Your article on James Joyce (James Joyce had syphilis, new study claims, 3 June) announced Kevin Birmingham's discovery that James Joyce went blind because of his infection with syphilis. Birmingham's case for syphilis rests largely on the facts and sources in my book, James Joyce and the Burden of Disease, which states that Joyce was treated with a compound of arsenic and phosphorus, and cites two letters of 1928 upon which Birmingham bases his argument. Yet Birmingham accorded me only two tiny footnotes, neither of which gives me any real credit.
Birmingham denigrated my book in the Guardian, while elevating his own single medical discovery, the name of the arsenic and phosphorus compound that he believes was administered to Joyce: galyl. He cites no concrete evidence that Joyce was actually administered galyl, only injections of arsenic and phosphorus. Anyone who compares the content of my book with Birmingham's, and then reads the article from the Guardian, will readily discern how Birmingham has deprecated the work that made his revelation possible.
Kathleen Ferris
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
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