Somehow, my morning walk took me to the grave of James Joyce. He and Nora Barnacle lived for many years in Trieste, where he met Italo Svevo, the writer of La coscienza di Zeno. Svevo (born Ettore Schmitz) became a close friend of Joyce and a model of the character of Leopold Bloom in his great work, Ulysses. In Trieste, Joyce and Barnacle also had a son, George (called Giorgio). Apparently, de Valera’s government refused the repatriation of his body to Ireland, so in Zurich, Joyce remains.

The cemeteries in Zurich are magical garden-parks with water cans and spigots placed every twelve feet. This one, Fluntern, is dense, and high up on a hill. Walking through it, I felt like I was indoors. Only I was there, along with a cat, and a fox that I didn’t see as much as feel. It was just a bright orange flash down a hall. That’s not being poetic. That’s how it was. –E