What in water did Bloom, waterlover, drawer of water, watercarrier, returning to the range, admire?
James Joyce, Ulysses
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
I have had enough. I need a break and I had planned to get away this week. The pharmacy was mayhem and madness from a week before lockdown and for a month after. The pressure has eased but I am exhausted. I feel like Herman Melville’s Ishmael in Moby Dick. “Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth, whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul…. I account it high time to get to sea..” The last …
If you don’t know by now, it’s tradition! [We know… – Ed]. Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, once again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. And another reminder of a brief history of the day, from the Guardian, which includes this great 1924 quote from Joyce on Ulysses – “I have to convince myself that I wrote that book. I used to be able to talk intelligently about it.” Joyce’s last Bloomsday would take place on 16 June 1940, when the author was …
If you don’t know by now, it’s tradition! [We know… – Ed]. Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, once again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. And a reminder of a brief history of the day, from the Guardian last year, which includes this great 1924 quote from Joyce on Ulysses – “I have to convince myself that I wrote that book. I used to be able to talk intelligently about it.” In June of …
If you don’t know by now, it’s tradition! And Brendan’s cryptic crossword in today’s Guardian nods in the general direction… Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, once again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. Adds I should have also noted this brief history of the day that it’s in, also from the Guardian, which includes this 1924 quote from Joyce on Ulysses – “I have to convince myself that I wrote that book. I used to be …
As the man said… It’s tradition! Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. Enjoy! The Guardian looks at how fans around the world will be celebrating James Joyce’s Ulysses. Auckland, New Zealand Usually, says Dean Parker, he helps stage a musical show in Auckland’s red light district: a three-hour musical cabaret of dramatised episodes from Ulysses. Last year was a “stunning, jam-packed success”, with Lucy Lawless, aka Xena …
As the man said… It’s tradition! Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. Enjoy! Pete Baker
Happy Bloomsday! Pete will no doubt be along at some point with the traditional video entertainment, and I’ve a few other pieces put aside for the day that’s in it, but for now, if you are one of the permanently bewildered, here’s the Paris Review’s explaination… In particular, and sticking to an Irish political theme, I liked this bit: The event can be stately and meticulous or raucous and chaotic—or, somehow, all of the above. A telling instance came a …
Somewhat belatedly, here’s the annual excellent Bloomsday video. It’s tradition! Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. Enjoy! Pete Baker
It’s that Day again! [Again!? – Ed]. You can spend the day listening to Radio 4. Or you can watch this excellent video again. It’s tradition! Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. Pete Baker
As The Observer’s Alex Clark notes This coming 16 June, Radio 4 will be a wall-to-wall Joycefest, kicking off at 9am and running until midnight: a new, five-and-a-half hour dramatisation of Ulysses, narrated by Stephen Rea and starring Henry Goodman, Niamh Cusack and Andrew Scott, will be punctuated by broadcasts by Mark Lawson in Dublin and discussions about the book’s place in 20th-century literature. To reassure those who might quail at some of the book’s more full-blooded material, the Beeb …
Oh dear, to take up the tone from Ruarai’s somewhat sleazy letter from America, there’s a very thoughtful blog essay on the problem of Ireland. I heartily recommend reading the whole thing, but here’s the last paragraph: While the tricky political condition resulting in the border must not be taken lightly, people of this island need to learn to transcend political reckoning with social cooperation. So where does this leave us? It leaves us without a single, identifiable voice; a …
In the Irish Times, Brian Cosgrove takes up temporary residence in An Irishman’s Diary in the hope that, with the lifting of European copyright restrictions on James Joyce’s major works, a greater familiarity with Joyce’s “sometimes ruthless realism” may change the nature of the “annual Edwardian charade” that is Bloomsday. From the Irish Times The devastating cultural effects of the Ireland in which he had come to adult consciousness are amply dramatised in many of the short stories in Dubliners . These deal with …
There’s been a number of gems in the after flow of the gush that followed the death of Christopher Hitchens… not least this ascerbic ‘complement’ from his former comrade in arms at The Nation, Katha Pollett… But the gem of gems so far has to be this erudite and subtle take on Hitchens’ late discovery that both his mother and his grandmother (and therefore, he) were Jewish from Marc Tracey… It’s long but very much worth a thorough read, taking …
Courtesy of Alex, this guy thinks he’s cracked joyce’s ancient puzzle, with computer aided technology… He’s looking for people to falsify it, so get weaving!! Update: The Guardian seems to think Rory has proved his point… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Crooked Timber’s Kieran Healy performs “the sacred Bloomsday ritual of genuflecting solemnly before the Poster of Great Irish Writers.” In the Irish Times, Joycean scholar Terence Killeen asks whether the lifting of copyright protection will apply to all categories of Joyce works. And here’s that excellent video again. It’s tradition! Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. Pete Baker
It’s Bloomsday! And not just in Dublin, Ireland, as Frank McNally points out. The Irish Times archive is now locked up, but the digested read I posted last year is still available. And this is still an excellent video. Those of a sensitive disposition are duly warned, again, that James Joyce enjoys the language in all its fecund nuttiness. Adds Via Crooked Timber’s Maria Farrell, here’s an Irish Times article from the weekend on the real people immortalised in Ulysses. Pete Baker
