The Literature Network - Obsession She was fragile and savage, a dancer and muse. She lived with her father, James Joyce, in Paris. Then a young teacher called Samuel Beckett came to stay, and everything went haywire for Lucia. What is it, asks Rebecca Stott, that makes women go

Obsession She was fragile and savage, a dancer and muse. She lived with her father, James Joyce, in Paris. Then a young teacher called Samuel Beckett came to stay, and everything went haywire for Lucia. What is it, asks Rebecca Stott, that makes women go

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From: The Independent on Sunday
Date: 20040222
Author:Rebecca Stott

When Samuel Beckett died in 1989, a black and white photograph of a dancing girl dressed as a fish was found amongst his papers. This was no girl in a mermaid costume at a fancy dress party smiling prettily to camera. This dancer looked more like a witch doctor or shaman, the silvery mirrored scales of her costume catching the light, shimmying her way across an empty room as if she were moving underwater or lost in some kind of drugged trance. Beautiful and savage, this was Lucia, the only daughter of James Joyce. Beckett had kept this photograph of the fish- girl about him for more than 60 ...

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Obsession She was fragile and savage, a dancer and muse. She lived with her father, James Joyce, in Paris. Then a young teacher called Samuel Beckett came to stay, and everything went haywire for Lucia. What is it, asks Rebecca Stott, that makes women go

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