Nora Barnacle - Relationship

Relationship

Nora and James' relationship was very complex. They had different personalities, tastes and cultural interests. At the beginning they loved each other passionately and deeply, as witnessed by the sensual epistolary correspondence between them. James seems to have admired and trusted her totally. Nora was well-disposed towards James, and seems to have tried to accommodate him. In anticipation of his move to Paris, Nora began studying French. Nora used to cook English puddings at Joyce's request and acquiesced in following him during his travels.

In 1904, Nora and James left Ireland for continental Europe, and in the following year they set up house in Trieste (at that time in Austria-Hungary). On 27 June 1905, Nora Barnacle gave birth to a son, Giorgio, and later to a daughter, Lucia, on 26 July 1907. A miscarriage in 1908 coincided with the beginning of a series of difficulties for Nora, which placed strain on her relationship with Joyce and made it increasingly conflicted. Although she remained by his side, she complained to her sister both about his personal qualities and his writings.

In these letters to her sister, she depicts her husband as a weak man and a neurotic artist. She accuses Joyce of ruining her life and that of their children. She says he drinks too much and wastes too much money. As for his literary activity, she laments that his writings are obscure and lacking in sense. She hates attending his meetings with other artists and admits she would have preferred him had he been a musician—in his youth, he was a talented singer—rather than a writer.

Another challenge to the couple's relationship was posed by Lucia's mental disease. Nora believed hospitalisation was required, but James was against it. Lucia's parents brought in many specialists and only in 1936 was she interned in a clinic. There, her father visited often, but not her mother; Nora would refuse to see her daughter ever again.

Notwithstanding all the accusations and criticisms she levelled against Joyce, Nora married him in 1931. After living through Joyce's death in Zurich in 1941, Nora decided to remain there. She died in Zurich of acute renal failure in 1951, aged 67.