Dubliner James Joyce's famous first romantic date with his muse and future wife, Nora Barnacle (1884 - 1951, originally from Galway City), was on Thursday, 16th June 1904 outside the Victorian red-brick, FINN'S HOTEL, where Nora worked as a chambermaid, on Lincoln Place, in central Dublin.
BLOOMSDAY IN DUBLIN
James Joyce (born 2nd February 1882 in Brighton Square, Rathgar, Dublin, and died 13th January 1941 in Zürich, Switzerland) immortalised this memorable occasion in his Magnum Opus, ULYSSES - which he started writing in 1914 in the then busy, Austro-Hungarian, port city of Trieste (now in Italy ).
Original Front Cover of ULYSSES by James Joyce
ULYSSES, written in Trieste, Zürich, and Paris, was first published by an American lady called Sylvia Beach of Shakespeare and Company on the 2nd of February 1922 in Paris, France - Joyce's 40th birthday. The inaugural print run was millennial - exactly 1,000 copies.
In 2022, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of its publication. Copy Number 1 of ULYSSES is in the custody of the Dedalus Library at the Museum of Literature Ireland - or MoLi (some Dubliners pronounce 'MoLi' as in "Molly" - after Molly Bloom? ) - which is located in Newman House at 86, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin. Joyce attended University College Dublin there from 1898 - 1902, where he studied English, French, Italian, Logic and Latin.
an post ULYSSES 100 stamps First Day Cover released 27.01.2022
The 16th of June itself has become known to many as BLOOMSDAY - named after one of ULYSSES leading characters, Leopold Bloom, a quiet-natured, sociable Dubliner, husband of Molly Bloom, and an advertising salesman by daily occupation.
A simple subject of 'His Majesty', neither an aristocrat nor a Kriegsheld, but a harmony-seeking, mild-mannered, Irish anti-hero of Hungarian Jewish descent, who happened to be living at Nr. 7 Eccles Street, north of the Nighttown and of the River Liffey, Anna Livia, Plurabelle.
BLOOMSDAY was first celebrated on the 16th of June 1924 by Nora Barnacle and Joyce with some friends in Paris - and every year since the 16th of June 1954 in Dublin - and not only in Dublin, but also in Paris, Trieste, and Zürich - where James and Nora Joyce are buried in the Friedhof Fluntern cemetery - and, indeed, further afield as Joycean scholarship prospers and blossoms, and interest in BLOOMSDAY increases and grows.
Present at that niche-interest, 1954 BLOOMSDAY get-together, at the picturesque Martello Tower in Sandycove, Co. Dublin, were John Ryan, Anthony Cronin, Brian O'Nolan ('Flann O'Brien'), Patrick Kavanagh and Tom Joyce.
BLOOMSDAY GATHERING IN 1954
(Photographer unknown)
In Dublin, Trieste, Zürich and beyond, Joyceans, locals and tourists alike (including Darina Gallagher, Fritz Senn, Paul O'Hanrahan, John McCourt, Patrick Long, John F. Shevlin and Robert Nicholson) follow the labyrinths of ULYSSES by literally and metaphorically treading in the ghostly BLOOMSDAY footsteps of the book's primary protagonists.
From early in the morning, to very late at night.
Many, if not most, in colourful Edwardian garb and stylish period costumes, carrying ash plants of sticks and wearing straw boater hats.
Tracing Stephen Dedalus', Molly and Leopold Bloom's perambulations and peregrinations around Dublin city and its immediate environs - both subconscious and real - on a hot Summer day, over a century ago.
Attending lively literary breakfasts, open-air readings, themed distance walks, festive park picnics and burlesque theatrical performances at original ULYSSES locations.
And here is a VisitDublin video of the occasion (pre-Covid ) to get you into the atmosphere and mood of BLOOMSDAY in Dublin - featuring none other than that vivacious BLOOMSDAY trail-blazer, Senator David Norris.
