The Sheila Variations

Speaking of geekiness...

This year is the 100th anniversary of Bloomsday. So ... as June 16th, 2004 approaches, get ready for the Joyce mania. I am already preparing. If you don't like Joyce ... I don't know what to say. It's gonna be all Joyce, all the time, for a couple of days in June. After all - let's look at the quote above, beneath the title of my blog. Kind of says it all, don't it?

Here's a description of what I did last year - which was just about perfect. If I could re-create something like that, I would be most happy.

Update: For those of you who do not know, "Bloomsday" is named for "Leopold Bloom", the wandering Jewish "hero" of James Joyce's Ulysses. That great book all takes place on one day: June 16, 1904. The book is an excavation of the human soul, of Dublin itself, of men and women - it is also an imaginative recreation of The Odyssey.

James Joyce made his entire book take place on that specific day as a tribute to Nora, his wife. Ulysses was published in 1922, I think, but in 1904, on June 16, he had his first "date" with Nora, the wild Galway girl who would become his wife. "Date", of course, just meant that they walked together around Dublin. But Joyce said, of that day, "She made a man of me." We can only guess at what happened that day, but it was important enough to Joyce that he made his entire masterpiece take place on that day, as a tribute to the woman who "made a man" out of him.

And since then, Bloomsday has been celebrated in various ways. People travel to Dublin, and wander through the streets, following the course of the book. Etc.

And this year is the 100th anniversary. So it should be a good one!!

Posted by sheila