Today is Bloomsday

On June 16 in 1904, James Joyce had his first date with Nora Barnacle. He commemorated that day in his novel Ulysses (1922), a retelling of Homer's Odyssey set in contemporary Dublin. Taking him seven years to write, the book recounts the events of a single day in the inner and outer lives of its characters


Joyce described Dublin in obsessive detail, "to give a picture of Dublin so complete that if the city one day suddenly disappeared from the Earth, it could be reconstructed out of my book," he told his friend Frank Budgen. He used a phone directory to provide the real names and addresses of Dublin residents.


The first "Bloomsday" was observed in 1954, on the 50th anniversary of the novel, when artist and publisher John Ryan led a group of writers on a drinking tour of Dublin in horse-drawn cabs. They didn't complete the course, succumbing to the alcohol's effects about halfway through.


Today, Bloomsday is celebrated around the world in pub crawls, street festivals, Irish music and food, public readings and dramatizations of Ulysses.  It involves scholarly panel discussions; the last part, at least, would come as no surprise to the author. He once said, "I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that's the only way of ensuring immortality."


Creative Write: Have you read Homer's Odyssey or Joyce's version in Ulysses?  Take a chance on one or both and see what you think. You don't need to read the entire books. Open to a section and begin reading. Let the puzzles in both inspire your writing response.  Freewrite your thoughts.