James Joyce's erotic letters to Nora Barnacle

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In late 1909, the Irish writer James Joyce wrote a series of erotic love letters to his romantic partner Nora Barnacle, including nine in December 1909 which were initially deemed too obscene for posthumous publication. Joyce and Barnacle met in Dublin in 1904 and moved to the Austro-Hungarian city of Trieste the following year, although Joyce frequently travelled for work. Joyce was in Dublin in 1909, when an acquaintance confessed that he had frequently spent time alone with Barnacle early in Joyce's relationship. Joyce initially accused Barnacle of infidelity, but was later convinced his allegations were false. After apologizing to her, Joyce began writing increasingly erotic letters to her over the following months, with the most obscene written that December. In these, expresses sadomasochistic fantasies and makes erotic references to defecation and flatulence. Barnacle's responses are no longer extant. Generally taking a sexually submissive posture in the letters, Joyce contrasts...

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