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Sylvia Beach from the RTE Archives by jjqblog

RTÉ has fished out its archive a wonderful interview (more of a rollicking monologue actually) with Sylvia Beach originally recorded in 1962.  It runs just over twenty minutes and focuses largely on Joyce, although with several wonderful memories of other writers as well.  Beach recounts how she first met Joyce, the story of Ulysses‘ publication, the author’s surprising interest in Whitman, and even recalls the first book he borrowed from Shakespeare and Company: Synge’s Riders to the Sea.  Her story of facing down a Nazi officer over a copy of Finnegans Wake and her eventual arrest is particularly striking.  The recording will be freely available for a year and is definitely worth a look.

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