Fuddland

Yesterday was the 50th Bloomsday, a celebration in honour of James Joyce, and in particular his novel Ulysses, which follows Leopold Bloom and the events of which all take place on one day: June 16 1904 [so in fact yesterday was the one hundredth anniversary, but Bloomsday was first officially celebrated in 1954]. There are readings of Joyce’s work, performances of songs inspired by his novels and short stories, and of course a heathly amount of drinking and general merriment.

Although the novel was written over eight years, from 1914 to 1922, Joyce chose to set the events on June 16 1904 as that was the day he first met his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle. The story goes [so my father tells me] that when Joyce announced his intention to marry Nora Barnacle, his father said words to the effect of, “Well, she’ll never leave you.”

#1

steve | 2004 / 06 / 17 – 10:21

Are there any car chases in the book?

#2

David | 2004 / 06 / 17 – 10:31

Re #1: Never read it myself, but as Eddie Izzard once pointed out, there are never any car chases in books.

#3

Brown | 2004 / 06 / 17 – 10:54

Did Ulysses ever find the kingdom of Hades?

#4

David | 2004 / 06 / 17 – 18:35

Re #3: I can’t remember what happened in the end — luckily the box set is coming out soon [just over two weeks before my birthday in fact]. ;)

#5

Brown | 2004 / 06 / 18 – 11:03

Nono!

#6

BykerSink | 2004 / 06 / 19 – 15:13

Good shout on the car chases in books. Never thought of that before. I guess they would just be really dull to read about.

Is there anything in books that are never in films?

Commenting on this post is closed. Thanks to all those who left comments. If you'd still like to say something about this entry, feel free to email me.