A JAMES JOYCE PLAY

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32945, 17 June 1972, Page 10

A JAMES JOYCE PLAY

Exiles. By James Joyce. Jonathan Cape. 175 pages. Introduction and notes. One suspects that, even now, there are many literary people who are unaware that James Joyce actually wrote a play, let alone know what it is about. Even the student of Joyce probably disregards this play, as the author is, of course, primarily regarded as a prose writer. Joyce can hardly be called a neglected dramatist on the basis of this play alone, but certainly, “Exiles” has not received much recognition. In chronological terms the play was written between “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” and “Ulysses,” and has been rightly overshadowed by these two brilliant prose works. The play is an interesting part of the author’s work, but an integral part of this interest lies in the play’s relationship to Joyce’s other efforts. While the play was written in 1916, it has not-been well served by performance, the first major London performance coming as late as 1970 with the playwright Harold Pinter as the director. It is'interesting to note that “Exiles” was one of the plays that Yeats turned down for the Abbey Theatre.

The play itself concerns a writer, Richard Rowan, who breaks with the past and attempts to create a new state of things, goes into exile, and then returns to Dublin, where the play begins. There is much of the confessional in the play as the struggles between the three major characters are analysed, and the fact that the main characters have all progressed beyond the accepted morality, not only reflects the title, but that they must make decisions for themselves. This edition of the play is well laid out with an introduction by Padriac Colum, and more importantly, at the end of the play, Joyce’s -own notes, which are a creation in themselves. Joyce’s notes serve as directives for himself, analysing the characters of the play and discussing its implications. These notes form a kind of prose soliloquy. “Exiles” has suffered because of comparisons with Joyce’s prose works and has been relegated to a somewhat lowly position because of this. But for all those students and readers of Joyce, the play will not Only be of interest, but will provide excellent comparison with the author’s major writings.