Nothing much I can add to enhance these lovely autumnal views am schönen Bodensee, on the beautiful Bodensee. Do enjoy!
----and sur´ then at the end of the month did n´t the sun come out again....
*As I mentioned the one big difference in the Olympics 2020 (2021) was the pandemic. There were other differences too. Those I will write about in a future blog posting.
In my blog posting of July 31 last, I wrote in awe of the Olympic participants, and indeed of Japan´s great management of the Olympics in extremely difficult circumstances.
I ended that posting with the comment...
* As I mentioned the one big difference in the Olympics 2020 (2021) and previous games was the pandemic. There were other differences too. Those I will write about in a future blog posting.
This last week, I have watched four former U.S. gymnasts, who with great dignity and poise presented evidence to the U.S. Senate Judiciary hearings on their experiences of being sexually abused by the U.S. National Gymnastics Team doctor.
That Larry Nassar abused young girls is appalling. What is SO UPSETTING for me however is that girls have complained about his sexually abusing young female patients since the 1990´s.
In the two plus decades since, there was cover up or collusion or whatever, so the truth never came out in all that time. And the man continued to abuse.
Eventually getting no satisfaction from anyone or any organisation former gymnast Rachael Joy Denhollande reported her experience in the Indianapolis Star newspaper in 2016 – some 20 odd years after her experience of abuse.
Her allegations were first denied by Nassar and those who had enabled him. However a floodgate of other complainants came forward, so it could not stay covered up any more. By this time 2016, there were on record at least seven formal complaints against Nassar, all of which had been ignored or covered up.
What
happened even after the news broke was in many ways even worse. The FBI investigated; several women made themselves available for interview. The FBI focused on only a few, and did not contact the other woman at all. One of those that was interviewed McKayla Maroney, found later that her statement had been altered substantially
After the investigation, the FBI concluded the doctor had no case to answer. They did not proceed further. Neither did the U.S. Justice Department.
All very upsetting stuff. And once again I ponder after all that, how composed those women were giving their evidence on such sensitive matters.
You can read or review it yourself should you care to. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/17/politics/grassley-garland-nassar-fbi-prosecutor/index.html
That is why I am not ready to write a tra la blog posting today; after all we know can happen to children and that they need to be listened to. To think as recently as 2016 dozens of people including the FBI and the Department of Justice in the U.S. ignored or worse actively covered or altered evidence they were given by gymnasts about Larry Nasser.
While this is upsetting, I think it needs to be acknowledged.
Even in what is usually a ´happy happy´ blog.
Namaste.
Two Johnnies are an Irish comedy duo. They do a regular podcast. https://www.the2johnnies.ie/podcast.
The podcast which is geared to the say 20 – 40 age group is by times risque going towards crude. But at the same time always interesting – and funny!
Both men are clearly proud and passionate members of the Cahir GAA club. The club and their activities with the club are referred to frequently in all podcasts.
Anyway the Johnnies asked for feedback from people retired or soon to be retired. Retirement is one of my favorite topics these days, as Irish Stew for the Soul regulars – all 1 million of you – give or take 999,903, will know!
So I wrote the letter to the Johnnies. My letter was not read out. The letter that was read out opined that The Two Johnnies set up a retirement home themselves. I do concede that that letter was imaginative - and funny. The letter deserved to be read out.
See my letter below... the one that was n´t read out. : - (
Dear Two Johnnies,
You do a great show every Monday night; it is full of nonsense, common sense and by times an awful lot of good sense. All that with a laugh - I mean ´what is not to love here!` As my Jewish Mama might have said.
I have no idea how I discovered you lads as I live in Germany, but your Monday podcast is my method of choice against insomnia: When himself is fast asleep and I am not, rather than read, I listen to your Monday night podcasts on Spotify. (I am not going to pay for your Thursday show, I suspect it might be a tad too blue for my delicate sensibilities)
The Two Johnnies Podcast is better than a sleeping pill – I am always asleep before the end of the show! So one podcast of listening will do me the whole week! Great value for money not spent! -
So now it is time to give back.