BLOOMSDAY in Dublin featuring among others Senator David Norris
Of particular note are the James Joyce Tower in Sandycove, Davy Byrne's public house in Duke Street; and the must-see, beautifully restored, James Joyce Centre in North Great George's Street, with its magnificent 18th century Georgian entrance.
COMMEMORATING ULYSSES
BLOOMSDAY celebrations and Joycean academic research continue to supply us with memorable experiences and wonderful new insights.
In ancient Ireland, Celtic peoples presaged their communal and seasonal celebrations on the eves of the big days in question. For instance, St. Bridget's Eve (Imbolc), May Eve (Bealtine), and All Hallows Eve - better known today as Halloween (Samhain).
Last year, I decided to initiate a private Joycean "lockdown" celebration of my very own at twilight on the 15th of June 2021 - which I subsequently termed BLOOMSEVE - by taking a snapshot of a magnificent orange sunset over the Neu Mayland Gartenstadt suburb of Frankfurt-Praunheim.
On the following BLOOMSDAY morning, I photographed a stunning orange Geranium to celebrate the day that was actually in it - a BLOOMSBLOSSOM so to say - while listening to an uninterrupted broadcast of ULYSSES on RTÉ Radio OneExtra.
You, too, can listen to this epic RTÉ Players' 30-hour long, non-stop radio dramatisation of ULYSSES that was specially recorded with 33 actresses and actors for the centenary celebration of James Joyce's birth in 1982.
See:
BLOOMSBLOSSOM & BLOOMSBLOSSOM 2021
So, from 2022 onwards, may #BLOOMSEVE and #BLOOMSBLOSSOM well become novel aspects of #BLOOMSDAY festivities around the world - live, hybrid and shared via social media platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.
Or simply over a pint.
The latter being somewhat askance, if not quite akin, to a friendly conversation over a tasty Gorgonzola sandwich and a refreshing glass of Burgundy wine in the hallowed halls and drinking emporia of Dublin's duked street!
So, let us finally take store, now, and forever, and at all times to come, and ubiquitously, and joyously recall, out aloud, the tales of a young girl called Nora, and her bonny old beau, she called Jim, and their fair child named ULYSSES, now quite a 100, so "ReJoyce" for ...
"and he serving mass in Adam and Eve's when he was young with his eyes shut"
Poem by Dr. Patrick Patridge published in FOOTSTEPS - Poetry & Prose 1987-2021 (available from Amazon stores worldwide in Kindle, Paperback and Hardback editions).
For example from Amazon stores in the United States, Great Britain and Germany.
FOOTSTEPS - Poetry & Prose 1987 - 2021
Cover of the special 100th anniversary cloth cover Penguin Books edition of ULYSSES by James Joyce. The Introduction itself is an erudite and highly entertaining work of Joycean scholarship by Declan Kiberd, author of "ULYSSES AND US".
Front Cover of 100th Anniversary Penguin Books edition
For Further Information around and about ULYSSES 100 and James Joyce, please see an excellent RTÉ Nationwide TV special from, Wednesday 2nd February 2022, and Ulysses at 100 on RTÉ - Your One Stop Guide.
ULYSSES 100
See also two NEW articles written specially for #ULYSSES100:
and
AND SEE ESPECIALLY
ULYSSES 100 - A Trilogy of Thoughts & Ten New Poems
by PATRICK PATRIDGE
published 22022022
as PAPERBACK Booklet and amazon Kindle editions
PAPERBACK PURCHASE LINKS:
and also
FOOTSTEPS - Poetry & Prose 1987-2021
by PATRICK PATRIDGE(available from Amazon stores worldwide in Kindle, Paperback and Hardback editions).For example from Amazon stores in the United States, Great Britain and Germany.
#ULYSSES #JAMESJOYCE #BLOOMSDAY #BLOOMSEVE #BLOOMSBLOSSOM #DUBLIN #PARIS #TRIESTE #ZUERICH #IRELAND #ULYSSES100
© 2022 Dr. Patrick Patridge - https://www.patrick-patridge.com/#publications