Surely, James Joyce never walked this particular street. Did James Joyce ever imagine a street named Rue Jane Joye? This is not about the street itself. It is about the person behind the name. Who was Jane Joye?
Paris remembers people with streets. Rue Jane Joye is such a place. Let’s tell you about a video artist also named Jane.
Jane Paris is an experimental video artist. She works with sound and sculptural installation. Her art explores anxieties and discomfort through video performance. Projection mapping is also used. Her soundscapes include found objects and fibers. Ceramics also appear in her art. She uses food and other materials. Jane is interested in bodily gestures. She evokes physical responses from her audience. Jane Paris is based in Boston.
Could there be a connection between the two? It is unlikely. The video artist is a contemporary person. The Jane Joye of this Parisian street has faded into history. But perhaps there is a connection. Art transcends time. Both Janes create art.
James Joyce also lived in Paris. He arrived in Paris by train on July 8 1920. He came with Nora Barnacle and their two children. Giorgio was fifteen. Lucia was almost thirteen. Joyce was thirty-eight years old. Nora was thirty-six.
Joyce gained fame as an avant-garde writer in Paris. He had times of poverty and financial comfort. Joyce had constant eye problems and stomach ulcers. His daughter Lucia needed care for depression. Joyce was supported by Sylvia Beach. She was an American publisher and owner of Shakespeare and Company. Harriet Shaw Weaver also supported him. She edited The Egoist magazine in London. Beach published Ulysses in 1922. Faber and Faber published Finnegans Wake in 1939.
Joyce lived in Paris for 19 years. He never bought a home. Joyce lived in ten residences on the Left Bank. He lived in eight residences on the Right Bank. Only one residence has a plaque of remembrance. It is the home of French poet Valery Larbaud. There is also the Jardin James Joyce.
The Second World War broke out in 1939. Germany attacked France in May 1940. The French government left Paris on June 10. Germany occupied the city on June 14. Joyce and his family left Paris on December 23 1939. They stayed with Maria and Eugene Jolas. The Joyce family left France by train on December 14 1940. They arrived in Zurich on December 17.
Joyce had surgery in Zurich on January 11 1941. It was for a perforated duodenal ulcer. He fell into a coma. He died two days later on January 13. He was two weeks before his fifty-ninth birthday.
Maybe Rue Jane Joye would have appreciated James Joyce. The street remembers a person. It is a lasting tribute. Like the art of Jane Paris.
The two Janes may never meet. But their names live on. One in the streets of Paris. The other in the art world of Boston. Each making their mark. Rue Jane Joye remains a quiet corner. It is a place to reflect on art and memory.