Zürich James Joyce Foundation

Zürich James Joyce Foundation

Zürcher James Joyce-Stiftung
Above the front door is a quote from James Joyce's novel Ulysses (1922): "Love loves to love love"
Established	9 May 1985 (1985-05-09)
Location	Augustinergasse 9, Strauhof, Zürich 8001, Switzerland
Coordinates	47.3716944°N 8.5400306°E / 47.3716944; 8.5400306
Visitors	2,000–3,000 per year
Founder	Renée Wolf Robert Holzach Canton of Zürich
Director	Fritz Senn
Curator	Ruth Frehner Ursula Zeller
Website	joycefoundation.ch

The Zürich James Joyce Foundation (ZJJF; German: Zürcher James Joyce-Stiftung) cultivates the memory of the life and work of the Irish writer James Joyce as well as his special relationship with Zürich, where he spent decisive years of his life, died in 1941 and was buried.

The Zürich James Joyce Foundation, headed by the eminent Swiss Joycean scholar Fritz Senn and supervised by curators Ruth Frehner and Ursula Zeller, is an archive, documentation center, specialized library, literary museum, as well as a meeting place for researchers and reading groups, and has established itself as an essential European Joyce research site through numerous scholarly activities.

Thanks to its extensive collection of thematic materials and numerous scholarly events held under its auspices, the Foundation has established itself as one of the leading European centers for the study of the biography and creative heritage of the classic of modernist literature.

History

James Joyce. A portrait by Alex Ehrenzweig. Zürich, 1915

The Foundation was established on May 9, 1985, based on an idea by Renée Wolf in collaboration with Robert Holzach, then chairman of the Board of Directors of Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS). UBS covered the costs for the first six years. In addition, various Zürich companies and the Canton of Zürich made a financial contribution. Today, the foundation is more or less financially independent.

During its founding phase, the James Joyce Foundation was located in Zürich's Old Town (Altstadt) at Augustinergasse 28, before moving in March 1989 to the third floor of the Strauhof Literature House at Augustinergasse 9 — thus remaining within the historic center of Zürich, in close proximity to Zürich's main street, Bahnhofstrasse.

Activities

Since its creation, the Foundation has been headed by Fritz Senn, a major German-speaking specialist on Joyce's work. Through the long-term efforts of Zenn and the Foundation's curators, Ruth Frehner (since 1985) and Ursula Zeller (since 1990), who are responsible for developing the content and concept of the Foundation's activities, as well as for the realization of its various projects (exhibitions, publications, commemorative and celebratory events), the Foundation has become the main center of European Joyce studies.

At present, the Foundation does not simply position itself as a museum or library, but actively promotes the work of James Joyce through exhibitions, thematic events, seminars, symposia and publications. Another important task of the Foundation is to reduce the reading public's fear of Joyce, traditionally categorized as a "difficult" author. To this end, the Foundation supports the regular work of three reading groups to study his major novels, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.

• 
  General view
• 
  Library
• 
  Translators workshop
• 
  Fritz Senn

Collection

The Foundation has the largest collection of books and exhibits related to the name and works of James Joyce in continental Europe. The core of the collection is the thematic library, which has about 250 meters of bookshelves and contains about 7,000 book titles, including editiones principes of Joyce's works from different years, numerous illustrated and collector's editions. In addition to primary and secondary literature, the Foundation has autographs, original editions, letters, photographs, gramophone records, posters, special magazines and publications, audio, video and DVD recordings of Joyce's works, documentary films about Joyce, as well as authentic relics, including one of the writer's two posthumous masks, two of his walking sticks, a tie and a suitcase.

In total, the Foundation's collection comprises some 400 volumes of original works, 700 volumes of translations, 2,800 volumes of secondary literature on Joyce, 3,200 volumes of reference works and other primary and secondary literature. In addition, there are nearly 200 autographs (nearly half of which are Joyce's own), nearly 600 sound recordings, 50 video and DVDs, 100 volumes of photographic newsreels, hundreds of posters and other visual materials, and thousands of individual exhibits.

Friends of the Zürich James Joyce Foundation

In 1987, the Society of Friends of the Zürich James Joyce Foundation (German: Verein der Freunde der Zürcher James Joyce-Stiftung) was established to provide ideological and financial support to the ZJJF. The main task of the organisation is to provide short-term grants to enable Joyce scholars from other countries to search the Foundation's collection for one or two months. In addition, the Society sponsors the Strauchof Lectures (German: Strauhof-Vorträge) under the auspices of the Foundation, assists the Foundation with the organization of the annual Zürich Bloomsday celebrations, and collects voluntary donations for the publication of books and other Foundation projects.

Sources

• "Zürich James Joyce Foundation" (Official website). Retrieved October 24, 2023.
• Fischer, Andreas (2020). "Zurich James Joyce Foundation". James Joyce in Zurich: A Guide. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-030-51282-8.
• Hägele, Kathrin (February 2022). "On the trail of James Joyce in Zurich". Zentralbibliothek Zürich. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
• Weninger, Robert (2009). "The Institualization of 'Joyce': James Joyce in (West) Germany, Austria and Switzerland, 1945 to the Present". In Learnout, Geert; Van Mierlo, Wim (eds.). Germany, Northern and East Central Europe. The Reception of James Joyce in Europe. Vol. 1. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-847-14601-4.