Retirement.
Last week you asked people to write in on their experience on retirement, or on retiring.
Consider: Nowadays being newly retired if you are healthy and have enough funds is like being a teenager again. - Only now now ´it´ is all allowed, you can pay for it and (mostly) it is legal to do ´it´ now!
I am 66 and 4 months. Newly retired since April this year AND LOVING IT! In fact for me, I feel it is my vocation in life to be retired! (You four are probably too young to have had the nuns or brothers asking you in school to consider what your vocation was.)
It is not that I do nothing all day, rather I do EVERY THING I WANT TO DO, WHEN I WANT TO DO IT. Or. I DO NOTHING AT ALL. All ON MY TERMS. (More on the latter point later!)
All that is possible because now I have time, funds and most importantly my health. None of these things do I take for granted either.
What I do, or not do with my time is not so important for you and your listeners. Rather I enclose for your perusal, and for your listeners auditory pleasure, some observations that may help others arrive at the day of retirement ready to rock and roll. - Or knit, or climb a mountain, or further their education, learn to paint/ French/underwater swimming or whatever.
Tips on Reaching Retirement Age and be Ready to Rock and Roll – or Not!
Just about all these things should be attended to when your in your twenties or thirties. And the sooner you start, the less effort it requires.
1) Look after your Health.
Really this is a no brainier, and one should be doing it all one´s life. Many people reach retirement with sickness through no fault of their own. But a heck of a lot of the rest of us just don´t look after ourselves by eating right, exercising, avoiding mental stress etc.
The sooner you start to care for yourself, both mentally and physically, the more likely the good health will last. Sickness costs money, and quality of life. And that before retirement too, so avoid ill health at all cost.
2) Look after your Finances.
Being poor sucks no two ways about that, being poor and retired sucks even more.
- The man you had on a good few podcasts ago gave great tips on managing finances. Could you have him come back and do a show aimed at younger listeners on how to organise and manage finances with a view to planning for retirement.
(He can help your listeners sort out questions like which is most important for them: Paying for their child´s wedding with 200 guests at a five start venue, or saving a big chuck of €€€ for their retirement fund?)
2b) The best tip on managing finances came from Charles Dickens´ father.
-Who was himself very bad at managing his money; he ended up in Debtors´Prison.
`Income per year 20 pounds. Out goings per year – 19 shillings and 50 pennies. Heaven.
`Income per year 20 pounds. Out goings per year – 21 pounds.
Hell.`
3) About Five years Before you are due to Retire, Consider the Following.
3a) Get to know you!
Sounds a bit weird I know, but if your sense of yourself is strongly connected with the job, ie. you love what you do, there is a lot of social prestige connected with your job, or your circle of friends are all tied with your job. What happens when the job is gone? Who are you then? Find out now.
3b) Sort out any lurking regrets WELL before you Retire.
Marriage a bit wobbledy? A bad relationship with a sibling/parent/child? Any other unfinished business, or matters niggling at the back of your head? Work on sorting these things out well before you retire.
All that free time to ruminate on retirement, will only make these issues bigger.
3c) What would you like to do when you retire. Start making a list.
Note the question is: What would YOU like to do when you retire? Not what the spouse/ children/friends would like you to do.
3d) Manage your time YOUR WAY on your Terms.
After health and enough funds, the greatest gift on retirement is TIME. Time for YOU to do as you wish. So do consider how you will want to spend your retirement.
For example do you want to give time babysitting your grand children? Consider this one carefully, it can be a minefield.
For example if you have one child and only one grandchild, a day a week to care for the cute little grandchild might be absolutely delightful.
But what if there are four children and eight grandchildren? If you babysit one, then you are stuck with being available to all the others so as not to be seen as having a favorite. (And worse if you consider daughter Mary´s Johnny is such a cutie and such a joy to babysit. But daughter Joan´s son Tom is a horror and no fun to babysit!)
So it would be wise to let all your children know, very casually of course, about your babysitting wishes WELL before you retire.
