ABSTRACT
Anna Livia Plurabelle and Haveth Childers Everywhere represented the mother and father figures of ‘Work in Progress’ as Katarzyna Bazarnik suggests: ‘As if to match the parental figure, Joyce brought out their offspring: Two Tales of Shem and Shaun, The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies and Storiella as She Is Syung’ (Bazarnik 2007). Storiella had appreared in transition 23 (see Chapter 3). When the next instalment appeared in transition 26 (cf. FW 309–31) the name of James Joyce in the ‘Contributors’ section (of transition 26) was not followed by a short bio – he needed no introduction. Instead, the following explanation was given with regard to Joyce’s work and its progress:
The fragment of James Joyce's ‘Work in Progress’ which appeared in TRANSITION No. 23 (February 1935), ‘Opening and Closing Pages of Part II, Section II’, will be published in book form early in 1937, under the title of ‘Storiella as she is Syung’, by the Corvinus Press, London. This edition, which will be limited to 150 hand-printed copies, will include reproductions in color of two illuminated lettrines by Lucia Joyce.
No further fragments of ‘Work in Progress’ will be published in book form, as the book will appear in its entirety some time in 1937, probably some six months after the issuance of the trade edition of ‘Ulysses’ in Great Britain. One thousand de luxe copies of ‘Ulysses’ were published in London by John Lane on October 3, 1936.
(t26 5) As Stacey Herbert points out, Joyce ‘made use of limited editions in part to circumvent censorship’ and ‘he took an increasing interest in shaping the material form of his books, choosing type, layout and binding design as integral elements of the work’ (Herbert 2009, 3). Of these pre-book publications, Storiella is by far the most luxuriant edition.