411Z Fall 2026 “Such Friends”: James Joyce, Sylvia Beach and Ulysses

In Paris in the 1920s, James Joyce could find no publisher to bring out his scandalous novel, Ulysses. A New Jersey preacher’s kid, Sylvia Beach, and her bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, took on the challenge. We’ll look at the many characters in Paris at the time and particularly the important role women played in the incredible story of Ulysses’ publication. Two sessions of lecture and questions will be followed by a screening and discussion of the new documentary Left Bank: The Women Who Rescued James Joyce’s Ulysses, led by the director Lisa Reznik. Left Bank tells the largely unknown story of the pioneering women who helped shape and publish Ulysses when censorship laws prevented publication of Joyce’s masterpiece. Thanks to their belief in Joyce’s genius, Ulysses became a best-selling international classic and a triumph of modernist literature. NOTE: There is no need to have read Ulysses to enjoy these sessions. But if you want to give it a try…

Kathleen Dixon Donnelly’s Ph.D. dissertation, “Such Friends,” was on early 20th century writers’ salons. She now blogs about them at www.suchfriends.wordpress.com. Kathleen recently retired from Birmingham [UK] City University to relocate to her hometown of Pittsburgh, PA.

Lisa Reznik has written for the screen and stage, including four award-winning short films. Lisa is currently working on the feature documentary hybrid, Left Bank. Lisa earned a BA in European Cultural Studies from Brandeis University and an MA in Journalism from New York University.