Likewise with friends and others who need help with, their start ups/pets/travel needs whatever.
4) About six months before you retire. Apply for the pension.
No brainer. But lots of people forget.
5) The Day you Retire. Now what? Nothing. I repeat, nothing.
This tip was given to me by a high flyer who worked a 60 hour week for years. Until one Friday afternoon. Then she woke up the following Monday morning and her time was her own.
5a) Do not commit to any thing for at least 18 months.
On the first day of retirement, most of us for the first time in our adult lives have the chance to do what we please, or nothing at all as we please. Don´t let that go, savor it.
After that you can consider if you want to volunteer, attend classes, start a business - what ever. There will be plenty of time for all that later. But just take these months to enjoy your own company, and do things or not, all on a whim. (Of course the alternative is that you will be dead, in which case there is nothing to discuss, so no problem there either!)
5b) Plan your first day to retire coming into spring or summer.
You talked about a man who did this last week, and it is a good idea.
That way you can get your retirement mojo up and running smoothly before the dark days of winter set in and might cramp your retiring style.
So dear Johnnies, there you have my tips. But this is surely enough from me for now. You can use/edit or what ever any or all of this.
Before ending I have to ask, where do you get the ideas for the topics you talk about, really they are so diverse, just great craic? It all sounds like great spontaneous fun, but I suspect there is a LOT of work being put in to creating all this spontaneous!
God bless you and yours – keep up your excellent podcast-ing!
Hausfrau Róisin.
Dear Two Johnnies,
You do a great show every Monday night; it is full of nonsense, common sense and by times an awful lot of good sense. All that with a laugh - I mean ´what is not to love here!` As my Jewish Mama might have said.
I have no idea how I discovered you lads as I live in Germany, but your Monday podcast is my method of choice against insomnia: When himself is fast asleep and I am not, rather than read, I listen to your Monday night podcasts on Spotify. (I am not going to pay for your Thursday show, I suspect it might be a tad too blue for my delicate sensibilities)
The Two Johnnies Podcast is better than a sleeping pill – I am always asleep before the end of the show! So one podcast of listening will do me the whole week! Great value for money not spent! -
So now it is time to give back.
Retirement.
Last week you asked people to write in on their experience on retirement, or on retiring.
Consider: Nowadays being newly retired if you are healthy and have enough funds is like being a teenager again. - Only now now ´it´ is all allowed, you can pay for it and (mostly) it is legal to do ´it´ now!
I am 66 and 4 months. Newly retired since April this year AND LOVING IT! In fact for me, I feel it is my vocation in life to be retired! (You four are probably too young to have had the nuns or brothers asking you in school to consider what your vocation was.)
It is not that I do nothing all day, rather I do EVERY THING I WANT TO DO, WHEN I WANT TO DO IT. Or. I DO NOTHING AT ALL. All ON MY TERMS. (More on the latter point later!)
All that is possible because now I have time, funds and most importantly my health. None of these things do I take for granted either.
What I do, or not do with my time is not so important for you and your listeners. Rather I enclose for your perusal, and for your listeners auditory pleasure, some observations that may help others arrive at the day of retirement ready to rock and roll. - Or knit, or climb a mountain, or further their education, learn to paint/ French/underwater swimming or whatever.
Tips on Reaching Retirement Age and be Ready to Rock and Roll – or Not!
Just about all these things should be attended to when your in your twenties or thirties. And the sooner you start, the less effort it requires.
1) Look after your Health.
Really this is a no brainier, and one should be doing it all one´s life. Many people reach retirement with sickness through no fault of their own. But a heck of a lot of the rest of us just don´t look after ourselves by eating right, exercising, avoiding mental stress etc.
The sooner you start to care for yourself, both mentally and physically, the more likely the good health will last. Sickness costs money, and quality of life. And that before retirement too, so avoid ill health at all cost.
2) Look after your Finances.
Being poor sucks no two ways about that, being poor and retired sucks even more.
- The man you had on a good few podcasts ago gave great tips on managing finances. Could you have him come back and do a show aimed at younger listeners on how to organise and manage finances with a view to planning for retirement.
