Joyce’s Works: A Chronology of Composition & Publication



Ulysses (1922) “Work in Progress”

Dubliners (1914)
Dubliners was accepted by Grant Richards of London in 1905, and turned down by him in 1906, apparently in consequences of objections from his printer. It was accepted by Maunsel & Co. of Dublin in 1909, and printed up in galleys during 1910 but destroyed in 1912 - though Joyce secured one copy of the galleys. It was finally published by Richards in London on 15 June 1914, using the former proof sheets as copytext.
     
Final order
Composition Revision
“The Sisters” 1st to be written; publ. in The Irish Homestead, 13 Aug. 1904; uniquely signed “Stephen Daedalus” rewritten May-June 1906.
“An Encounter” 9th to be written; completed 18 Sept. 1905; retales an experience of Stanislaus Joyce in 1895.

revised by 18 Sept. 1905.
“Araby” 11th to be written; begun 18 Oct. 1905); completed Oct. 1905.  
“Eveline”: 2nd to be written; publ. in The Irish Homestead, 10 Sept. 1904; retales events of 1894. revised Oct. 1905
“After the Race”: 3rd to be written; publ. in The Irish Homestead, 17 Dec. 1904; based on an interview conducted by Joyce (The Irish Times, 7 [March] 1903). never revised.
“Two Gallants”‡ 13th to be written; completed Feb. 1906.  
“The Boarding House” 5th to be written; completed 1 July 1905 [date on MS]. revised by 13 July 1905.
“A Little Cloud”‡ 14th to be written; completed mid-1906.  
“Counterparts” 6th to be written [after BH]; completed mid-July 1905. revised by 15 July 1905.
“Clay” 4th to be written; begun as ‘Christmas Eve’,* late Oct. 1904; completed in Jan. 1905; offered to Irish Homestead, and unpubl.; rewritten spring 1905; lightly revised 1906.
“A Painful Case” 7th to be written, orig. as “A Painful Incident”, completed [revised] by 8 May 1905†; repeatedly retouched . in 1906
“Ivy Day in the Committee Room” 8th to be written; fair copy dated 29 Aug 1905; virtually unchanged.
“A Mother” 10th to be written; finished in Sept. 1905; revised Oct. 1905.
“Grace” 12th to be written; composed Oct.-Dec. 1905; an early version was finished on 27 Nov. 1905.  
“The Dead”‡
written in 1907;
 
Source: Don Gifford, Joyce Annotated: Notes for Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man [rev. edn.] (California UP 1982), corrected with reference to Micheal Groden, ed., James Joyce, “Dubliners”: A Facsimile of Proofs for the 1910 Edition (NY: Garland 1977) - Preface.
 
Notes: ‡Supplied to Grant Richards after Dec. 1905 - all the others having been supplied at that date. *See “Christmas Eve” [an abandoned story], in James Joyce Miscellany, ed. Marvin Malaganer, 1962, pp.3-7. †July 1905, acc. Gifford [hence 7th].

A Portrait (1916)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, serialised in The Egoist, Vol 1, No. 3 (2 Feb. 1914) to Vol. II, No. 9 (1 Sept. 1915) with a hiatus after Chap. 3.


Ulysses (1922)
The following chart is based on that printed in Richard Ellmann, James Joyce (1959; rev. edn. 1965, p.456), with additions from A. Walton Litz, The Art of James Joyce (1964, pp.142ff). For reasons of space, volume numbers definite articles in the titles of journals have been omitted.
     
