Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MemMod (Memories of the Moderns: Life-Writing and Literary History)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2023-08-01 do 2025-07-31
MemMod investigated how memoirs, diaries, and biographies shape the way we understand literary modernism, using James Joyce and key mediators of his life and legacy as a central case study. In Joyce studies, accounts such as Sylvia Beach’s memoir ‘Shakespeare and Company’ and Richard Ellmann’s biography ‘James Joyce’ are often treated as authoritative sources. These accounts have become so foundational that their inaccuracies and blind spots are now deeply embedded in the field, shaping interpretations for decades. Yet these recollections are themselves products of memory: selective, revised, and sometimes contradictory.
MemMod addressed this challenge by drawing on memory studies, an interdisciplinary field at the crossroads of the humanities and social sciences. This perspective shows why certain narratives about Joyce endure, despite contradictory archival evidence.
The project’s objectives were to:
• develop a theoretical framework for studying modernist life-writing through the lens of memory studies;
• conduct archival research into the creation and circulation of influential memoirs and biographies;
• prepare an annotated edition of ‘The Book of Days’, the previously unpublished Trieste diary of Stanislaus Joyce.
By addressing the problem of how memory circulates and endures in scholarship, MemMod contributes to more reliable accounts of literary history that better reflect the diversity of voices and contexts shaping modernism. It provides new critical tools for researchers and resources for students, teachers, and the wider public interested in Joyce, modernism, and European cultural heritage. Anticipated impacts include more reliable research, renewed attention to overlooked voices, and alignment with EU commitments to diversity and open science.
Through these objectives, MemMod sets the scene for rethinking how we write and transmit literary history, and how early foundational accounts shape the humanities.
MemMod addressed this challenge by drawing on memory studies, an interdisciplinary field at the crossroads of the humanities and social sciences. This perspective shows why certain narratives about Joyce endure, despite contradictory archival evidence.
The project’s objectives were to:
• develop a theoretical framework for studying modernist life-writing through the lens of memory studies;
• conduct archival research into the creation and circulation of influential memoirs and biographies;
• prepare an annotated edition of ‘The Book of Days’, the previously unpublished Trieste diary of Stanislaus Joyce.
By addressing the problem of how memory circulates and endures in scholarship, MemMod contributes to more reliable accounts of literary history that better reflect the diversity of voices and contexts shaping modernism. It provides new critical tools for researchers and resources for students, teachers, and the wider public interested in Joyce, modernism, and European cultural heritage. Anticipated impacts include more reliable research, renewed attention to overlooked voices, and alignment with EU commitments to diversity and open science.
Through these objectives, MemMod sets the scene for rethinking how we write and transmit literary history, and how early foundational accounts shape the humanities.
Over the 24-month fellowship, MemMod advanced along three interrelated strands:
1. Developing a theoretical framework
The project established a theoretical framework by integrating concepts from memory studies into the analysis of modernist life-writing. This framework was tested in a peer-reviewed article on ‘Giacomo Joyce’ and provides a transferable tool for analysing how research communities construct, transmit, and revise accounts of the past.
2. Archival research on modernist life-writing
Archival research focused on three major collections: the Sylvia Beach Papers at Princeton University Library, the James Joyce Collection at the University at Buffalo, and the Richard Ellmann Papers at the University of Tulsa. Research examined the composition of influential life-writing, showing how acts of selection, self-censorship, and editorial intervention shaped the versions of Joyce’s life that entered the record. Short visits to other research libraries and a two-week stay at a university library supported further source consultation and editorial progress. The research informed two international conferences co-organised by the researcher.
3. Preparing an edition of ‘The Book of Days’
The fellowship also advanced work on ‘The Book of Days’, the 1907–1909 diary of Stanislaus Joyce, which remains unpublished. A digital facsimile of the diary was acquired and substantial transcription work has been completed in collaboration with a co-editor. Annotation and introductory materials are also in preparation, and a publication proposal is under development. Once completed, the edition will provide unique insights into Joyce’s daily life in Trieste, including the years when he wrote ‘The Dead’ and began conceptualising ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’.
Main achievements
The fellowship produced a new theoretical framework for analysing life-writing; several peer-reviewed articles (published, under review, and in preparation); and substantial progress towards the first scholarly edition of ‘The Book of Days’. Collectively, these achievements strengthen the methodological foundations of modernist studies and provide resources that will inform scholarship well beyond the immediate field of Joyce studies.