(He can help your listeners sort out questions like which is most important for them: Paying for their child´s wedding with 200 guests at a five start venue, or saving a big chuck of €€€ for their retirement fund?)
2b) The best tip on managing finances came from Charles Dickens´ father.
-Who was himself very bad at managing his money; he ended up in Debtors´Prison.
`Income per year 20 pounds. Out goings per year – 19 shillings and 50 pennies. Heaven.
`Income per year 20 pounds. Out goings per year – 21 pounds.
Hell.`
3) About Five years Before you are due to Retire, Consider the Following.
3a) Get to know you!
Sounds a bit weird I know, but if your sense of yourself is strongly connected with the job, ie. you love what you do, there is a lot of social prestige connected with your job, or your circle of friends are all tied with your job. What happens when the job is gone? Who are you then? Find out now.
3b) Sort out any lurking regrets WELL before you Retire.
Marriage a bit wobbledy? A bad relationship with a sibling/parent/child? Any other unfinished business, or matters niggling at the back of your head? Work on sorting these things out well before you retire.
All that free time to ruminate on retirement, will only make these issues bigger.
3c) What would you like to do when you retire. Start making a list.
Note the question is: What would YOU like to do when you retire? Not what the spouse/ children/friends would like you to do.
3d) Manage your time YOUR WAY on your Terms.
After health and enough funds, the greatest gift on retirement is TIME. Time for YOU to do as you wish. So do consider how you will want to spend your retirement.
For example do you want to give time babysitting your grand children? Consider this one carefully, it can be a minefield.
For example if you have one child and only one grandchild, a day a week to care for the cute little grandchild might be absolutely delightful.
But what if there are four children and eight grandchildren? If you babysit one, then you are stuck with being available to all the others so as not to be seen as having a favorite. (And worse if you consider daughter Mary´s Johnny is such a cutie and such a joy to babysit. But daughter Joan´s son Tom is a horror and no fun to babysit!)
So it would be wise to let all your children know, very casually of course, about your babysitting wishes WELL before you retire.
Likewise with friends and others who need help with, their start ups/pets/travel needs whatever.
4) About six months before you retire. Apply for the pension.
No brainer. But lots of people forget.
5) The Day you Retire. Now what? Nothing. I repeat, nothing.
This tip was given to me by a high flyer who worked a 60 hour week for years. Until one Friday afternoon. Then she woke up the following Monday morning and her time was her own.
5a) Do not commit to any thing for at least 18 months.
On the first day of retirement, most of us for the first time in our adult lives have the chance to do what we please, or nothing at all as we please. Don´t let that go, savor it.
After that you can consider if you want to volunteer, attend classes, start a business - what ever. There will be plenty of time for all that later. But just take these months to enjoy your own company, and do things or not, all on a whim. (Of course the alternative is that you will be dead, in which case there is nothing to discuss, so no problem there either!)
5b) Plan your first day to retire coming into spring or summer.
You talked about a man who did this last week, and it is a good idea.
That way you can get your retirement mojo up and running smoothly before the dark days of winter set in and might cramp your retiring style.
So dear Johnnies, there you have my tips. But this is surely enough from me for now. You can use/edit or what ever any or all of this.
Before ending I have to ask, where do you get the ideas for the topics you talk about, really they are so diverse, just great craic? It all sounds like great spontaneous fun, but I suspect there is a LOT of work being put in to creating all this spontaneous!
God bless you and yours – keep up your excellent podcast-ing!
Hausfrau Róisin.
“plus
ça change, plus c’est la même chose.`` the
more things change, the more they stay the same.
Jean-Baptiste
Alphonse Karr
The blog posting below is a piece I wrote about the Olympics in 2012. I was ´inspired´ to write on the topic again watching the Olympics now from Tokyo. However, re-reading what I wrote in 2012, I realise there is much wisdom and truth in the aforementioned Mon. Karr´s words.
