Joyce letters court case settled

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A US university professor has won the right to quote letters between Irish writer James Joyce and his daughter in a book after settling a court case.

Joyce's estate has agreed not to sue Carol Schloss if her research is only made available in the US.

The Joyce estate said it wanted to "protect the privacy and memory" of Lucia, who was mentally ill.

Ms Schloss's book, Lucia Joyce: To Dance in the Wake, says she was Joyce's muse in his last novel Finnegan's Wake.

To support her theory, the Stanford University scholar made use of Lucia's medical records, European archives containing records on her life and James Joyce's papers in university collections.

But the estate said she would be infringing its copyright on Joyce's image, and several citations were cut from her book to avoid legal action.

But critics then said Ms Schloss's book was short on documentary evidence, so she sued Joyce's grandson, Stephen James Joyce, and estate trustee Sean Sweeney, accusing them of destroying papers and intimidating academics.

'Overly aggressive'

Her lawyer, David Olson, said: "I think we succeeded in showing the Joyce community and other scholars that they have rights and the opportunity to push back against overly aggressive copyright enforcement."

Joyce estate lawyer Maria Nelson said hundreds of books and articles were written each year without the trust's co-operation, and denied the trust jealously guarded Joyce's works and reputation.

"This material in particular, having to do with Lucia Joyce, is certainly a very sensitive area, very emotional for the immediate relatives of James Joyce and Lucia Joyce because of the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Lucia Joyce's illness," she said.

"Certainly one goal of Stephen Joyce was to protect the privacy and the memory of his aunt."

Ms Schloss plans to create an appendix to her book in printed form, and a members-only website available to users in the US.