#bloomsday 2017

[wuh2k]

Anyone who tells me that getting shitfaced in old-timey clothes and tweeting about it in textspeak isn't celebrating Bloomsday in the finest Joycean tradition can fight me.

[elisaenglish]

Bloomsday sentiment, possibly prescient. Will this be the voice of generations to come?

[theulysseschallenge]

HAPPY BLOOMSDAY!

yup, that’s the end of my bloomsday spam. finally

[wuh2k]

Happy Bloomsday

from the MoralPub™

[anamsaorreads]

Sometimes, however, he courted the causes of his fear. He chose the darkest and narrowest streets and, as he walked boldly forward, the silence that was spread about his footsteps troubled him, the wandering silent figures troubled him; and at times a sound of low fugitive laughter made him tremble like a leaf.

James Joyce, “A Little Cloud,” Dubliners

On June 16, 1904, Leopold Bloom set off on a one-day epic journey across Dublin City...

Okay, so I haven't technically read Ulysses - it's really long, I'll get to it eventually. But I have read Dubliners, which is amazing, and many of the characters from Dubliners show up in Ulysses, so I'm absolutely justified in posting about Bloomsday. 

Bloomsday has been celebrated on June 16 almost every year since 1954, with Joycean events taking place all day, all over Dublin City and the surrounding areas (I'm not sure if there are any events outside The Pale, but I haven't seen any). Festival events range from readings, to walking tours, to afternoon tea, and it is not uncommon to see Joyce enthusiasts sporting Edwardian garb just wandering about the city. As it's today (it's after midnight on the 16th for me), the majority of ticketed events are sold out (apart from a limited number of guided tours of the James Joyce Centre), but there are many other free events taking place throughout the day.

If you're a hardcore Joycean but want to go your own way, you could devise your own tour to follow in Bloom's footsteps, maps are available, just head to the Martello Tower at Sandycove and continue from there. Or, if you can't make it to Dublin, there may be events going on in your own locale (Philadelphia in the USA, Szombathely in Hungary, and Trieste in Italy, among others, I’m sure), or put on some Edwardian clothes and go about your day, or just pick up the book and settle in. I would if I had a copy.

Someday, when I'm fancier, and have actually read it, I'm sure I'll take part in the festivities, but for today, I might just have a coffee and read "A Painful Case" again.

I hope you'll do something Joycean, too!

P.S. This was a bit rushed I know, and not having read the book as of yet, probably wasn't all that useful, but I really wanted to mark the day. 

P.P.S. You can find out more about Joyce, his life, and works, at the James Joyce Centre, which is open year round, and hosts exhibitions, lectures and other events. It also provides links to articles and other useful resources (I'm going to have a look at some when I get the chance). The Complete Ulysses is an ongoing project which aims to record Ulysses in its entirety (as of writing, only three of the eighteen episodes are available).