Most of the time with the Olympics, you only have to change the names and the places and it is the same fabulousness all over again. As there is nothing new I can add about all that Olympic fabulousness, I am simply copying the 2012 blog posting.
Well there is one big difference*:
Hosting
the Olympics is a gargantuan task at the best of times, hosting the
Olympics a year late as the world continues to experience a global
pandemic is mind mindbogglingly gargantuan. ... The more they stay the same ...
Well done Japan; I hope your country does not suffer more Covid because you went ahead and hosted the games.....
------------------------------------------------------------------
From 2012.
Yes, I say it again.
The Olympics. Wow oh wow!
Was
n´t the opening ceremony a wonderful crazy creative event? I did
enjoy it. And since then, all those nubile perfect specimens of
humanity thrilling us with the heights they reach in sporting
excellence. I promise, most of the time I am marvelling at the
excellence of their endeavours, not their fabulous physiques. - (Oh
alright, a good bit of the time then.)
And there I am in awe of sports I hardly knew existed, like those sort of space age indoor bike races, and the trampoline competitions. Really it is all such a wonder; I loved the dressage, the table tennis and the fencing too. Just about any sport at such levels of excellence can be enjoyed and wondered at. - Oh it is such a pity hurling in not an Olympic sport, Kilkenny would scoop up all the medals!
Do you know what Kilkenny and Jamaica have in common? For such relatively small parts of the world, they both keep on producing world champions. The county of Kilkenny needs little explanation of course: generation after generation the county produces some of the best hurlers in the world.
Similarly Jamaica produces generation after generation some of the fastest runners in the world. - Did you see how Bolt bolted last night! (Am I the only ´reporter´on the Olympics who thought to make a pun on ´bolt´!). Usain Bolt ran 100 meters in 9,63 seconds. The first man to ever run a 100 metres in less than 10 seconds.
The
Women´s 100 Meter winner was also Jamaican, Shelley-Ann
Fraser-Pryce; at 10,75
seconds Fraser-Pryce´s running time was a mere 1.12 seconds slower than Usain Bolt´s 10, 63 seconds.
How is all that for wowness!
But you know, I would love to hear more on the other participants; the people who after years of hard work, time and dreaming get to participate in the Olympics. And no doubt with great effort on the part of their families, their trainers and community too. I would like to hear those participants´ stories as well. I suppose with so much greatness to report on, it would be hard to report everything in a mere 24 hour day.
But I tell you what, if I was a female contestant in the beach volley ball, I would want to wear the men´s uniform. However fabulous Misty May Trainer et al look, bending over in that little itsy bitys nearly nothing bikini bottom would make me feel I was sharing a tad too much of me with the world.
Back to the excellent sports men and women: To put all that fabulousness´into perspective consider our local swim event.
Last Sunday, we had our own version of the Olympics here in Allensbach: The 33rd Gnadensee-Schwimmen. The Gnadensee-Schwimmen is a 1500 meter swim from the Island of Reichenau to Allensbach, Germany. Always extremely well organized by the local life saving organization and various other groups. About 300 took part in the swim, including moi.
Consider:
At the 2012 Olympics in London
Mr. Yang Sun from China swam 1500m Freestyle at a time of: 14:31:02.
Yes, 14 minutes, 31.02 seconds.
He created a new world record.
At the Gnadensee-Schwimmen in Allensbach
Frau Ehinger from Ireland swam 1500m Rosaleen style, at a time of 57 plus minutes. Breaking absolutely no records of any kind.
See pictures of Frau Ehinger below. Also of Herr Ehinger who was in attendance to show support for the aforementioned Frau Ehinger in the big swim.
As you can see the aforementioned Herr Ehinger was not ´stressing it` at all as he showed his support for his aforementioned spouse!
No I am not late with my 4th of July celebrations blog posting. I just wanted to check in with myself to see if I choose to celebrate the day the was in it at all.
Last year, I did not feel at all inclined to acknowledge the U.S. birthday. But with the Biden-Harris Administration at the helm this year; I feel more ready to celebrate.