1. Developing a theoretical framework
The project established a theoretical framework by integrating concepts from memory studies into the analysis of modernist life-writing. This framework was tested in a peer-reviewed article on ‘Giacomo Joyce’ and provides a transferable tool for analysing how research communities construct, transmit, and revise accounts of the past.
2. Archival research on modernist life-writing
Archival research focused on three major collections: the Sylvia Beach Papers at Princeton University Library, the James Joyce Collection at the University at Buffalo, and the Richard Ellmann Papers at the University of Tulsa. Research examined the composition of influential life-writing, showing how acts of selection, self-censorship, and editorial intervention shaped the versions of Joyce’s life that entered the record. Short visits to other research libraries and a two-week stay at a university library supported further source consultation and editorial progress. The research informed two international conferences co-organised by the researcher.
3. Preparing an edition of ‘The Book of Days’
The fellowship also advanced work on ‘The Book of Days’, the 1907–1909 diary of Stanislaus Joyce, which remains unpublished. A digital facsimile of the diary was acquired and substantial transcription work has been completed in collaboration with a co-editor. Annotation and introductory materials are also in preparation, and a publication proposal is under development. Once completed, the edition will provide unique insights into Joyce’s daily life in Trieste, including the years when he wrote ‘The Dead’ and began conceptualising ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’.
Main achievements
The fellowship produced a new theoretical framework for analysing life-writing; several peer-reviewed articles (published, under review, and in preparation); and substantial progress towards the first scholarly edition of ‘The Book of Days’. Collectively, these achievements strengthen the methodological foundations of modernist studies and provide resources that will inform scholarship well beyond the immediate field of Joyce studies.
MemMod has generated results that move beyond the state of the art in both literary studies and memory studies:
The project developed a framework for analysing modernist life-writing not as transparent records but as acts of remembering, shaped by revision, self-censorship, and negotiation. This methodological advance provides researchers with transferable tools for identifying how foundational accounts become embedded in a field and how they can be critically reassessed.
Archival research showed how testimonial vividness often masks complex processes of mediation. Inaccuracies and contradictions are not marginal errors but integral features. This recognition opens up new lines of inquiry in Joyce studies and models approaches for re-examining similar sources in other fields.
Progress toward an annotated edition of ‘The Book of Days’ will significantly expand the primary source base available to scholars. Once completed, it will provide new evidence for Joyce’s daily life during a formative period and model best practice in open-access editorial work.
Potential impacts and further needs
The framework invites application beyond Joyce studies, providing a transferable approach for other literary fields and the humanities more broadly. The archival findings underline the need for scholars to reassess long-standing narratives in light of digitised collections and newly available sources. The edition of ‘The Book of Days’ could reshape the field, but its impact depends on successful completion, peer review, and open-access publication.
By combining theoretical innovation, archival discovery, and editorial progress, MemMod provides tools and resources that not only deepen our understanding of Joyce and modernism but also demonstrate how research communities can critically interrogate the foundations of their own knowledge.
The project developed a framework for analysing modernist life-writing not as transparent records but as acts of remembering, shaped by revision, self-censorship, and negotiation. This methodological advance provides researchers with transferable tools for identifying how foundational accounts become embedded in a field and how they can be critically reassessed.
Archival research showed how testimonial vividness often masks complex processes of mediation. Inaccuracies and contradictions are not marginal errors but integral features. This recognition opens up new lines of inquiry in Joyce studies and models approaches for re-examining similar sources in other fields.
Progress toward an annotated edition of ‘The Book of Days’ will significantly expand the primary source base available to scholars. Once completed, it will provide new evidence for Joyce’s daily life during a formative period and model best practice in open-access editorial work.
Potential impacts and further needs
The framework invites application beyond Joyce studies, providing a transferable approach for other literary fields and the humanities more broadly. The archival findings underline the need for scholars to reassess long-standing narratives in light of digitised collections and newly available sources. The edition of ‘The Book of Days’ could reshape the field, but its impact depends on successful completion, peer review, and open-access publication.
By combining theoretical innovation, archival discovery, and editorial progress, MemMod provides tools and resources that not only deepen our understanding of Joyce and modernism but also demonstrate how research communities can critically interrogate the foundations of their own knowledge.