You don’t need to be much of a Joycean (and I’m certainly not much of
one) to
know that James Joyce was a good and enthusiastic walker, and yet it
still took me by surprise, dipping again into Ellmann’s biography to read the
following: “He brought home from
Clongowes, Stanislaus attests, a variety of cups for his prowess in hurdling
and walking.”
Well, I’ve never claimed to have a photographic
memory, but even so I thought I might have remembered that.
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| Stanislaus Joyce |
Stanislaus is, of course, Joyce’s brother, and the information
comes from his memoir My Brother’s Keeper,
where there’s just a little more detail: “When after four years or so he left
Clongowes, we had at home a sideboard full of cups and a “silver” (electro-plate)
teapot and coffee pot that he had won in the school hurdles and walking events.”
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| Clongowes playing field |
I assume this was race walking but I’m not altogether sure. And we all know that times have changed, but
even so I find it hard to imagine a world in which young schoolboys – Joyce was
ten years old when he left Clongowes - won silver teapots for walking, even if
only electro-plated.
Trying to find out more I have discovered two other surprising, if not
wholly relevant, things. First, there’s
an annual event called The James Joyce Ramble, a
10-kilometer race held in Dedham, Massachusetts, an event for
runners and walkers alike.
It was created in 1984, by Martin
Casimir Hanley who was reading Finnegans
Wake and found the book as arduous as running a road race. Well, you can pay your money and take your
choice on that one. Apparently actors
are positioned along the course and recite the works of Joyce as runners and
walkers pass by.
The other thing: did you know there’s a street in London called James
Joyce Walk? I didn’t, and I really feel
I should have. It’s in Brixton, just off
Shakespeare Road, but it really doesn’t look all that Joycean.