The United States of America is far from perfect; imperfect and relatively speaking quiet a new country. But at 219 years it is the oldest democracy in the world, and for that we can give it credit. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-the-worlds-oldest-democracies/.
So for all its faults and failings let us celebrate. I thought the way I would like to do that is with a nod from a man in Bangladesh to America. And to the kind Americans he has encountered on the internet; Americans who have much widened his world and his view of it.
See link below to the CSM to this happy three minute read.
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/2021/0702/Happy-birthday-America-from-a-village-in-Bangladesh?cmpid=ema:mkt:20210706&src=highlight
And another thing America does well. - Celebrations. - Especially BIG celebrations.
See below two videos of the fireworks celebrations for the 4th of July celebrations outside my former apartment building in New York.
Yep! The United States of America does ´big´very well.
Fair dues to them!
Happy 4th of July America! - Nachträglich - (after the event).
Aging is a mystery.
Doing it well or otherwise is, as far as I can see, part self, part good health and part plain good luck.
Lydia, my mother-in-law, is 86 in September. She ´does age` great.
Over the years she and my father-in-law and have kept in reasonably good health; indeed health concerns Lydia had in earlier years seemed to have become less of an issue as she ages!
Lydia is a great character, always was. But in latter years, her eyes and ears don´t work as well. Ironically it is not a bad thing that she can´t hear noise, and that she cannot see badly cleaned-up things to get her upset because they are not tidied as she would have liked. As a result, the good lady is more chill and relaxed.
My parents-in-law happily live a quieter smaller life than in years passed. Gone are the cruises they could afford when the children were reared, gone the long flights and even longer car trips
But, my parents-in-law enjoy their family and circle of friends.
And they enjoy their garden – and food. And they enjoy them with gusto!
Lydia proudly told Romeo H of a new recipe she had developed last week. And she had every right to be proud of it – see if Jamie Oliver is developing new recipes at nearly 86!
The dish ´Champignons a lá Lydia` is easy to make, cheap and nutritious. I mean what´s not to love about this!
… O.K. a tad rich in cholesterol and sodium, but at almost 86 who is worried!
The video below is Lydia, ´supported´ by my father in law Herbert telling us how to prepare ´Champignons a lá Lydia`.
Not to worry if you don´t understand, the telling of the story is the sweet point of it all.
You can see, like I said, Lydia ´does old´very well!
P.S. The recipe is easy. Fry up onions, garlic and salted bacon, add sliced tomatoes and mushrooms, flavour as you wish, add broth, cream. When fried together nicely, add cooked noodles. The quantities are as much or as little of everything that you want. Grated Parmigiano if desired. That´s it!
Lydia recommends ´a nice Reisling wine´ to drink with ´Champignons a lá Lydia`
And it IS tasty.
Happy cooking!…. And happy aging if that´s where you are at these days
Today, June 16th, is Bloomsday.
Question. What is Bloomsday?
Do you know the answer?
No brownie points if you teach English or English literature and have links to Ireland.
One brownie point if you are not involved with teaching English or you are not on the stage, but have links to Ireland.
FOUR brownie points if you are none of the above.
Do let me know how many brownie points you won!
So I wrote this article in honour of this aforementioned Bloomsday.
Enjoy.
With
absolutely no humility I share a link to IrishCentral, an Irish American
publication on and off the web. The link is an edited version of this
blog posting.
https://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/others/james-joyce-trieste
Note: These photos added to the blog posting have absolutely nothing to do with James Joyce in Trieste, rather Hausfrau Róisín and Romeo H in Trieste. But hey, my blog my rules! Sometimes it is good to be the boss!
--------------------------------------------------
From Canada to New Zealand, from Lithuania to Italy and many other countries in between, Bloomsday will be celebrated on June 16th.
Just about the whole world knows this date is set every year to commemorate the work of Irish novelist James Joyce, recognised as one of the most important writers of the 20th century, not just in Ireland but throughout the world.
Joyce is associated with Dublin, Paris and Zurich but for those among you whose Joycean scholarship is a ´bit on the rusty side´, you may not be aware of James Joyce´s very strong connections with the Italian city of Trieste in northern Italy.