Episode Composition Publication & Venue
“Telemachus” Sent to Sykes Nov. 1917 Little Review (March 1918), pp.3-22.
“Nestor” Sent to Sykes, Dec. 1917 Little Review (April 1918), pp.32-45; Egoist (Jan.-Feb. 1919), pp.11-14.
“Proteus” Sent to Sykes, Dec. 1917 Little Review (May 1918), pp.31-45; Egoist (March-April 1919), pp.26-30.
“Calypso” Sent to Pound, March 1918 Little Review (June 1918), pp.39-52
“Lotus-Eaters” ?April 1918 Little Review (July 1918), pp.37-49.
“Hades” Sent to Pound, May 1918 Little Review (Sept 1918), pp.15-37; The Egoist (July 1919), pp.42-46; Do. (Sept. 1919), pp.56-60.
“Aeolus” Sent to Pount, Aug. 1918 Little Review (Oct. 1918), pp.26-51.
“Lestrygonians” Sent to Pound 25 Oct. 1918 Little Review (Jan. 1919), pp.27-50; Do. (Feb.-March 1919), pp.58-62.
“Scylla & Charybdis” Oct. 1918-Feb. 1919 Little Review (April 1919), pp.30-43; Do. (May 1919), pp.17-35.
“Wandering Rocks” Sent to Pound Feb. 1919 Little Review (June 1919), pp.34-45; Do. (July 1919), pp.28-47; Egoist (Dec. 1919), pp.74-78 [part only].
“Sirens” Completed June 1919 Little Review (Aug. 1919), pp.41-64; Do. (Sept. 1919), pp.46-55.
“Cyclops” Completed Sept. 1919 Little Review (Jan. 1920), pp.38-54; Do. (Dec. 1919), pp.50-60; Do. (Jan. 1920), pp.53-61); Do. (March 1920), pp.54-60.
“Nausicaa” Sent to Budgen Feb./March 1920 Little Review (April 1920), pp.43-50; Do. (May -June 1920), pp.61-71; Do. (July-August 1920), pp.42-58.
“Oxen of the Sun” Sent to Pound Oct. 1919; rewritten May 18, 1920 Little Review (Sept.-Dec. 1920), p.81-92 [part only].
“Circe” Composed June-Dec. 1920; sent to Pound April 1921;  
“Eumaeus” Completed by Feb. 1921  
“Penelope” Jan./Feb.-Oct. 1921 [before Ithaca]  
“Ithaca” Completed 29 Oct. 1921  
Ulysses [1st Edn.] (Paris: Shakespeare & Company), published 2 Feb. 1922; for later & variant editions, see under Works [supra].

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“Work in Progress” [Finnegans Wake, 1939]
Dates of Serial Publication
Source: The following chart is based on that printed in Richard Ellmann, James Joyce (1959; reiss. 1965, p.801-03), with additions from A. Walton Litz, The Art of James Joyce (1964, pp.142ff.). Ellmann’s chart is based on the posgraduate undertaken by Litz and soon afterwards published by him in the title named (1964). The title of serialised extracts in issues of transition May 1927 are not given in either source.
  Composition   Publication
1923
March 10: “King Roderick O’Conor” [Bk IV; pp.380-82] - so-called First Fragment*
 
 
 
July-Aug.: drafts “Tristam & Iseult” [II.iv, pp.384-86]; “St. Kevin” [IV, pp.604-05]; “Balkelly & St. Patrick” [IV, pp.611-12]
 
 
 
to Sept.: “Mamalujo” [II.iv, pp.383-99].
 
 
 
All episodes of Bk. I in early draft except I.i & I.vi [I, pp.30-125 & 169-216]. I.e., “The Ballad” [I.ii; pp.30-47]; “Goat” [I.iii; pp.48-74]; “Lion” [I.iv; pp.75-103]; “Hen” [I.v; pp.104-25]; “Shem” [169-95]; “Anna Livia Plurabelle” [I.viii; pp.196-216];
 
 
 
 
1924

Jan.-March: working on I.v [pp.104-25]; I.vii [pp.169-25], & I.viii [pp.196-210]
 
‘From “Work in Progress”’, in Transatlantic Review, I (April 1924), pp.215-23 [FW II.iv].
 
March: begins “Shaun the Post” - III.i, III.ii, III.iii, III.iv [pp.403-590].
 
’From “Work in Progress”’, in Contact Collection of Contemporary Writers (Paris [May] 1925), pp.133-36 [FW I.i, pp.30-34];
 
Rev. Bk. I; cont. “Shaun the Post” [Book III].
 
 
 
 
1925
Cont. “Shaun the Post” [Bk. III]; rev. Bk. I.
 
“From Work in Progress”, in Contact Collection of Contemporary Writers (Paris: May 1925) [FW I.ii; pp.30-34]
 
Correcting and Proofing for Criterion and Contact
 
“Fragment of an Unpublished Work”, in Criterion, III (July 1925), pp.498-95 [FW I.v; pp.104-25].
 
Aug.: “Shaun the Post”, III.iv [pp.555-90]; Nov.: do., nearly completed draft
 
“From Work in Progress”, in Navire d’Argent, I (Oct. 1925), pp.59-74 [FW I. viii; pp.196-216];
 
 
 
“Extract from Work in Progress”, in This Quarter, I (Autumn-Winter 1925-26), pp.108-23 [FW I.vii; pp.169-95].
1926
April: concludes “Shaun the Post” [Bk. III; pp.555-90]
 
 
 
Summer: “The Triangle” [i.e., “The Muddest Thick That Was Ever Heard Dump” [II.ii; pp.282-304]
 
 
 
“The Wake” [ I.i; pp.3-29]
 
 
 
 
1927
Rev. Bk. I for [pp.3-216] transition
 
“Opening Pages of a Work in Progress”, in transition, I (April 1927), pp.9-30 [FW I.i].
 
Summer: “Questions & Answers” [I.vi; pp.126-68]
 
“Continuation of a Work in Progress”, in transition, 2 (May 1927), pp.94-107 [FW I.ii].
 
