La perfección de mi arte

James Joyce's letters are, without a doubt, one of his great literary treasures, a rear window and an exciting approach to his craft as a writer, but also to his most intimate and secret personality. Sitting in front of this incomparable fresco, we see his burning and indomitable personality parade, his uncontrollable jealousy, a surprising attachment to his family and immense anguish as he combines, in a difficult balance, the desire for literary creation with his anguish to publish: the certainty that he is an unbeatable writer, convinced of his intellectual superiority. Received at first as a document of vital importance, these letters have become over time an essential part of Joyce's work, a literary peak in itself, the conclusive proof that he was one of those rare talents who transformed into artistic material even what he had no intention of publishing. The canonical selection by Richard Ellmann and the impeccable translation by Carlos Manzano make this edition the definitive one in our language.