For starters James Joyce´s novel Ulysses tells the story of one Leopold Bloom as he goes about his life in Dublin on June 16th 1904. It could be argued that the inspiration for Leopold Bloom may not have been a Jewish man from Dublin at all, rather one Ettore Schmitz, a Jewish paint seller from Trieste!
How Joyce ended up in Trieste in 1904 is a story in itself. The family came to be in Trieste through a series of non-connected events in which James Joyce and the love of his life Nora Barnacle were ´collateral damage´ in acts of subterfuge, swindling – and even espionage, none of which was their own making.
This Roman arch dates from 1st A.D. And there it still stands being supported by the walls of an old restaurant on a hilly street in Trieste.Clearly we are not the only ones amazed by this wonderful edifice.
Mulling over old pictures of James Joyce in Trieste, he too stands in some pictures at this very spot.
However Joyce liked Trieste so much, and indeed one could say Trieste liked James Joyce, that the city was to be his home for 15 years.
After arriving in Trieste he was hired to give English lessons to a young girl Letitza, daughter of the aforementioned Ettore Schmitz.
In February 2000 the young girl Letitza, by then a woman in her late sixties explained that meeting James Joyce changed all their lives dramatically. And that is by no means an exaggeration. Not only she, but her father Ettore, and mother Livia became involved in the English lessons.
“At the very first lesson, Joyce told us he was a writer”1 explained Ms. Schmitz. For her father that was most significant, because Ettore Schmitz too was a writer; he wrote under the pseudonym Italo Svevo. Alas his writings had up to then been ignored by Italian readers and critics.
Now however Mr. Schmitz worked up the courage to show his work to his daughter´s English teacher. Joyce was impressed. He encouraged Schmitz to send his work to English and French critics that he, Joyce, knew. Then, Ms. Schmitz explained, James Joyce followed up by writing to two of the French critics stating ´the only modern Italian author who interests me is Italo Svevo.´
It worked! After years of rejection Italo Svevo became a literary sensation. Even in Italy!
Time proved Joyce´s opinion to be correct; Svevo´s pioneering literary works are now recognised as having had a profound influence on the modernist writing movement in Italy.
This literary support was happily a two way street. For example with regard to his master work Ulysses which Joyce would later write in Paris. When putting the novel together in his own mind, for the character of Leopold Bloom, Joyce would frequently ask Ettore Schmitz how he would respond to various questions or to various situations, especially with reference to the Jewish faith.
Letitza Schmitz again observed that her father was aware from this constant questioning, which did in ways annoy him, that ´he was supplying material for a novel´ 1 for Joyce. Except perhaps for Joyce himself, no one could have imagined how huge a global influence this novel would have.
The more alert readers among you may note Ettore Schmitz´s wife was called Livia. She is the self same Livia whose long reddish-blond tresses were compared to the River Liffey and her name, Livia, became the Anna Livia Plurabelle of Finnegan’s Wake. Joyce acknowledged these connections in his letters more than once.
James Joyce put value on the Schmitzs´ critique of his work; not long after meeting them he would show them drafts of novels he was working on. Letitza recalled that her mother was very moved by ´The Dead` from Dubliners.
The Schmitz family support for James Joyce was not only creative but financial too. Neither Joyce nor Nora Barnacle were good money managers, a problem further exacerbated by the writer´s inclination to heavy drinking. Joyce called on Ettore for loans, as he did on many other of the citizenry of Trieste.
The Triestinos seemed to be tolerant, in my opinion, of the struggling Irish novelist who was in a constant state of arrearage. He had after all offered great support to a son of the city.
One cannot say which part of the city of Trieste was associated with James Joyce, for he is connected with the whole city! He frequently visited the city´s theatres, the opera house, historical sites, churches, book shops, taverns and coffee houses. As well as other ´less salubrious´ areas of the city. As well as enjoying walks by the sea and up in the hills behind the city. Of the many literary cafés he frequented, Caffè Stella Polare was a favourite. He frequently visit the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Nicholas which has a spectacular view of the ocean.
