thumb|upright|Stephens in 1935

James Stephens (9 February 1880 – 26 December 1950) was an Irish novelist and poet.

Life

Early life

James Stephens' birth is somewhat shrouded in mystery. Stephens himself claimed to have been born on the same day and same year as James Joyce (2 February 1882), whereas he is in fact probably the same James Stephens who is on record as being born at the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, on 9 February 1880, the son of Francis Stephens () of 5 Thomas's Court, Dublin, a vanman and a messenger for a stationer's office, and his wife, Charlotte Collins (born ). His father died when Stephens was two years old, and when he was six years old, his mother remarried, and Stephens was committed to the Meath Protestant Industrial School for Boys in Blackrock for begging on the streets, where he spent much of the rest of his childhood.

Stephens began his career as a poet under the tutelage of poet and painter Æ (George William Russell). Stephens's first book of poems, Insurrections, was published in 1909. His last book, Kings and the Moon (1938), was also a volume of verse. Of MacDonagh he wrote:

<blockquote>No person living is the worse off for having known Thomas MacDonagh, and I, at least, have never heard MacDonagh speak unkindly or even harshly of anything that lived. It has been said of him that his lyrics were epical; in a measure it is true, and it is true in the same measure that his death was epical. He was the first of the leaders who was tried and shot.</blockquote>

James Joyce

Stephens later lived between Paris, London and Dublin. During the 1930s he was a friend of James Joyce, and they wrongly believed that they shared a birthday. Joyce, who was concerned about his ability to finish what later became Finnegans Wake, proposed that Stephens assist him, with the authorship credited to JJ & S (for "Jameses Joyce & Stephens", but also a pun on the popular Jameson Irish whiskey, made by John Jameson & Sons). The plan was never implemented, as Joyce was able to complete the work on his own.

References

  • The Stephens Collection at the Library of Trinity College Dublin
  • Personal papers of James Stephens held at the Library of Trinity College Dublin, Manuscripts and Archives
  • Georgian Poetry 1911 – 12 at Project Gutenberg
  • Georgian Poetry 1913 – 15 at Project Gutenberg
  • Georgian Poetry 1916 – 17 at Project Gutenberg
  • Green Branches. Dublin, London: Maunsel & Company, Ltd., 1916. Via HathiTrust.