The University of Reading have put rarely-seen letters and documents to famous Irish writer, James Joyce, on display today (Tuesday 7th October).
Opening in the Staircase Hall exhibition space at The Museum of English Rural Life, the ‘James Joyce: Enigmas & Puzzles’ exhibition will run until 9th February 2026.
Everyone has heard of Joyce’s novels, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, with them ranking among the world’s most famous books for their deeply complex wordplay, codes and puzzles, but Joyce’s personal papers open up a completely different side to the man behind the pen.
Guy Baxter, Head of Archive Services at the University of Reading, said of the Solange and Stephen James Joyce Collection: “Letters and documents previously hidden from public view reveal Joyce as a caring father who wrote stories for his children.
“The papers also show Joyce had many friends who were writers and artists. His social circle included people from all over Europe, proving he was much more connected to other people than many readers might expect.”
Health problems made writing difficult for Joyce throughout his life, and this exhibition displays the clever ways he kept himself working despite his illness and deteriorating eyesight. Making these personal solutions, he was able to create some of literature’s most challenging and influential works.
Alongside letters, manuscripts, family photos and personal artefact will be books from the Joyce family library – which will all reveal the author’s love of words and languages – and even unpublished letters from Joyce’s patron, Harriet Shaw Weaver, will also be featured.
Why the University of Reading?
Since its formation in 1926, the University has collected rare books and archives, with the Solange and Stephen James Joyce Collection forms part of the University of Reading’s Special Collections.
One of the most celebrated resources in the Special Collections at Reading is its collection from the Nobel Prize-winning Irish author, Samuel Beckett. Officially designated by Art Council England as an ‘outstanding collection’, this is amongst the largest in the world, and is regularly consulted by academic researchers, students, directors and actors.
Beckett was a close friend of his countryman James Joyce – and when Joyce’s grandson, Stephen James Joyce, sought to deposit his own and his grandfather’s archive with a collection, he opted to donate it to the University of Reading in 2022, uniting Joyce’s collection with Beckett’s.