Via San Nicolo had a particular relevance for James Joyce.
Umberto Saba´s bookshop "Libreria Antiquaria Umberto Saba" www.libreriasaba.it located on Via San Nicolo, was the literary and intellecutal centre of Trieste. The book shop was favoured by Joyce, Italo Svevo and other of the city´s literati. The bookshop, still in business, is now located at No. 30 Via San Nicolo, the very same house in which James Joyce lived for a time and where his son Giorgio was born. The Berlitz School was located two doors away at No. 32. James Joyce taught English there and as did his brother Stanislaus. James Joyce also taught English at the University of Trieste.
Lest one thinks these facts are known to me because I am one of those Joycean scholars, that alas is not the case. On a visit to Trieste last week which was more to do with viticulture than high culture, I discovered these and many other facts about James Joyce´s life in Trieste.
If Romeo H is not looking like a happy camper in this picture on the right. There is good reason!
We went out to sample the local cuisine. What we did not consider:
While Trieste is in Italy, it was part of the the Austro-Hungarian Empire for over three centuries.... And so the food there is more German i.e. sausages, cabbage, ham... EXACTLY like we would have in Germany!
I was taken by this beautiful, cultured, gentle city. I was taken by how some 110 odd years ago the Triestinos welcomed a native Irish man to their hearts, recognised his talent and tolerated his failings.
I felt at ease walking on the water front or through the same small streets or the elegant plazas that James Joyce had traversed some 110 years previously. It was always a delight to discover a statue of Joyce en route to somewhere, or see a reference to him in word or picture as I wandered about the city.
Whether for viticulture, high culture or indeed no culture at all, Trieste is a city worth visiting. And an easy city to be a tourist in, especially if you are Irish! Indeed my German other-half observed that the faces of Triestinos would positively light up when they discovered that his wife was Irish.
True there are Covid
restrictions to travelling of course, in the not too distant future a
visit could be in the planning. While there, it is easy to comply
with Covid restrictions in the city.
We stayed at Hotel
James Joyce
Via dei Cavazzeni, 7
34121 Trieste
Italy
Tel +39 040 97 12 330
Fax +39 040 97 12
331
Wild nights in Trieste!
And while I have no shares in the hotel, I am happy to sing its praises. Because it was, well just perfect: Located in the old city, with easy access to public parking nearby. (Prepare to pay about €15.00 for 24 hours.) Rooms without breakfast run about €70.00 for two. The hotel is located in a building from the late 1700s, so there is a nice ´old´feel to it. Although it is right in the centre of all the buzz of the old city, our room was very quite. A bijoux of a hotel; it was clean, cool and comfortable - and the shower and ´other bathroom facilities´ had good pressure. And more the elevator worked - all the time!
It
was very easy to keep Covid rule compliant in the hotel too as we
rarely saw anyone except the most helpful front desk staff who gave
us all the information and suggestions we needed while still being
Covid compliant. A special mention must be made of the charming Sara
who impressed us both with her big heart and her multi-lingual
skills.
(My German other-half opined I should add we found out by chance, that Andreas, father of the aforementioned Sara was proprietor of the nearby Piccola Vinera, which was other half´s very favourite hostelry in Trieste.)
Don´t you just love it in the picture above: Holy Mary looking after all that wine!!
And no this building was never a former home for the Joyce family or some such, in fact it has no direct link to James Joyce at all. But the management of the hotel gave the hotel its moniker as a nod of respect to the Irish novelist who choose to make Trieste his home.
The best way to enjoy a hot afternoon in Trieste. And no doubt many other places too!
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1James Joyce A Portrait of The Artist in Trieste ppwww.literarytraveler.com/articles/james-joyce-a-portrait-of-the-artist-in-trieste/
Francis McGovern, Linda McGovern co-founders, founding editors and publishers at Literary Traveler.
Short Film:
James Joyce's city of choice – Trieste: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2of6n7
