James Joyce's Letter to Lady Gregory (1902).

This is one of the most extraordinary letters ever written in Dublin. Angry, boastful, prophetic and full of self pity, it captures the frustration of a young genius in a small town, as 20 year old James Joyce tells Lady Gregory of his plans to go - "alone and friendless" - to Paris. "I do not know what will happen to me in Paris but my case can hardly be worse there than it is here." "To be quite frank," he writes, "I am without means to pay my medical fees and they refuse to get me any grinding or tuitions or examining........." The letter contains a plea for help ["I am writing to you to know can you help me in any way"] and a litany of self-assurances that speak to Joyce's genius but also to the insecurity that often dogs young men: "I am not despondent however for I know that even if I fail to make my way such failure proves very little. I shall try myself against the powers of the world." The original of this letter was missing for many years. The Letters of James Joyce [Volume 1] notes, "a typewritten copy made by Lady Gregory was found amongst the papers of the late W.B. Yeats."