keen on the zoo’s lions, and when he was buried Nora stated she appreciated to think about him mendacity there listening to them roar.
James Joyce might have left Eire, however Eire by no means left him, and for all his rejection of the nation and the nets it casts over our souls, he missed it. In Zurich he wrote Ulysses, a ebook about journeys however primarily it’s a narrative about coming residence.
Getting there and round
Swiss Air flies direct to Zurich from Dublin, Swiss.com. For extra info on town go to Zuerich.com and MySwitzerland.com. A Swiss Journey Go, from €238 for 3 days, gives limitless journey on the nation’s rail, bus and boat community, Mystsnet.com.
Studying checklist
Richard Ellmann wrote the definitive Joyce biography in 1959 and Gordon Bowker one of many newer in 2011, however for a ladies’s tackle Joyce learn James Joyce by Edna O’Brien, printed in 1999.
The Brenda Maddox biography of Nora Barnacle, Nora, is a traditional, and you may also learn a fictionalised account of her life within the One Dublin One Ebook selection for 2022, Nora by Nuala O’Connor, printed earlier this yr.
[ad_2]
Source link