Rev. “Shaun the Post” [III.i, ii, iii; pp.403-554]
 
[“Work in Progress”], in transition, 3 (June 1927), pp.32-50 [FW I.iii].
 
Rev. “Anna Livia Plurabelle” for publ. by Crosby Gaige [NY]
 
“Continuation of a Work in Progress”, in transition, 4 (July 1927), pp.46-65 [FW I.iv];
 
 
 
[“Work in Progress”], in transition, 5 (August 1927), pp.15-31 [FW 1.v].
 
 
 
[“Work in Progress”], in transition, 6 (September 1927), pp.87-106f. [FW 1. vi].
 
 
 
[“Work in Progress”], in transition, 7 (October 1927), pp.34-56 [FW I.vii].
 
 
 
[“Work in Progress”], in transition, 8 (November 1927), pp.17-35 [FW 1.viii].
 
 
1928
Rev. ‘fables’: “The Mookse and the Gripes” [I.vi, pp.152-59 - in “Questions & Answers”]; “The Muddest Thick ...” [II.ii, pp.282-304 - in “Nightlessons”]; “The Ondt and the Gracehoper” [III, i, pp.414-19 - in “First Watch of Shaun”
 

[“Work in Progress”], in transition, 11 (February 1928), pp.7-18 [FW II.ii, pp.282-304 - “Muddest Thick ..” ].

 
 
 
[“Work in Progress”], in transition, 12 (March 1928), pp.7-27 [FW I.viii; pp.196-216 - “ALP”].
 
 
 
[“Work in Progress”], in transition, 13 (Summer 1928), pp.5-32 [FW III.ii; pp.426-73 - “Second Watch of Shaun”].
 
 
 
Anna Livia Plurabelle (NY: Crosby Gaige [October] 1928) [FW 1.viii].
 
 
1929
Cont. to revise ‘fables’ [see 1928, supra]
 
[ “Work in Progress”] , transition, 15 (February 1929), pp.195-238 [FW III.iii].
 
 
 
Tales Told of Shem and Shaun (Paris: The Black Sun Press [August] 1929) [FW, pp.152-59, 282-304, 414-19].
 
 
 
[“Work in Progress”, in] transition, 18 (November 1929), pp.211-36 [FW III.iv].
 
 
 
Haveth Childers Everywhere (Paris & NY: [Babou & Kahane, June] 1929) [FW 532-54].
 
 
 
Anna Livia Plurabelle (London: Faber & Faber [June] 1929) [FW I.viii].
1930
Begins “The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies” [ II.i; pp.219-259]
 
 
 
 
1931
 
 
Haveth Childers Everywhere (London: Faber & Faber [May] 1931) [FW 132-54]. Pamphlet.
1932
Completes “The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies” [I.i; pp.219-259] §
 
Two Tales of Shem and Shaun (London: Faber & Faber [December] 1932) [FW, pp.152-59 & 414-19]. Pamphlet.
 
 
1933
Working on II.ii & iii - “Mime” and “Night Lessons”
 
[“Work in Progress”], transition, 22 (February 1933), pp.49-76 [FW 219-59].
 
 
1934
Working on II.ii & iii - “Mime” and “Night Lessons”
 
The Mime of Mick Nick and the Maggies (The Hague: The Servire Press [June] 1934) [FW 219-59]. Pamphlet.
 
 
1935
Working on II.ii & iii - “Mime” and “Night Lessons”
 
[“Work in Progress”, in] transition, 23 (July 1935), pp.109-29 [FW 260-75 & 304-08].
 
 
1936
Working on II.ii & iii - “Mime” and “Night Lessons”; submits Bk.I to Faber & Faber
 
 
 
 
1937
Working on II.ii & iii - “Mime” and “Night Lessons”; galley sheets for Bk I [from 12 March 1937].
 
[“Work in Progress”], in transition, 26 (February 1937), pp. 35-52 [FW 309-31].
 
 
 
Storiella As She Is Syung (London: Corvinus Press [October] 1937) [FW 260-75 & 304-08].
 
 
1938
rev. of Bk II & III ends mid-Nov.; p.623 written last; corrections and alterations to Jan. 1939
 
[“Work in Progress”], in transition, 27 (April-May 1938), pp.59-78 [FW 338-55].
 
 
1939
Late corrections and alterations [to Jan.]
 
Finnegans Wake (London: Faber & Faber; NY: Viking Press [May 4th] 1939).
 
*Superseded by new MSS finds, 2002; §Ellmann’s chart ends here [James Joyce, 1965, p.803]; †printed title of extracts from “Work in Progress” not given in either source from May 1927.
 
For information on editions, see Works; for remarks on dating, see “Notes & Queries”.

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