Hemingway was quick to see the merit in the work of James Joyce, not always a limpid writer.

In a letter to Sherwood Anderson dated March 9, 1922, Hemingway wrote:

"Joyce has written a most goddam wonderful book (Ulysses). Meantime the report is that he and all his family are starving, but you can find the whole Celtic crew of them in Michaud," (then a moderately expensive Paris eating place).

Nevertheless, on several occasions Hemingway contributed to the funds raised to aid Joyce, with whom he did a considerable amount of stout drinking in Paris. When Joyce's "Ulysses" was pirated in the United States Hemingway was one of the organizers of the protest which bore the names of many of the most distinguished figures in world literature.