The legendary romance between Nora Barnacle and James Joyce did not have the most auspicious start: Nora did not show up for their first date. The pair first met on June 10 1904, on a street in Dublin, and arranged to meet four days later in the city’s Merrion Square. When Nora did not turn up, James left her a note at Finn's Hotel where she worked. They met again on June 16, the date on which James’ masterpiece ‘Ulysses’ is set. Richard Ellmann, James Joyce’s biographer wrote: “To set ’Ulysses’ on this date was Joyce’s most eloquent if indirect tribute to Nora. It was the day upon which he entered into relation with the world around him and left behind him the loneliness he had felt since his mother’s death.” From that meeting on, apart from a few separate visits home to Ireland, they would rarely spend any time apart.
Nora Barnacle was born in the Galway Workhouse maternity ward in 1884, the second daughter in a family of six girls and a son. Her father, Thomas, was a baker in Connemara, and her mother, Annie Honoria Healy, was a dressmaker. Nora's parents sent her to live with her maternal grandmother Catherine Mortimer Healy from 1886 to 1889. In 1896, Nora finished Catholic school and began to work as a porter and laundress. In the same year, her parents separated; her mother cited her father’s drinking as grounds. Nora and her mother went to live with her uncle, Tom Healy.
At age twelve, Nora fell in love with a teenager named Michael Feeney, who died soon after of typhoid and pneumonia. Four years later, her boyfriend, Michael Bodkin died. In 1903, she started seeing Willie Mulvagh, a Protestant man. When her uncle learned of this relationship, he became violent towards Nora, and she escaped to Dublin where she began work as a chambermaid in Finn's hotel.
Aged twenty – four months after meeting James – Nora left behind everything she knew to emigrate with him in 1904. They arrived in Zurich before travelling to Pula, where James taught English at the Berlitz school. In 1905, the couple moved to Trieste. They had two children, Georgio in 1905 and Lucia in 1907. Even though they described themselves as husband and wife, they did not marry until 1931, greatly flying in the face of convention and social mores. Nora and her family went on to live in five different countries, moving whenever James needed fresh inspiration, or when they were evicted for failing to pay their rent. She learned three European languages. In 1936, their daughter Lucia – for a time a patient of Carl Jung – was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was admitted to a clinic. Nora believed the condition required hospitalisation, whereas James did not, their conflicting opinions placing a great strain on their relationship.
Nora deeply inspired Joyce’s writing, particularly with the characterisation of Gretta Conroy in the story ‘The Dead’ in ‘Dubliners’, and as Molly Bloom in ‘Ulysses’.
Nora’s memory of the grief she experienced when Michael Bodkin died inspired the character of Gretta in ‘The Dead’, while her deceased boyfriend became fictionalised as the tragic Michael Furey in the story. Nora took James to Michael’s grave during a visit to Galway in 1912, and James later wrote that Michael was Nora’s “buried life, her past”. “I think he died for me”, Gretta says of Michael in the story.
It was during two major separations in 1909 when James travelled to Ireland and Nora remained in Trieste, that the couple began writing erotic letters to each other. Nora’s letters went on to inspire ‘Ulysses’ character Molly Bloom’s stream-of-consciousness way of thinking and speaking. Her writing lacked punctuation or capitalisation, in the same style as the interior monologue of Molly Bloom at the end of the novel. Since 1954, June 16 has been known worldwide as “Bloomsday”, a celebration of ‘Ulysses’. Initially deemed obscene, the novel has since been hailed as a masterpiece of Modernist literature. However, Nora often expressed a lack of interest in James’ writing. When ‘Ulysses’ was published she was said to have weighed it in her hand and sarcastically asked a friend, “How much will you give me for this?”
To those who knew them, Nora and James were considered an odd couple, with vastly different personalities and interests. She was quoted as saying: “People say I have helped him to be a genius. What they’ll be saying next is that if it hadn’t been for that ignoramus of a woman what a man he would have been! But never you mind. I could tell them a thing or two about him after 20 years.” In letters to her sister, Nora wrote that James’ writings made no sense and that she would have preferred him to have been a famous singer instead of a famous writer. She complained of James’ drinking and spendthrift nature. On one occasion she was said to have threatened James that if he did not stop drinking, she would have their children baptised!
Despite their differences and challenges, they remained a very close couple. At James’ funeral, Nora stood at his graveside and exclaimed: “Jim, how beautiful you are!” She was widowed for a decade before she died in a clinic in Zurich from acute arthritis in 1951.
The Lovers Card
The Lovers are pictured together in a state of harmony under the care of Archangel Raphael, the patron saint of happy meetings, matchmakers, and Christian marriage in Catholicism. A mountain separates the Lovers, creating a barrier between them. However, the angel presides over it, helping the Lovers to relate to one another no matter what obstacles exist.
The Lovers card often signifies the coming together of opposites – like Nora and James – and asks us to reflect on how we can better understand our own – and other people’s – motivations. Our relationships can at times reflect underdeveloped sides to ourselves; our chosen partners possess traits we feel we do not have but would like to embody. The card encourages us to balance and integrate all parts of ourselves and reminds us that the most important relationship is the one we have with ourselves.
The Lovers card represents our choices, and whether we make decisions from a place of fear or love. What do we stand for? What are we willing to sacrifice for what we want the most? The card reminds us that we can heal any situation, bridge any differences, and free ourselves from suffering by viewing it through the eyes of love.
Sources
“Our friend James Joyce”, Sylvia Beach, Shakespeare and Company, 1958.
“James Joyce,” Richard Ellman, Oxford University Press, 1983.
Your pieces are always such a surprise ! It is like opening a magic treasure box, learning about the fascinating women and the intrigue of the Tarot cards. Thank-you Regina!